The HHS Green Champions Awards were established by the Department in response to an Executive Order issued by President Obama in October 2009 challenging Federal agencies to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water consumption, and pollution.
These awards recognize and promote the excellence and creativity of HHS employees for Fiscal Year 2010 sustainability efforts. The categories for submission of nominations include Good Neighbor, Change Agents, Corporate Responsibility, Electronic Stewardship/Data Center Consolidation, Environmental Stewardship, Energy and Fleet Management, Green Procurement, Sustainable Facilities, Buildings, and Site Planning, and Water Resource Management.
In the Change Agents Individual Achievement Category
From the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Dr. Jean Tiong Koehler for Green Labs Fairs
Dr. Tiong Koehler created and implemented the first Green Labs Fairs at NIH. Presentations included information on green chemicals and processes, ways to conduct experiments utilizing fewer resources, and how to combine shipments of materials to offset shipping expenses and decrease the environmental impact of deliveries. The fairs were so successful that additional NIH Institutes plan to collaborate with Dr. Tiong Koehler to host events in 2011. In addition, Dr. Tiong Koehler has saved $8,000 per year, implementing these sustainable practices within her own lab.
In the Green Procurement Individual Achievement Category
From the National Cancer Institute, Joan Becker for the NCI Green Team
As a founder of the NCI Green Team, Ms. Becker has spearheaded several outreach and training activities leading to the purchase and use of recycled content and environmentally preferable products and services. Most recently, Ms. Becker organized the Executive Plaza Green Team’s Earth Month Awareness, which featured lunch hour movies based on social and environmental issues. She has also planned and hosted several Earth Day celebrations to raise awareness of NCI’s commitment to sustainability, leading to cost-savings, responsible reuse and waste reduction.
In the Electronic Stewardship/Data Center Consolidation Small Group Category
From the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Information Research Management Branch for the NINDS Data Center Multi-Institute Consolidation
Joellen Harper Austin
Megan Brennan
Jeff Domanski
Mike Gyorda
Jackie Jones
John Prue
Susan Titman
Accepting for the group is Peter Soltys
At the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Information Research Management Branch (IRMB) implemented a data center consolidation project to reduce the total number of physical servers and increase shared saved space. The shared data center facility helps NIH reduce power consumption by 33% and increased data center space usage by 46%. This consolidation model allows smaller Institutes to save power and space.
In the Electronic Stewardship/Data Center Consolidation Organizational Category
The National Institutes Health
Accepting for NIH from the Office of Acquisition and Logistics Management is Mike Zindel
During FY 2010, NIH started using a new General Services Administration approved contracted recycler enabling NIH to recycle 21,760 electronic items totaling 310.3 tons. This resulted in $186,168 of remuneration to the United States Treasury. Last year 5,376 electronic items were reused, resulting in over $9 million worth of electronic equipment being kept out of the landfill.
In the Environmental Stewardship Small Group Category
From the Office of the Director, Office of Research Facilities, Division of Environmental Protection for the NIH Construction Debris Recycling Program
Jim Carscadden
William Ketner
Lieutenant Beth Osterink
Accepting for the group is Donald Wilson
This program has steadily increased in size and scope since April 2008, and was conceived to increase construction debris recycling, reduce the number of haulers operating on campus, address the problem of abandoned or unused dumpsters, and to provide a service that was user friendly and efficient. In FY 2010, NIH recycled 5,757 tons of construction debris, which is estimated to be 90% of the total waste. Based on calculations from the EPA Waste Reduction Model, the equivalent of 172 tons of greenhouse gas emissions were avoided through this recycling effort.
In the Energy and Fleet Management Small Group Category
From the Office the Director, Office of Research Facilities for the Building 2 Eco-Strip Installation
Paul Cammaroto
Todd Loveless
Kazem Youssefi
Accepting for the group is Yichang Xu
NIH conducted a pilot demonstration project in support of Executive Order 13514 employing 135 eco-strips, which is a combined surge protector, power strip, and motion detector that will turn off controlled receptacles when the occupant leaves the area for a certain amount of time. Electricity savings are estimated annually of 25,805 kWh, corresponding to approximately $2,968 of cost savings. The total installation cost was $14,150, providing less than a five-year payback.
In the Water Resource Management Small Group Category
Office the Director, Office of Research Facilities, NIH Animal Center, for the Animal Center Water Conservation and Analysis
Raymond Byrd
Jeff Fellows
Gerald Knight
Don Mayberry
Don Roberts
David Shaw
Adam Wolfe
Accepting for the group is Paul Cammaroto
The NIH Animal Center is an agricultural research facility located in Poolesville, Maryland, which relies on well water. For the past 10 years, the NIH Animal Center water use, as measured by ground water extraction, has been slowly increasing to over 90,000 gallons per day, exceeding permit levels and limiting future research use. NIH formed an ad-hoc team, including facility managers, power plant operators, technicians, and mechanical engineers who were able to identify projects that have now reduced consumption to just over 60,000 gallons per day on a monthly average.
In addition to the Green Champion Awards, another NIH staff member has been selected by the Department of Energy as an Energy Champion in their You Have the Power Campaign.
From the Office of the Director, Office of Research Facilities, Dr. Farhad Memarzadeh
The You Have the Power Campaign is a Department of Energy initiative to spread the word about saving energy, money, and resources among Federal workers. Twenty-one agencies participated in the campaign to promote energy-efficient practices and products. Dr. Memarzadeh is being recognized for developing an energy consumption prediction tool to forecast energy performance and costs, and by managing market forecasting models to purchase natural gas commodities and its transportation for NIH’s Cogeneration Plant which has helped HHS save more than $11 million in the past six years.