SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Winners have been chosen for the 2011 Green California Leadership Awards. The awards will be presented during the a reception at the Green California Summit and Exposition on April 19 at the Sacramento Convention Center.

The annual event, which will take place April 18-20, is the year's largest gathering of green advocates from the public sector and their private sector partners in greening the Golden State.

In cooperation with the Advisory Board for the Summit, the awards were established to recognize outstanding environmental achievements by cities, state agencies and other government entities in California.

Covering categories ranging from climate change to purchasing, the awards offer a unique and rare public recognition of public sector accomplishments in sustainability. All nominated projects must be publicly financed and executed, and must have provided a measurable benefit to the natural or human environment.

Award Winners

The Climate Change award honors initiatives to reduce human contributions to greenhouse gases, and the City of Tulare is being recognized for its Energy Efficiency Strategy (TEES). The TEES initiative includes a variety of programs that are structured to reduce the overall amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) generated by the community.

The Energy Innovation Award goes to the California Department of General Services (DGS) for its ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) Small Building Program. Using ARRA funding, DGS instituted a revolving loan program for energy projects on state-owned buildings less than 50,000 square feet, of which there are over 11,000 in California.  

California government has served as a model for what can be achieved in green building. This year, the City of Sacramento's Community Reinvestment Capital Improvement Project (CRCIP) receives the Green Building award. The project, completed in 2010, entailed the new construction of five LEED Silver or Gold (green building designations from the US Green Building Council) city facilities.

Procuring green products entails first determining what it means for a product to be "green." This year's award-winner in the category of Purchasing, the City and County of San Francisco, has pioneered a green purchasing program that is being emulated by many other cities and communities.

The Waste Management award goes to the County of Santa Cruz for its Zero Waste Program. Under the program, the county passed the threshold of 70 percent waste diversion, one of the highest diversion rates in California.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has won the Transportation award for its innovative recycled paving project using Cold Foam Recycling on storm damaged state Highway 84 on Ryer Island.

The Water Management award, recognizing significant savings in water conservation and efficiency, goes to the City of Fillmore for its Water Recycling Project. This $72 million project replaced an existing plant with a new, state-of-the-art water recycling facility that ended the practice of river discharges and enabled full-scale reuse.

The Green Culture Award recognizes systemic efforts within an organization or community to promote the understanding and application of sustainability concepts. The City of Pasadena receives this award for its far-reaching Green City Action Plan. 

"There are many green heroes in state and local government," said Carl Smith, Green Technology editor in chief. "These awards are not so much a competition as an opportunity for the Summit to recognize as many of these individuals as possible, and to spotlight achievements in communities from all parts of the state."

For more complete information on the awards see the article in Green Technology Magazine. For information on the Green California Summit, or to register, call Cindy Dangberg at 626-577-5700 or go to www.green-technology.org/gcsummit.

SOURCE Green Technology