2024 Air Central Texas Awards
The Air Central Texas Awards celebrate the positive contributions of organizations and individuals to regional air quality in Central Texas. Our goal is to recognize the great work happening across the region and to inspire future actions that support the region’s ongoing air quality planning efforts.
This year the Central Texas Clean Air Coalition (CAC) on Wednesday recognized SPEER, Chikage Windler, the Coalition for Responsible Environmental Aggregate Mining (CREAM), and Adele Noel with its 2023 Air Central Texas awards for making significant contributions to improving the region's air quality.
2024 Air Central Texas Outstanding Organization Award
SPEER received the 2024 Air Central Texas Outstanding Organization Award for their exceptional efforts to help reduce local air pollution. SPEER is a regional energy efficiency organization (REEO) with a mission to accelerate the adoption of advanced building systems and energy efficient products & services in our region, Texas and Oklahoma. Through their Building Operator Certification (BOC) training course that teaches energy-saving strategies, SPEER has trained over 400 building operators. These efforts contribute significantly to air quality improvements, as buildings account for 35% of the nation’s carbon emissions.
2024 Air Central Texas Media Award
Chikage Windler received the 2024 Air Central Texas Media Award for exceptional media coverage of air quality and air quality-related issues within the past year as chief meteorologist at CBS Austin. Through her leadership, the CBS weather team has consistently promoted clean air and sustainability, raising community awareness of sustainability issues.
2024 Air Central Texas Environmental Education Award
The Coalition for Responsible Environmental Aggregate Mining (CREAM) received the 2024 Air Central Texas Environmental Education Award for their efforts in improving public awareness on environmental issues associated with quarries and CBPs in Williamson County by holding a panel discussion in Georgetown on the subject, with Commissioner Terry Wilson in attendance among the 250 participants.
2024 Bill Gill Central Texas Air Quality Leadership Award
Adele Noel received the 2024 Bill Gill Central Texas Air Quality Leadership Award for her distinguished work as the Air Quality Environmental Project Manager for Travis County. Adele has been a stalwart member of CAPCOG’s Clean Air Coalition Advisory Committee and other organizations like the Clean Air Force of Central Texas for years, frequently serving in leadership roles. She also advocates encouraging and enabling the use of cleaner fuels and technologies in Travis County’s fleet department. She's helped to promote Travis County’s anti-idling rules and worked with the constable's office to assist with Travis County's efforts to reduce the number of vehicles operating in the region with fake vehicle registration plates.
Past Recipients
The 2023 Air Central Texas Awards recognized Movability, Rich Segal, Dr. Peter Beck, Olivia Prior, and Bill Gibbs. Learn more about past recipients.