Sustainability

Acid Rain. This site describes the causes and effects of this serious environmental problem and what EPA is doing to help solve it.

Air Trends. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA has established national air quality standards for six principal air pollutants to protect public health and the environment.

Best Practices: Industrial Technology. This Department of Energy program works with industry to identify opportunities for efficiency and energy savings.

Bicycle and Pedestrian. The Department of Transportation funds bicycle and pedestrian projects under several highway, transit, and safety funding programs.

Building America. This Department of Energy program works with the residential construction industry to develop and implement innovative building processes and technologies that save builders and homeowners millions of dollars in construction and energy.

Center for Climate Change and Environmental Forecasting. This Department of Transportation program fosters awareness of the potential links between transportation and global climate change and formulates policy options to deal with these challenges.

Clean Cities Program. This EPA program aims to enhance our nation's energy security and air quality by supporting public and private partnerships that deploy clean-burning alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and develop the associated fueling infrastructure.

Clean Energy. Clean energy is derived from efficient, clean technologies, including renewable, "green" power, and combined heat-and-power technologies.

Climate Leaders. This EPA industry-government partnership encourages companies to develop comprehensive strategies concerning climate change.

Coal Combustion Products (CCP) Partnership Program. This cooperative effort by EPA, the CCP industry, and other partners promotes the use of CCPs, which offer associated environmental, economic, and performance benefits.

Coalbed Methane Outreach Program (CMOP). This EPA program aims to reduce methane emissions from coal mining activities. Working with coal and related industries, CMOP helps to identify and implement methods to profitably recover and use methane from coal mines.

Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Partnership. This EPA program fosters cost-effective projects, engaging the CHP industry, state and local governments, and other stakeholders to expand the use of CHP.

Compliance Assistance Centers. These EPA-sponsored centers assist businesses, local governments, and federal facilities to understand federal environmental requirements and save money through pollution prevention techniques.

Consumer Product Labeling Initiative. EPA, the specialty pesticide industry, environmental groups, and state and local governments started this Initiative to make pesticide labels easier to read and understand.

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards. The Department of Transportation establishes required efficiency levels for new vehicles in the U.S.

Design for the Environment (DfE) Program. This program promotes integration into everyday business practices of cleaner, cheaper, and smarter design solutions.

Emissions Trading. This site provides links to information about EPA's use of economic incentives for air pollution control.

Energy Conservation. EPA's Energy and Water Efficiency Program ensures that the agency uses natural resources efficiently when designing, constructing, and maintaining its facilities.

Energy Efficiency. This site describes Department of Energy programs to develop energy-efficient technologies for buildings, homes, transportation, power systems, and industry.

Energy Star. This EPA- and Department of Energy-sponsored program helps businesses and individuals to protect the environment through enhanced energy efficiency.

Environmental Management Systems (EMS). These systems can assist an organization to reduce its environmental impact and increase its operating efficiency.

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing. This program encourages and assists federal agencies in purchasing environmentally preferable products and services.

Federal Energy Reduction Requirements. EPA and other federal agencies are required to report energy use and carbon emissions and to reduce energy consumption by buildings and vehicles.

FreedomCAR. This Department of Energy government-industry program for high-efficiency vehicles focuses on fuel cells and hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources.

Green Buildings. The principles of green building can help to create healthier and more resource-efficient models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance, and demolition.

Green Construction and Sustainability. Green construction principles consider a building's total economic and environmental impact and performance, from raw material extraction and product manufacture to building design, construction, operations and maintenance, and reuse or disposal.

Green Engineering Outreach. EPA disseminates Green Engineering information to university faculty and students.

Greening EPA. EPA continuously works to reduce the environmental impact of its facilities and operations, from building new, environmentally sustainable structures to improving the energy efficiency of older buildings.

Greening EPA: Buildings. EPA promotes energy and resource efficiency in its existing buildings and new construction.

Greening EPA: Renewable Energy. EPA purchases green power, often in the form of renewable energy certificates, that is the equivalent of about 76 percent of its total electricity use.

Greening EPA's Fleet. About one-third of the vehicles in EPA's national fleet are alternative-fuel vehicles or employ hybrid-electric or other advanced technologies.

Green Power Partnership. Through this EPA program, a Green Power partner pledges to replace a portion of its electricity consumption with green power within a year of joining the Partnership.

Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program. This Department of Energy program integrates activities in hydrogen production, storage, and delivery with transportation and stationary fuel cell activities.

Inherently Low-Emission Airport Vehicle (ILEAV) Pilot Program (PDF). (24 pp, 1.32MB, About PDF) This Federal Aviation Administration grant program covers half of the incremental cost of purchasing low-emission vehicles for certain airports.

International Cleaner Production Cooperative. This program provides access to Sector-Based Pollution Prevention and Compliance Assistance resources.

It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air. This public education and partnership-building initiative, sponsored by EPA and the Department of Transportation, supports regional, state, and community efforts to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution.

Labs for the 21st Century. This voluntary EPA program is dedicated to improving the environmental performance of U.S. laboratories.

Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP). This program encourages landfills across the country to capture their landfill gas emissions and use them as an energy source.

National Partnership for Environmental Priorities (NPEP). This program encourages companies to make innovative changes in their manufacturing and production processes to reduce the use of 31 "priority chemicals" found in our nation's products and wastes.

Partnerships for Home Efficiency. This is a joint effort of EPA and the U.S. Departments of Energy and of Housing and Urban Development.

Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange(P2Rx). EPA grants provide partial funding for this consortium of eight regional pollution prevention information centers.

Sector Strategies Program. This site describes the environmental gains made through innovative actions that EPA has taken with manufacturing and service sectors.

SmartWay Transport. This partnership with firms in the freight industry establishes incentives for improving fuel efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Streamlining and Stewardship: Transportation. This Department of Transportation program seeks to ensure that transportation improvements are environmentally responsible and delivered to communities in a timely manner.

Supplemental Environmental Projects. Settlement agreements with alleged violators of federal environmental laws often include a voluntary agreement that an alleged violator will undertake an environmentally beneficial project related to the violation.

Transportation, Community, and System Preservation Pilot Program. This Department of Transportation grant program helps states, local governments, and metropolitan planning organizations plan and implement strategies to improve the efficiency and reduce the environmental impacts of transportation systems.

Transportation and Air Quality. This site provides links to information about air pollution from vehicles such as motor vehicles, boats and ships, trains, aircrafts, and from the fuels that they use - and how individuals and organizations can make travel choices that minimize pollution.

Voluntary Diesel Retrofit Program. This program addresses pollution from currently operating diesel construction equipment and heavy-duty vehicles.

Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program. This Department of Energy program works with industry to keep U.S. wind and hydropower energy technology competitive in global markets, thus strengthening the national economy.