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Presented in partnership with BASF
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The case for clean air
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Equipment at Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Kewadin, Mich., was retrofitted with diesel oxidation catalysts to reduce harmful exhaust levels. Photo courtesy of Grand Traverse Resort |
Editor’s note: Inside Your Environment periodically presents information being featured
or archived on The Environmental Institute for Golf Web site. For more about this month’s topic, visit
www.eifg.org.
One of the reasons that people choose to either live, work or visit areas of our country like the mountains, coasts, lakes, forests and prairies is to enjoy the fresh, clean and crisp air that can be regularly found in those areas. It’s also one of the reasons why people visit the golf courses that call those areas home.
But even on the highest of mountains, on the shores of the broadest lakes or on the fairways of the most picturesque golf courses, it’s sometimes impossible to escape the effects that the burning of fossil fuels can have on those environments. Remember — it takes equipment to maintain those beautiful tees, greens and fairways.
So, besides oxygen, just what’s in the air we breathe? The EPA provides an Air Quality Index (AQI) for “five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act: ground-level ozone, particle pollution (also known as particulate matter), carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.” The U.S. government has created a Web site dedicated to air quality — www.airnow.gov — that carries the headline, “Quality of Air Means Quality of Life.” Visit this Web site to see the air quality forecast map, the AQI scales and information about the pollutants.
For some, a high AQI triggers an air quality warning for the day, and we’re asked to do our part in reducing air pollution such as car pooling, taking public transportation and avoiding lawn mowing. For others like Paul Galligan, the Class A superintendent at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Kewadin, Mich., and a 17-year member of GCSAA, and Brian Napont, the air quality specialist for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, air pollution control is a regular part of their environmental stewardship efforts.
In their case study, “Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Diesel Retrofit Initiative Project Summary,” they write that, “Exhaust from these older engines is a complex mixture of over 100 gaseous and particle constituents, including carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), particulate matter (PM) and oxides of sulfur (derived from the sulfur in fuel).”
In response to high readings from a nearby ozone monitor, the group obtained funding, and coordinated with consultants and other experts to develop and implement a plan that provided training and an equipment retrofit for some of the golf course’s equipment.
“The golf course maintenance equipment retrofit initiative included two mowers and a tractor operated by the Grand Traverse Resort,” the study reports. “This equipment was retrofitted with diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC). DOC technology is well established and widely used in both on-road and off-road technologies. However, the GTB project is believed to be the first of its kind in applying DOCs to multiple pieces of golf course maintenance equipment.”
The team used existing data from the EPA for this technology to determine what the expected results would be. “We anticipate that the catalytic converters will reduce harmful emissions by as much as 60 percent, which not only helps the environment but also the operators of the equipment,” according to the case study.
Through its Audubon Green Golfer Challenge, Audubon International gathered more than 2,500 individual pledges from 54 golf courses worldwide, it says. The program, initiated in 2007, invited golfers and golf courses to pledge to support environmental stewardship while playing golf. Courses with the most pledges were: the National Service Resort & CC, Singapore; Bethpage State Park, New York; the Manila Southwoods G&CC, Philippines; Rockland CC, New York; RiverBend GC, Canada; Pecan Hollow GC, Texas; Lakewood Ranch G&CC, Florida; Stone Tree Golf & Fitness Club, Canada; and WinStar GC, Oklahoma. Pledges can still be made at www.golfandenvironment.org. Project EverGreen recently appointed Chris Kujawa of Kujawa Enterprises Inc., as president of the group’s board of directors for 2008. He will succeed Cindy Code of GIE Media Inc., who served as president for the past two years. Jeff Bollig, GCSAA’s director of communications, is a member of the board of directors. |
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