At our March 2019 UCAIR partners meeting we heard about two air quality programs happening right now in our community. First, Austin Bettridge with Leaders for Clean Air gave a presentation on their efforts to reduce emissions through work place electric vehicle charging. We then heard from Bailey Toolson, UCAIR Program Manager, about the ShowUCAIR Water Heater Rebate Program sponsored by Chevron and Marathon.

Inversions Can’t Be Prevented, But Pollution Can– Austin Bettridge, Leaders for Clean Air

Leaders for Clean Air (LFCA) is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 by business leaders who realized that poor air quality hurts business, employee health and Utah’s economy. The Salt Lake City/Ogden area is ranked number six in most polluted areas in the United States. Other metro areas in Utah, Logan and Provo/Orem, rank number ten and eleven respectively. The goal of Leaders for Clean Air is to reduce the approximately 50% of our air pollution coming from tailpipe emissions by promoting workplace recharging infrastructure. LFCA operates on a pay it forward model. They install the first charger and ask for a donation instead of payment for the charger, this model leads to an increase in the overall number of charging stations installed. The first LFCA charging station was installed at Packsize headquarters in Salt Lake City by Cowboy Partners. Packsize management then leased two Nissan Leaf vehicles for employee use. Eventually, there were more electric vehicles than charging stations at Packsize, which led to more chargers being installed. Other companies followed this example, they include: 3Form, Utah Paperbox, Black Diamond, Backcountry.com, Lancer Automotive, and others. LFCA has now distributed more than 400 chargers in partnership with Rocky Mountain Power and UCAIR. By 2022, LFCA hopes to install an additional 2,000 electric vehicle workplace recharging stations across the Wasatch Front and beyond. and form an alliance of business leaders representing 100,000 Wasatch Front employees.

ShowUCAIR Water Heater Rebate Program – Bailey Toolson, UCAIR

As of July 1, 2018, any water heater sold, manufactured and installed must meet ultra-low NOx (ULN) standards. New ULN water heaters emit 75% less NOx than a traditional water heater. Identifying strategies to reduce our NOx emissions is important because NOx is a component of summer ozone and wintertime PM2.5 pollution, both of which are monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency. This new air quality rule will help reduce overall NOx emissions by 35% by 2024.

UCAIR launched the ShowUCAIR Water Heater Rebate Program on February 26th in partnership with Chevron, Marathon, and the Eccles Foundation. This new program is targeted at the PM2.5 non-attainment areas of Utah and will provide a rebate of up to $500 for homeowners that replace their old water heater with ultra-low NOx water heater. The goal of the ShowUCAIR Water Heater Rebate Program is to encourage people to change out their old water heaters sooner rather than later. All program information, including eligibility requirements and the application is available on the UCAIR website.

PARTNER ROUND TABLE

Following the presentation, partners shared what projects and initiatives they are currently working on. These included:

Kevin Emerson, Utah Clean Energy – Utah Clean Energy will be launching aSalt Lake City focused community energy engagement project in April. This project will help targeted communities to reduce energy use. UCE will also be administering a smart thermostat program which is sponsored by a UCAIR grant.

Richard Valentine, Salt Lake County Health Department – The state-wide smoking vehicle hotline, sponsored by a UCAIR grant, is live. You can report vehicles by calling 385-GOT-SMOG.

Annie Schneider, Governor’s Office of Energy Development – The Governor’s Energy Summit will be at the Grand America Hotel on May 30^th. Use promo code ENERGY2019.

Thom Carter, UCAIR –

• The Utah Technology Innovation Summit is at the Little America on April 1^st. There will be a special breakout session called, “Addressing Utah’s Air Quality Challenges Through Technological Innovation.” Use Promo code Partners10.
• The Utah Economic Summit is at the Grand America Hotel on May 17^th. There is a $25 promo code SLCHAMBER#UES19.
• UCAIR will be having a gas can exchange event sponsored by Boeing, Union Pacific and the Eccles Foundation on April 13^th. The exchange will be hosted at the Boeing offices and begin at 8:00 am.

NEXT MEETING: APRIL 11, 2019, 9:00-11:00 AM