Green California Leadership Award Winners Announced

SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The fourth annual Green California Leadership Awards will be presented at the Green California Summit on Tuesday, March 16. The awards reception will take place from 4:00 – 6:00 pm at the Sacramento Convention Center.

The awards recognize environmental achievements by government organizations. "There is innovation at all levels of government, and in communities throughout the state," said Green Technology editor-in-chief Carl Smith. "We are doing our best to highlight projects that represent the broad spectrum of accomplishment."

Awards will be presented in eight categories. The Energy Innovation award goes to the Franchise Tax Board for an energy efficient data center cooling system developed in partnership with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

In the category of Waste Management, the California Energy Commission and Gills Onions will receive the award for piloting an Advanced Energy Recovery System that transforms some 300,000 pounds of onion peels each day into biogas that feeds on-site fuel cells.

The Water Management Award will go to the City of San Jose for instituting energy efficiency into a wastewater treatment plant that treats about 100 million gallons of wastewater from 8 cities in the South San Francisco Bay.

The County of Sonoma has won the Climate Change Award for its Energy Independent Program that assists residential and commercial property owners to finance renewable energy and water efficiency projects through property taxes.

The first NASA building in the U.S. to be certified LEED™ Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Flight Projects Center, will receive the Green Building Award.  

Lake County will receive a Green Culture for a natural community park building in a disadvantaged rural community that was built by volunteers and has engaged citizens.

The University of California, Irvine will receive the Transportation Award for developing the first automated university bike-share program in California.  

The Green Purchasing Award will be received by the City of Palo Alto for great strides in greening the products and services it secures.

The Green California Summit takes place at the Sacramento Convention Center March 15 – 17, 2010. More than 5,000 attendees are expected to take part in its program of keynotes, education sessions and a green product expo, to gain information and resources to support public sector sustainability programs.

The Leadership Awards, general sessions and the Expo are free of charge.  To register, visit www.green-technology.org/gcsummit or call 626-577-5700.

SOURCE Green Technology