Tag Archive for: UCAIR

2022 Clear the Air Challenge Results Announced

Fidelity Investments and Dell Technologies Take Top Awards

Results are in for the 13th annual Clear the Air Challenge, hosted by the Salt Lake Chamber, TravelWise Utah and UCAIR, with perennial winners Fidelity Investments and Dell Technologies-Utah taking top honors. Numerous businesses and individuals participated in the annual competition to show their commitment to our environment and to raise public awareness of the importance of clean air.

“The Clear the Air Challenge is just one way to highlight how each of us can individually take steps to reduce the impact we have on our environment,” said Derek Miller, President and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber. “Over the past month, participants have shown how easy it is to reduce our carbon footprint by using TravelWise strategies. By taking steps to reduce pollution, we can improve the health and quality of life of all who live and visit here. We applaud all participating teams and individuals for their collective efforts and for leading the way in improving our quality of life.”

The Clear the Air Challenge is a month-long initiative undertaken by business, government and community leaders that encourages Utah residents to drive less and drive smarter during the month of July. Participants help improve air quality by avoiding trips alone in their car and using TravelWise Strategies such as carpooling, teleworking, taking public transit, biking or trip chaining.

“With the Clear the Air Challenge’s transition to the summer, we were able to spotlight summer ozone issues,” said Kim Frost, Executive Director of the UCAIR – Utah Clean Air Partnership. “By providing education, we hope that Utahns will become more equipped to understand how air quality issues arise and what can be done to mitigate its effect. We congratulate this year’s top large and small teams for their dedication to our community and recognize their willingness to change habits and make this issue a priority.”

Collectively, this year’s participants eliminated 53,541 trips, saved 1,079,434.1 miles, 392.7 tons of CO2 and $0.6 million, and burned 1.4 million calories in just 31 days.

Top Large Teams:

  1. Fidelity Investments
  2. State of Utah
  3. University of Utah

Top Small Teams:

  1. Dell Technologies-Utah
  2. GSBS Architects
  3. Penna Powers

Top Participants:

  1. David Vasquez, State of Utah
  2. Alison Mortensen-Hayes, University of Utah
  3. Guinevere Timpson, State of Utah

ABOUT THE CLEAR THE AIR CHALLENGE

The Clear the Air Challenge, issued by business, government and community leaders, is a month-long competition starting February 1 that gives you the chance to reduce your vehicle emissions by choosing alternatives to driving alone. The Clear the Air Challenge is a partnership between the Salt Lake Chamber, TravelWise and UCAIR.

Clear the Air Challenge: Solutions to Economic Growth & Sustainability

The 2022 Clear the Air Challenge is a month-long initiative undertaken by business, government and community leaders that encourages Utah residents to drive less and drive smarter during the month of February.

“Poor air quality doesn’t just hinder the views of our beautiful mountains,” said Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance. “It jeopardizes our health, and it hinders our ability to keep businesses and jobs coming to our state. Since each of us contributes to emissions that lead to poor air quality during inversions, we all have an opportunity and responsibility to make a difference.”

​​Transportation emissions are responsible for nearly fifty percent of the pollutants that make up Utah’s poor air quality. By driving smarter, we can protect our health, environment, economy and quality of life. For this reason, participants of the Clear the Air Challenge use TravelWise strategies like carpooling, using public transit, teleworking, trip chaining, walking and riding their bike or scooter to reduce their emissions and help clear Utah’s air.

“We recognize that there are no perfect answers to keep our air clean, but there are practical solutions,” said Thom Carter, Utah Clean Air (UCAIR) executive director. “These strategies represent many of the practical steps all of us can take to make a difference for our air. While the Clear the Air Challenge takes place for just one month, we hope it will provide Utahns the opportunity to start new habits and think about how their individual behaviors contribute to our air quality challenges.”

By encouraging employees to participate, businesses can create a team to make an even bigger impact. The Clear the Air Challenge begins July 1. Register your team of coworkers, family or friends at ClearTheAirChallenge.org and be part of the solution.

