Spokane Clean Air recognizes local Dish facility’s energy efficiency improvements

Making improvements to 22,000-pound diesel generators can be thankless work, but not in the eyes of the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency.

On Monday, the agency’s leadership announced Dish Technologies Spokane as the 2026 recipient of the long-running Clean Air Award. Started in 2005, the award honors Spokane County companies finding innovative ways to improve air quality in the region.

Dish Technologies is a subsidiary of telecommunications giant Echostar, which includes Dish Network and Dish Wireless. The Spokane locale recognized Monday is a private facility tucked off Interstate 90 on the West Plains responsible for transmitting signals, uplinks and broadcast coverage for much of the Pacific Northwest.

“There’s several uplink sites exactly like ours throughout the country,” said Daniel Race, facility manager for the site. “They’re just uplinking and broadcasting signals out to space and back so Jack and Jill can get their DISH TV at home.”

It is a full-time affair, which is why the facility is equipped with three emergency diesel generators in the case of a power outage. The behemoths are a handful of the 185 similarly large diesel generators permitted to operate in the county by Spokane Clean Air, all of which generate and pollute on a much greater scale than the at-home generator local residents may keep in the garage, said agency spokeswoman Lisa Woodard.

“We have a threshold, so we don’t permit or register the generators unless they’re above the 500 brake horsepower engine size,” Woodard said, citing state law. “There are a lot of smaller diesel generators in the county that we don’t specifically regulate; we’re kind of looking to regulate the ones that are on the larger side.”

The generators received two key improvements over the past year that prompted the recognition: the installation of new engine block heaters and an update to the operating system.

Race said the operating system update was implemented by the higher-ups at sites across the country, which will lead to a significant reduction in diesel fuel use and emissions in Spokane County and beyond. All emergency generators used to fire up at the same time, but under the new system, one generator will turn off if the demand for all three is not needed.

The system updates mean the company will save an estimated 25 gallons of diesel per hour, leading to a total fuel savings of 30% and a 30% drop in diesel emissions.

The generators exhaust fine particulate pollution, meaning it measures less than 2.5 micrometers across. April Westby, executive director of Spokane Clean Air, noted that state law recognizes diesel emissions as a specific, regulated toxic air pollutant, known to adversely affect public health.

When diesel emissions or other fine particle pollutants are inhaled, they can travel deep into the respiratory tract and penetrate the lungs and the bloodstream, where they can cause short- and long-term health problems. Chronic exposure to fine particle pollution can increase the risks of strokes, coronary heart disease and death, according to the American Lung Association.

The fine particulates are of particular concern in Spokane County. A 2023 Spokane Clean Air report found Inland Northwest residents may be more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution due to high rates of poverty and unemployment, as well as a lack of affordable housing. The region also experiences higher rates of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a lower life expectancy than other parts of the state.

Race is responsible for the implementation of the new engine block heaters produced by Spokane company HotStart Thermal Management, a past recipient of the Clean Air Award. The equipment circulates warm coolant throughout the generator engines at a uniform temperature using a heat pump, rather than the electrical unit big generators come equipped with.

“It just heats the coolant differently, using the moisture and the ambient air around it to heat the coolant versus direct electrical current,” Race said.

The HotStart units have led to significant energy savings of up to 35% annually, or $2,000 per generator, Race said. He would like to see his idea grow throughout the broader company, with sites across the country adopting HotStart block heaters.

“We have several, several other uplink centers like this, and they all have big backup generators,” Race said.

The savings from the improvements are in addition to incentive programs offered by the Bonneville Power Association and Avista Utilities that led to an incredible return on investment, Race said.

Westby called the benefits provided to the business and the region’s air quality a “win-win.” Striving to improve the status-quo is a key factor considered when selecting awardees, she said.

“We always really appreciate when businesses continue to look for ways to reduce their emissions and don’t just keep operating old equipment, doing things the same way for years,” Westby said.