Promoting Improved Air Quality through Environmental Technology Verifications

摘要

The paper discusses the promotion of improved air quality through environmental technology verifications (ETVs). In 1995, the U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development began the ETV Program in response to President Clinton's 'Bridge to a Sustainable Future' and Vice President Gore's 'National Performance Review' to work with the private sector to establish a market-based verification process available to all environmental technologies. In its 1995-2000 pilot period, up to 12 pilot programs operated under the ETV Program to accelerate the commercialization of innovative or improved technologies through independent third-party verification and reporting of their performance. Normally, nonprofit organizations were selected competitively by EPA to manage these programs whose verification activities followed EPA guidelines. These guidelines include: a technology whose performance is to be verified must be commercially ready and voluntarily offered by its vendor who agrees to cost-share testing, and testing is by an independent organization that complies with the stakeholder-developed protocol approved by EPA.