2019 Clear the Air Challenge Kickoff

One month of driving less and smarter to help improve Utah’s Air

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (January 25, 2019) – Today the Salt Lake Chamber, along with its clean air partners UCAIR and TravelWise, kicked off the 10th Annual Clear the Air Challenge. The Challenge, issued by business, government and community leaders, is a month-long competition designed to encourage Utahns to reduce their vehicle emissions by choosing alternatives to driving alone.  

Transportation emissions are responsible for nearly fifty percent of the pollutants that make up our poor air quality. By reducing vehicle trips, we can protect our health, environment, economy and quality of life. That’s why participants of the Clear the Air Challenge use TravelWise strategies like carpooling, using public transit, teleworking, trip chaining, using electric vehicles, walking or riding their bike or scooter to reduce their emissions and help clear Utah’s air.

“While we can’t do much about our geography, we can control the choices we make to decrease the emissions that cause air pollution,” said Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance. “The Clear the Air Challenge shows us that small individual changes can, and do, make a difference to Utah’s air quality. And when we improve our air quality, we enhance the well-being of all Utahns and ensure our continued economic success.”

Since the Challenge started in 2009, participants have helped make a big difference in improving Utah’s air quality. In that time, more than a million trips have been eliminated, 15 million miles saved, 5,000 tons of emissions reduced and $6.5 million saved.

“As we all know, there are no perfect answers to solving Utah’s air quality problems, but there are practical solutions,” said Thom Carter, UCAIR executive director. “The Clear the Air Challenge is one way to engage the citizens of Utah in finding practical solutions that make a real difference in improving our air quality.”

Business and organization participation is a key component of the challenge. By encouraging employees to participate, businesses can create a team to make an even bigger impact.  

“Penna Powers is proud to have been a partner and a participant in the Clear the Air Challenge for the last 10 years,” said Dave Smith, president of Penna Powers. “We incentivize our employees to participate in the challenge by offering fare reimbursement for those who take public transit, flex schedules, teleworking options as well as encourage carpooling whenever possible. As a result, Penna Powers employees are proud to work for a business that cares about the environment as much as they do.”

Tracking your miles during the Clear the Air Challenge just got easier thanks to the new Commute Tracker app. Now participants can log their trips on the go. The Commute Tracker app allows Clear the Air Challenge participants to log their regular trips, like those from home to the office, automatically. It also allows users to manually log their trips from their phone throughout the challenge.

As always, you can track your trips saved from your mobile device or computer with the TravelWise Tracker. Once you register for the challenge at ClearTheAirChallenge.org you can enter in a starting and ending location and receive carpool options, transit routes, or biking and walking routes. The TravelWise tracker gives the amount of emissions you’ll save and the time it will take to make your trip.  

The Clear the Air Challenge starts February 1st.  Register your team of coworkers, family or friends at ClearTheAirChallenge.org and be part of the solution.

The Challenge would like to recognize community supporters: Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce, Cedar City Chamber of Commerce, Davis Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Alliance, Greater Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Heber Valley Chamber, Holladay Chamber of Commerce, Hurricane Valley Chamber of Commerce, Moab Chamber of Commerce, Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce, Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce, South Jordan Chamber of Commerce, Tooele County Chamber of Commerce, Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce, West Jordan Chamber of Commerce, and Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Additionally, the Challenge recognizes media partners: X96 KXRK, ABC4 Utah and Fox 13.

ABOUT THE CLEAR THE AIR CHALLENGE

The Clear the Air Challenge, issued by business, government and community leaders, is a month-long competition starting February 1st, that gives you the chance to reduce your vehicle emissions by choosing alternatives to driving alone. The Clear the Air Challenge is a partnership between TravelWise, UCAIR, Penna Powers and the Salt Lake Chamber.

ABOUT THE SALT LAKE CHAMBER

The Salt Lake Chamber is Utah’s largest and longest-standing business association. A statewide chamber of commerce with members in all 29 Utah counties, the Chamber represents the broad interests of the state’s 63,000- plus employers, which employ more than 1.4 million Utahns. This includes thousands of Chamber members and their employees. With roots that date back to 1887, the Chamber stands as the voice of business, supports its members’ success and champions community prosperity.