The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) offer awards each year for entities participating in the energy efficiency system known as ENERGY STAR®. Showcasing the environmental sustainability of the asphalt industry, the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) attained one of these awards: a 2023 Partner of the Year – Energy Efficiency Program Delivery.
The EPA website states: “NAPA worked in partnership with ENERGY STAR® to develop resources that will enable the industry to better understand their energy performance and decrease greenhouse gas emissions from their facilities.”
These are the accomplishments that EPA listed as key:
- Promoting the ENERGY STAR partnership among NAPA members, with six becoming ENERGY STAR partners in 2022.
- Developing an Asphalt Plant Energy Performance Peer Exchange program to share best practices and develop an initial set of resources supporting energy management at asphalt plants. (See this August 2020 article discussing a “treasure hunt” for ideas you might easily implement at your facility.)
- Publishing The Road Forward, a vision for achieving net-zero carbon emissions for the asphalt pavement industry.
- Supporting the development of an ENERGY STAR asphalt pavement plant energy performance indicator tool that will assist asphalt producers to measure and benchmark the energy performance of their plants.
- Including a provision in the Asphalt Mixture Product Category Rule (PCR) that allows Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for asphalt mixes to include information about a company’s ENERGY STAR accomplishments.
According to the EPA website, an ENERGY STAR industrial partner:
- Demonstrates a commitment to energy management;
- Strengthens its energy program through coaching and mentoring;
- Learns from leading energy managers and their programs; and
- Gains access to partner events and meetings.
More than 170 organizations among the 2023 winners are being recognized for their year-over-year commitment to energy efficiency through the program’s highest honor: ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence winner. EPA considers their sustained commitments essential to enabling a transition to a clean energy economy. EPA congratulates them, as well as Partner of the Year, Contractor of the Year, and Excellence award winners for their contributions toward cleaner and healthier products, homes, buildings, schools, and factories. For a complete list of 2023 winners and more information about ENERGY STAR’s awards program, visit EnergyStar.gov/AwardWinners.
EPA reports, since its inception more than 30 years ago, ENERGY STAR and its partners have helped prevent over 4 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions, while saving consumers and businesses over $500 billion.