Five businesses in the City of Santa Clara were honored by Silicon Valley Power (SVP) for energy-saving measures or renewable energy efforts that in 2007 preserved more than 500,000 kilowatt hours of electricity and prevented release of over 6,700 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Electricity savings by just three winners could power nearly 60 single-family homes for a year.

 

The city’s municipal electric utility held the first annual SVP Energy Innovator Awards competition to recognize large and small companies implementing extraordinary measures to reduce energy consumption and utilizing “green” power and renewable energy resources. One small company (under 100 employees) and one large company (over 100 employees) were honored in each of the categories of Environmental Innovator, Energy Efficiency Partner and Green Power Champion at the ceremony on Friday, July 11, 2008 at Stanford University at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) Energy Summit.

 

Echelon Corporation, Santa Clara University, PDM Steel Services Center, Sierra Meat Company and Applied Materials were recognized for their creative and environmentally responsible actions and results.

 

The Environmental Innovator award given for comprehensive efforts to support energy efficiency and renewable energy in the small business category was presented to Echelon Corporation, a networking company whose energy-efficient retrofit included replacement of eight-foot T-12 fluorescent fixtures with smaller, more efficient fixtures and the replacement of antiquated plant heating apparatus with modern, energy-saving equipment.

 

In the category of organizations with more than 100 employees, Santa Clara University earned the Environmental Innovator honor after constructing a 338-panel solar system on its main facilities building and promoting creative energy and sustainability programs that reach 9,500 staff, faculty and students.

 

The Energy Efficiency Partner award is given to organizations for attention to energy efficiency and application of SVP rebate programs. The small business winner was PDM Steel Services Center, a distributor of heavy carbon steel products who took advantage of SVP’s Optimal Power Use Service program (OPUS) and replaced metal halide fixtures with efficient lighting that saves 89,652 kilowatt hours (kWh) annually. Using SVP rebates, the project paid for itself in less than a year.

 

In the large business category, Sierra Meat Company made its meat and poultry importing business more profitable by installing state-of-the-art refrigeration controls and monitoring systems to save over 14,000 kWh a month, cutting energy costs by $15,000 a year and earning the Energy Efficiency Partner award.

 

The overall Green Power Champion, given to the company with the most significant commitment to green power purchases and other renewable energy programs, was Applied Materials, a global leader in equipment, service and software products related to the semiconductor, solar photovoltaic and flexible electronics industries. Applied Materials purchases 2.6 times the annual output of one large-scale wind turbine, preventing the annual release of over 3,277 tons of carbon dioxide.

Silicon Valley Power is the trademark adopted for use by the century-old Electric Department of the City of Santa Clara, California. SVP provides power to more than 50,000 home and business customers, including Applied Materials, Intel, National Semiconductor and Yahoo!, at rates 25 to 45 percent below neighboring communities. SVP (www.siliconvalleypower.com) also offers customers a 100 percent renewable energy option through its Santa Clara Green Power program and is an active participant in the wholesale energy markets in the Western United States. Today the city’s electric utility owns, operates and participates in more than 380 MW of electric generating resources and serves a peak load of approximately 490 MW.