On September 17, Sacramento area business leaders and elected officials celebrated the winners of this year’s Sustainable Business Awards. KCRA Anchor Teo Torres emceed the ceremonies and expressed appreciation for the winners’ voluntary efforts to reduce waste, conserve resources and prevent pollution. He also stressed the importance of conservation at home. His water saving efforts led his kids to nickname him “the shower sheriff.”
Presented by the Business Environmental Resource Center (BERC), the awards recognize organizations that go above and beyond environmental compliance to stand out as models for the community. The awards are part of BERC’s Sustainable Business Program, the region’s benchmark for achieving sustainable practices. Since its start in 2007, the program has certified more than 425 businesses and organizations.
This year’s winners employed ingenuity and innovation to reduce energy consumption and water use, improve air quality, convert waste products into fuel, and much more. For example, the Sacramento County Water Agency recreated the Donna Dean Garden into a river friendly landscape. American River Packaging completed the nation’s first commercial high solid organic waste conversion facility. It turns 7.5 tons of food waste and .5 tons of corrugated material into natural gas which generates approximately 1,300 kilowatts of electricity per day. Glide Cruisers produces clean-tech, electric drive stand up cycles which are three times faster than the competition.
Each organization’s efforts demonstrate that sustainable practices aren’t only good for the environment, they are good for business. Following is a complete list of the winners and their award winning projects or programs.
Energy Conservation – Small Business
E3 NorCal
E3 provides unbiased third party professional energy consulting services, diagnostic testing for energy efficiency projects, and Title 24 Energy Compliance Verification on hundreds of homes throughout the State of California.
Energy Conservation - Large Organization
California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS)
CalPERS implemented Server Hot Aisle Containments that increase efficiency of the cooling systems for servers while reducing energy consumption. These containments resulted in an annual reduction of 931,898 kilowatts, which equates to $101,577 annually in electrical costs.
Transportation/Air Quality - Small Business
Unique Aeriography
Unique Aeriography performs aerial photography with a helium balloon and a large kite – no noise, no pollutants, and no environmental impact. Photos are delivered digitally, reducing paper waste from printed photographs.
Transportation/Air Quality - Small Business
Glide Cruisers
Glide Cruisers produce clean-tech, electric-drive, stand-up cycles. Compared to competitors, Glide Cruiser units are three times faster (at 34 MPH), much more agile, and have a 30+ mile range.
Transportation/Air Quality - Large Business
Atlas Disposal Industries
Atlas constructed a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station at the County’s South Area Transfer Station in March 2013. The station fuels the majority of their fleet vehicles. The project helps clear the path for similar projects that will improve air quality in the Sacramento region.
Transportation/Air Quality - Large Organization
McClellan Park, LLC (MBP)
McClellan Park established a Transportation Management Agency that maintains a public outreach effort to increase public transportation ridership and carpooling, plus encourages cycling and walking to work. MBP has over 280 registered carpoolers, 4 leased Enterprise Rideshare vans, and 168 designated carpool spaces.
Water Conservation - Large Organization
Sacramento County Water Agency (SCWA)
SCWA recreated the Donna Dean Garden into a River Friendly Landscape inspiration garden. This garden inspires visitors to use drought tolerant and low maintenance plants in their landscapes. The inspiration garden uses a smaller amount of water and energy while also reducing solid waste and water pollution.
Water Conservation - Large Business
The Westin Sacramento
The Westin utilizes low flow water fixtures and a closed loop cooling tower system. They system has been converted into a unique solids treatment program that now operates a significantly increased concentration. This improvement reduces tower bleed and conserves valuable water.
Solid Waste Reduction - Small business
T3 Recycling & Sustainable Office Supplies
T3 is committed to providing an environmentally friendly way to recycle new and used ink, toner, and other related materials. They manage used and end–of-life electronic equipment based on a “reuse, refurbish and recover” disposal hierarchy.
Solid Waste Reduction - Large business
American River Packaging
All of their products contain recycled and renewable resources. American River Packaging completed construction of the nation’s first commercial high-solid organic waste conversion facility which converts 7.5 tons of food waste and .5 tons of corrugated material into natural gas which is used to generate approximately 1,300 kilowatt of electricity per day.
Green Building - Large organization
City of Rancho Cordova
The city received LEED Certification for City Hall and their Police Facility. In addition they replaced all parking lot lighting with induction bulbs, installed Smart Clocks on sprinklers that adjust run times based on weather conditions and scaled back schedules for building equipment and increased occupancy set points to reduce energy consumption.
Green Building - Large Organization
Sacramento International Airport
According to SMUD engineers, Terminal B will yield a greenhouse gas reduction of 793 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the baseline. Terminal B energy savings will be approximately 1.87 gigawatt hours.
Pollution Prevention - Small Business
California Safe Soil (CSS)
CA Safe Soil processes organics with enzymes to produce Harvest-to-Harvest, a high-nutrient fertilizer and soil amendment. By converting the organics, CSS eliminates landfill methane gas and reduces greenhouse gas. In addition, CSS offers an organics recycling program for supermarkets.
Pollution Prevention - Small Business
Schaubmayer Painting, Inc.
Shaubmayer uses non-polluting paints and other green building products and recycles old paint buckets to donate to the community. They also endorse non-toxic products and plant-based materials.
Environmental Excellence
Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District
The local air district met the new federal standard for fine particulate air pollution largely due to winter regulations and the “Check Before You Burn” program. Meeting this federal standard means we all breathe cleaner air.
Collaboration
Regional Sanitation District and Sacramento District Dental Society (SDDS)
Regional San and the Sacramento District Dental Society collaborated to reduce mercury from entering our waterways by creating a voluntary Sustainable Dental practice certification program. Three dental offices were the first be certified; Sutter Terrace Dental, Dental and Holistic Health, and Ronald Blanchette's Dental Office.
To learn more about the BERC and the Sustainable Business Program, visit http://www.sacberc.org/Pages/default.aspx.