MINNEAPOLIS — Four Cargill Corn Milling North America locations have received the Energy Star award from the Environmental Protection Agency. The facilities, which are located at Blair, Neb.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Eddyville, Iowa; and Wahpeton, N.D., were recognized for protecting the environment through energy efficiency for the second year in a row. By earning the Energy Star, the plants were deemed to be within the top 25% of wet corn milling plants in the nation with regard to energy performance.

“Receiving the Energy Star award was no easy task,” said Marty Muenzmaier, sustainability director, Cargill Corn Milling North America. “Strong energy performance is a key part of the success of Cargill Corn Milling. Over the past 10 years, we have achieved greater than a 20% improvement in energy use efficiency. This is an honor for Cargill and we are very proud of this great achievement.”

The E.P.A.’s Energy Star Energy Performance Indicators (E.P.I.) allow companies to measure energy performance against others in the industry while achieving breakthrough improvements in energy efficiency. Corn Milling used the E.P.I. tool to allow plant energy managers to evaluate energy efficiency and to achieve scores of 75 or higher on the E.P.A.’s 1 to 100 scale and receive the Energy Star designation.