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Source: Environmental Leader.com

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) create 80 percent of Canadian industry’s harmful environmental impacts and more than 60 percent of commercial waste, according to a report released today by the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS), Canadian Football League team the Montréal Alouettes, World Wildlife Fund, Quebec furniture manufacturer Artopex and 10 other organizations. SMEs also create more than 80 percent of new jobs in Canada every year, according to SME Sustainability Challenges 2012.

In the report, small businesses share challenges they face in being environmentally responsible.
Continue reading SMEs Struggle with Sustainability Expertise, Quantifying Benefits

Dear WaterSense Stakeholder,

WaterSense is announcing its intent to update its specifications covering certification programs for irrigation professionals as well as the WaterSense irrigation professional partnership. With this notice of intent (NOI), WaterSense outlines several important changes under consideration that would foster program growth and expand the benefits of WaterSense irrigation partnership to more professionals.

The program changes outlined in the NOI are two-fold:

1. WaterSense is proposing to restructure its current specifications for professional certification programs by creating a consolidated and common set of general requirements that would apply to all professional certifying organizations (PCOs). WaterSense will continue to create individual specifications for requirements specific to particular types of certification programs.

2. WaterSense is considering expanding the benefits of partnership to all professionals certified by WaterSense labeled programs and, in doing so, remove the individual partnership designation.

To learn more about these changes, WaterSense encourages interested partners and stakeholders to review the NOI and participate in one of two listening sessions:

• In person: Tuesday, November 6, 2012, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the 2012 Irrigation Show and Education Conference in Orlando, Florida. Orange County Convention Center, Room W104A.
• Online: Via WaterSense Webinar: Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 1:00 PM EST. Click here to register.

WaterSense also welcomes written feedback and questions on all concepts and topics included in this NOI. Interested parties should submit these by email to watersense-programs@erg.com.

If you have general questions regarding the WaterSense program, please contact the WaterSense Helpline at (866) WTR-SENS (987-7367) or email watersense@epa.gov.

Sincerely,

The WaterSense Team

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced e-NEPA, a new online system that allows federal agencies to submit environmental impact statements (EISs) electronically. Traditionally, EISs have been submitted to EPA in hard copy. e-NEPA eliminates the need to mail or deliver copies of EISs to EPA headquarters, reducing printing, shipping, and delivery costs. It also saves time through electronic filing and e-confirmation and improves transparency, allowing EPA to post EIS documents to EPA’s website.

“The release of e-NEPA is an important step forward in advancing the President’s commitment to streamline the federal environmental review process,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Through electronic filing, we are making it easier for federal agencies to submit environmental impact statements, allowing them to save time and reduce costs, while making the process more transparent for the public.”

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to integrate environmental considerations into their decision-making processes by identifying the environmental impacts and reasonable alternatives to their proposed actions. To meet NEPA requirements federal agencies prepare detailed analyses known as EISs. EPA reviews, provides comments, and maintains a national filing system for EISs.

Beginning on October 1, 2012, all agencies are required to use the e-NEPA filing system.

More information about e-NEPA: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/submiteis/index.html

More information about NEPA: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/index.html

More information about how to file an EIS electronically: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/submiteis/guide-to-e-nepa-electronic-submittal-of-eis.pdf

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) honored five leading organizations as 2012 WaterSense Partners of the Year. WaterSense-labeled products manufactured by these organizations and more than 2,600 WaterSense partners nationwide have helped American businesses and households save 287 billion gallons of water and $4.7 billion in water and energy bills.

“WaterSense is proud to partner with these champions of water efficiency who share our mission to protect the future of our nation’s water supply,” said Nancy Stoner, EPA’s acting Assistant Administrator for Water. “The 2012 WaterSense Partners of the Year were exceptional in their efforts to support innovative approaches to help people and companies save water and money on utility bills nationwide.”

The WaterSense Partner of the Year awards program recognizes WaterSense partners who help advance the overall mission of WaterSense, increase awareness of the WaterSense brand in a measurable way, and demonstrate overall excellence in the water efficiency arena.

WaterSense recognized the following Partners of the Year for their water-saving initiatives:

Manufacturer Partners of the Year:
American Standard Brands earned a Manufacturer Partner of the Year Award for developing a WaterSense-labeled toilet model that can be installed without tools. American Standard also toured the country with an educational display that demonstrated how WaterSense-labeled faucets, toilets and showerheads work.

Kohler Co., now a three-time WaterSense Manufacturer Partner of the Year, introduced its most water-efficient dual-flush toilet in 2011. Kohler also more than doubled the number of WaterSense-labeled showerheads it offers and supported and participated in the “Wasting Water Is Weird” consumer education campaign to promote water conservation.

Retailer Partner of the Year:
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. became a three-time WaterSense Retailer Partner of the Year by supporting and participating in the “Wasting Water Is Weird” campaign to promote water conservation and training their sales associates on water savings and usability of WaterSense labeled products. Through their efforts, Lowe’s customers saved about 4 billion gallons of water in 2011 with WaterSense products.

Promotional Partner of the Year:
Colorado Springs Utilities was named the WaterSense Promotional Partner of the Year for helping a local builder create the first WaterSense-labeled home in Colorado. The utility also encouraged commercial kitchens in the area to try pre-rinse spray valves that helped save more than 20 million gallons of water.

Builder Partner of the Year:
KB Home, now a two-time WaterSense Builder Partner of the Year, built nearly 100 WaterSense-labeled homes in 2011 and pushed the limits of sustainable building with a model home designed to achieve net-zero energy use and the highest levels of water and other resource efficiency.

The Partner of the Year awards were presented at the WaterSmart Innovations conference in Las Vegas, Nev. The Excellence Awards were also given at the conference to five organizations that contributed to program initiatives such as providing employee education, supporting WaterSense’s annual Fix-a-Leak Week public awareness campaign, and facilitating collaboration among stakeholders during 2011. WaterSense is a partnership program sponsored by EPA, and seeks to protect the future of our nation’s water supply by offering people a simple way to use less water with water-efficient products, new homes, and services.

More on the 2012 WaterSense Partners of the Year and Excellence Award winners: www.epa.gov/watersense

Source: FierceHealthcare.com

A high-performing system not only efficiently coordinates care and uses meaningful technology, but it also rewards its providers for carrying out those efforts.

The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) yesterday defined a “high-performing system,” which the trade group hopes will be adopted by Capitol Hill and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in future policies that offer incentives for health systems.

AMGA member work groups, its public policy committee and the board of directors developed the definition for legislators, insurers and the public because of “confusion about what constitutes a high-performing health system,” AMGA President and CEO Donald W. Fisher said in a statement.

Its definition includes the following areas, which providers can use as goals for operational and quality improvement, according to AMGA:

1. Efficient provision of services to manage per-capita costs
2. Organized system of care, which provides continuum of care across inpatient and outpatient settings
3. Quality measurement and improvement activities, including continuous learning, research and external reporting and public patient experience surveys
4. Care coordination, which promotes a single, shared plan of care across settings
5. Use of information technology and evidence-based medicine for making clinical decisions, patient monitoring and drug prescribing
6. Compensation practices that promote quality metrics on chronic disease, prevention and patient experience
7. Accountability on finances and regulations

For more information:
– read the AMGA announcement
– see the AMGA definition

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As part of the Energy Department’s commitment to invest in skills for American workers, the Department today announced a free online training program for building and electrical code officials who perform inspections for residential photovoltaic (PV) solar energy installations.

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