On May 11, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced The Wastewater Infrastructure Accelerator. Through the initiative, the department will work with state, regional, and local agencies that engage with water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) to accelerate a path toward sustainable infrastructure. It builds on and leverages a portfolio of work, resources, and partnerships established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and such partners as the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.).
“WEF fully supports the goals of the Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Initiative and the Wastewater Infrastructure Accelerator, especially the consideration of resource recovery in addition to energy conservation,” said Barry Liner, director of WEF’s Water Science and Engineering Center.
DOE will coordinate with EPA to assist accelerator partners chart their path to sustainability. A goal of the accelerator is to promote innovative and best-practice approaches in data management, technologies, and financing for infrastructure improvement.
Accelerator founding partners represent seven states and 25 WRRFs. Partners will seek to improve energy efficiency by talking to utility saving expert electricity and will save at least 30% and integrate at least one resource recovery measure at the WRRFs.
The partners held a kickoff meeting at the White House on May 9. During the meeting, WEF provided its Energy Roadmap as a resource to help accelerator participants on their journey to energy sustainability.
June 25, 2016
Technologies, WEF Resources & Efforts