The Illinois Alliance for Clean Transportation (IACT), previously referred to as Chicago Space Clear Cities, has named its 2022 Sustainable Transportation Award winners. The awards are given yearly to organizations and people who take actions to domestically scale back car emissions and enhance air high quality.
This yr’s organizations awarded embody the Illinois Soybean Association, Christopher B. Burke Engineering, primarily based in Rosemont, and the Eco-Friendly Mobile Farm Stand Project in Elmhurst. People awarded embody Tim Milburn, associate of Green Ways 2Go, and Dr. Eleftheria Kontou, an assistant professor on the College of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who was named Researcher of the Yr.
“Every of those organizations and people have had a profound impression on sustainable transportation in Illinois,” says Samantha Bingham, IACT’s co-coordinator. “Their efforts scale back emissions that trigger air air pollution and local weather change and assist to make the air we breathe cleaner and more healthy for all.”
The Illinois Soybean Affiliation (ISA) obtained IACT’s Coverage Management Award for efficiently spearheading efforts to move biodiesel laws in Illinois. The laws, handed in April, extends the state’s sale tax incentive that exempts diesel gasoline blended with greater than 10% biodiesel – generally leading to a B11 mix – from the state’s 6.25% gross sales tax via 2023 and steadily will increase the required biodiesel proportion from blends over 10% to blends over 19% by 2026. The laws is predicted to broaden entry to B20 blends at greater than 85% of public retail stations and a majority of fleet fueling facilities in Illinois. The laws additionally included a first-of-its-kind exemption for renewable diesel blends that meet the identical proportion necessities as biodiesel. The laws is predicted to strengthen the tax incentive’s current well being and environmental advantages and enhance in-state biodiesel demand by an estimated 125 million gallons on prime of the present 160 million gallons of annual demand.
The Illinois Soybean Affiliation got down to renew and broaden the expiring biodiesel gross sales tax exemption in 2020 to make sure demand for biodiesel continued. ISA partnered with Indigenous Vitality, the American Lung Affiliation, members of the B20 Membership of Illinois, in-state advocates, and organizations just like the Illinois Farm Bureau to coach legislators on the advantages of biodiesel. Their profitable two-year marketing campaign included academic classes with main fleets equivalent to Ozinga Bros., the Chicago Park District, the Forest Protect District of DuPage County, and the Village of Arlington Heights, in addition to occasions at Illinois’ capitol and extra. The occasions have been used as a chance to coach legislators on the well being, environmental, and financial advantages of biodiesel gasoline. The technique was finally profitable, resulting in the passage of the invoice in April 2022, championed by Senator Patrick Joyce (D-Essex) within the Senate and Consultant Eva Dina Delgado (D-Chicago) within the Home.
The brand new invoice step by step will increase the biodiesel ranges required for the state gross sales tax exemption from the present blends over B10 to blends over B19 in 2026. This can enhance biodiesel consumption by an estimated 125 million gallons per yr and scale back CO2 emissions by 1 million metric tons.
The Eco-Pleasant Cellular Farm Stand Venture, primarily based in Elmhurst, obtained a Group Options Award. The challenge is a 501(c)(3) group that donates electrical cell farm stands to city farming organizations serving neighborhoods with out entry to recent fruit and greens. The nonprofit works with city farms that serve neighborhoods impacted by meals insecurity, to create an environmentally and economically sustainable, hyper-local, meals supply/transportation system – all achieved with out the usage of gasoline and emitting dangerous air pollution into the air. Following the latest lack of three grocery shops in Garfield Park, the challenge collaborated with the Garfield Park Group Council to place an Eco-Pleasant Cellular Farm Stand in service for them to make use of to serve those that have been affected essentially the most by meals insecurity – senior residents.
The Garfield Park Group Council is utilizing its Eco-Pleasant Cellular Farm Stand to succeed in seniors within the East and West Garfield Park neighborhoods, lots of whom obtain advantages, equivalent to Senior Farmers’ Market Vitamin Program coupons, however reside in areas the place markets will be scarce. They will ship greater than 300 kilos of recent produce to senior amenities with out having to pay for costly gasoline and launch dangerous emissions into the native air. The eco-friendly deliveries are an alternative choice to different types of public and private transportation to the closest grocery retailer which will be as a lot as 5 miles away.
Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd., primarily based in Rosemont, has been named Office of the Yr by IACT. The agency’s aim this previous yr was to extend the variety of electrical car charging stations at its workplace from 4 to 6 and to construct charging infrastructure that might be used sooner or later for electrical car charging stations. The brand new EV charging stations can be found to staff for gratis in assist of lowered emissions and our total lowered carbon footprint. The reservation system supplied by EVmatch permits staff and the general public to know they’ll have an open electrical port to make use of at their desired time of use. The EV charging stations can be found at a low price per kWh to the general public. The unique 4 EV charging stations are non-networked and obtainable solely to staff for gratis.
Tim Milburn, a associate within the agency Inexperienced Methods 2Go and a member of IACT’s steering committee, was acknowledged with an EV Charging Options Award. Milburn obtained the award for his work making a coaching program to deploy electrical car charging options for multi-family dwellings.
Milburn additionally created an EV Readiness Choice Information for native governments. Working with IACT, Milburn oversaw a number of listening classes with business and municipal fleets, leading to a regional examine on various fuels alongside interstates; supplied first-responder coaching; and offered at a number of IACT webinars all year long, serving to to coach non-public and public fleet managers and the general public.
Dr. Eleftheria Kontou, an assistant professor on the College of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been named Researcher of the Yr. Dr. Kontou’s analysis on electrical car charging infrastructure planning, supported by the Illinois Heart for Transportation and the Illinois Division of Transportation, helps the state of Illinois decide how one can optimally deploy chargers over time to satisfy statewide emissions discount objectives and attain electrical car adoption targets, aligned with the not too long ago handed Local weather & Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA).
Dr. Kontou’s analysis group developed a suitability map for EV charging infrastructure, considering a various set of standards addressing financial, societal, and environmental justice issues, showcasing the essential position of fairness in planning for the subsequent technology of rising and sustainable mobility techniques. The suitability mapping work was a part of the state of Illinois NEVI plan. The evaluation forecast recognized census tracts that must be prioritized in the course of the Illinois statewide deployment of charging infrastructure together with interstates and main highways that traverse them. In accordance with the analysis, interstates and highways I-90, I-80, I-55 and I-57 have excessive suitability scores for charging stations.
