The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Sept. 6 unveiled a new interactive, web-based tool that provides information about the environmental and economic performance of industry sectors including the power industry.
Developed by EPA’s Smart Sectors Program, the sector snapshots application shows comprehensive, historical environmental and economic performance on a sector basis and allows users to visualize the data over the last 20 years, the EPA noted.
The first modules to be released showcase three sectors: iron and steel, chemical manufacturing, and utilities and power generation. The program plans to release modules for other sectors participating in the Smart Sectors program on a rolling basis.
Each sector snapshot includes three components:
- A home page that allows users to browse general graphics (high-level contextual information about the sector);
- An interactive chart viewer with environmental indicators and economic benchmarks information for the sector over time. It allows users to analyze sector-level trends and compare environmental indicators to economic benchmarks. There are also toggles that show recessions and different relevant events for each sector; and
- A summary page that provides high-level narrative about the sector’s operations and offers users a variety of links to additional information.
“EPA’s Smart Sectors snapshot highlights the electric utility industry as a powerful economic engine that is making great strides to improve our environmental performance, “said Delia Patterson, the American Public Power Association’s Senior Vice President of Advocacy & Communications and General Counsel.
“The industry provides public power utility jobs to 93,000 people. As community-owned, not-for-profit electric utilities, public power is committed to serving our customers with reliable, affordable, and environmentally responsible power,” she said.
Additional information about the Smart Sectors program is available here. To access the snapshots, click here.
