Award Winners
John Glenn School Corporation
John Glenn School Corporation is being recognized for being a leader in energy conservation and clean energy, after recently completing a $7M energy savings project which brought LED lighting with updated controls, new windows, a new HVAC system, and a field of 846 solar panels to North Liberty Elementary School. The 338.4 kWdc solar project is equivalent to the electricity used by almost 40 households each year.
John Glenn is one of a growing list of public school corporations in the region that have collectively installed at least 18 large solar projects in the last several years: Argos Community Schools, Baugo Community Schools (under construction), Goshen Community Schools, Tippecanoe Valley Schools, Wawasee Community School Corporation, and Warsaw Community Schools.
City of Goshen
The City of Goshen is being recognized for leadership in clean transportation and environmental resilience. In 2019 and 2020, the city promoted clean transportation by installing a free public charging station for electric vehicles, piloting the first all-electric vehicle in the city’s fleet, and purchasing hybrid police vehicles. Two additional public charging stations are scheduled to be installed near downtown in 2021. City leadership also made a concerted effort to enhance and protect the local environment, by expanding the city forestry program to a new Department of Environmental Resilience, and developing a plan of action to address the impacts of municipal operations.
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame is recognized for significant investments in clean energy towards the goal of cutting its carbon footprint in half by 2030 from 2005 levels through key partnerships. The 2.5 MW hydroelectric plant envisioned over a decade ago is nearing completion in downtown South Bend through an innovative partnership with the city, and will generate about 7% of the University’s electrical needs. The University is also a major partner with local electric utility Indiana Michigan Power on the 20 MW St. Joseph Solar Farm, committing to purchase 40% of the clean energy credits from the facility which is equivalent to the renewable energy needed to power nearly 11,000 homes annually or 10% of the University’s usage. The University also maintains three solar arrays directly powering its facilities, totaling 0.2 MW. In 2019, the University initiated a new food waste-to-energy project, completed a geothermal heating and cooling plant, and stopped burning coal a year ahead of schedule.
Recycling Works, Inc.
Recycling Works, a sister company of Borden Waste-Away, is recognized for innovating and forming new partnerships locally to overcome challenges in the broader recycling market, such as low commodity prices, contamination in single stream recycling, and China’s ban on importing plastics. Recycling benefits air quality by reducing the energy and emissions produced by mining, processing, and shipping raw materials and from landfills. A $3.5 million upgrade to high efficiency machinery is underway at the Elkhart-based materials recovery facility. The retrofit will increase capacity by 60%, which is equivalent to 3,400 tons per month or recycling generated by over 185,000 households. Recycle Works is also implementing a new education partnership with local Solid Waste Districts to reduce contamination and improve recovery, funded in part by Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Finally, a new partnership with Brightmark, a waste-to-energy facility completed this year in Ashley, Indiana. This will further reduce Recycle Works’ residue rate, or collected materials that are ultimately landfilled, to 6% which is well-under the state mandated residue rate maximum of 10%. By partnering with Brightmark, Recycling Works has diverted an additional 435 tons of hard-to-recycle plastics per month. Brightmark converts hard-to-recycle plastics into an ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel and other products.
