Office
of Science Honors Six Laboratories
as Leaders in Pollution Prevention and Environmental
Stewardship for 2004
The Department of Energy’s Office of Science has honored six of its national laboratories for their pollution prevention and environmental stewardship during 2004.
During an April 28, 2005 meeting with the directors of the 10 Office of Science labs, Office of Science Director Raymond L. Orbach presented 2004 “Best in Class” awards to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for their efforts in pollution prevention and environmental stewardship. Four other Office of Science labs were honored for their “Noteworthy Practices” in these areas.
“Best in Class” is awarded to an Office of Science site that demonstrates significant benefits to the public, significant cost savings to the Department of Energy, and exhibits the use or development of innovative approaches, techniques, or technologies that reduce or eliminate pollution and foster environmental stewardship.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory was recognized for implementing source reduction, recycling and sustainability throughout the laboratory. These efforts resulted in improved safety, reduced procurement, waste reduction, enhanced water conservation and reuse of materials.
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) was recognized as “Best in Class” by the Office of Science for its “Buy Bio: Imbedding Green into Distributed Systems” initiative, a part of PNNL’s Environmentally Preferable Products Program (EPP). (On Earth Day, April 22, PNNL was also presented the Department of Energy’s “Star” Award for its Buy Bio program.) PNNL’s EPP program proactively integrates environmental preferability into the laboratory’s purchasing systems as part of their continual improvement process, creates strategies for
increasing EPP, tracks and reports successes, uses lessons learned and shares results with the DOE complex. Other DOE laboratories used the PNNL program to begin transition to biobased products.
The Office of Science also recognized Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fermi National Laboratory, and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for their “Noteworthy Practices” in pollution prevention and environmental stewardship.
These laboratories were recognized for the following activities:
