Three California Organizations Win National Award from ENERGY STAR.Energy Editors/Business Editors SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2004 In honor of outstanding energy-saving achievements, ENERGY STAR for Small Business, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and (EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. ) and Department of Energy, presented national awards to three California organizations. Jack Colburn, an EPA senior policy advisor, presented a special award to the California Public Utilities Commission's (CPUC CPUC California Public Utilities Commission CPUC Current Procurement Unit Cost ) Small Business Energy Alliance (SBEA SBEA Small Business Exporters Association SBEA Southern Business Education Association ) Energy Savers Program for their innovative outreach to small businesses. Mr. Colburn also recognized California Interfaith Power & Light (CIPL CIPL California Interfaith Power and Light CIPL Central Images Picture Library (UK) CIPL Commercial Invoice and Packing List CIPL Center for Intellectual Property Law ) for their creative outreach to congregations and T & Y Market, a Sacramento grocery, for their exceptional energy-saving efforts as a small business. Sponsored by the CPUC as a public-goods initiative and implemented by SBEA, the Energy Savers Program helps hard-to-reach small businesses save energy. The program provides outreach, free energy audits and up to 75 percent funding to upgrade lighting, install programmable thermostats or tune up refrigeration refrigeration, process for drawing heat from substances to lower their temperature, often for purposes of preservation. Refrigeration in its modern, portable form also depends on insulating materials that are thin yet effective. and air conditioning systems. In 2003, SBEA's efforts helped to reduce energy usage by nearly 19 million kiloWatt-hours (kWh) and saved businesses $2.3 million. With the goal of mobilizing California faith-based organizations to slow global warming, CIPL helped more than 280 congregations replace thousands of incandescent lamps with energy-efficient options. Their efforts resulted in collective savings of nearly 1.8 million kWh of electricity and almost $218,000. Since CIPL began evaluating their program in 2001, congregations have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2.2 million pounds. T & Y Market, a family-owned Sacramento grocery, is saving almost $22,000 per year since they implemented a comprehensive set of energy efficiency upgrades. With help from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, previous owners and staff, the market upgraded lighting, refrigeration and heating, ventilating ventilating Natural or mechanically induced movement of fresh air into or through an enclosed space. The hazards of poor ventilation were not clearly understood until the early 20th century. Expired air may be laden with odors, heat, gases, or dust. and air-conditioning systems. T & Y also installed an energy management system and an innovative heat reclamation system that warms the store with heat from the refrigeration units' condensers, virtually eliminating the need for natural gas. As a result, T & Y is saving more than 180,000 kWh of electricity and 8,000 therms of gas each year. The energy saved reduces greenhouse gas emissions by preventing 316,400 pounds of carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. annually. ENERGY STAR began in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based approach to reduce air pollution through energy efficiency. ENERGY STAR helps businesses, state and local governments, congregations, and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. Reduction of energy waste reduces greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants associated with fossil fuel-based electrical generation. |
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