San Diego Gas & Electric on Tuesday recognized 10 local businesses, governments and institutions ranging from the Irvine Co. to the City of Chula Vista to Poway Unified as energy champions for “outstanding results in energy efficiency and conservation.”
Jeff Martin, the utility’s chief executive officer, said energy conservation efforts throughout the San Diego region have saved enough power for 10,000 homes or 15,000 cars. He said results like this make is possible to envision a future of “sustainability, conservation and savings.
“I want you to image a future when arriving at your home your electric vehicles is charged with solar panels,” Martin told an audience of several hundred at the awards breakfast at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina.
Among the energy champions’ conservation efforts were LEED-certified buildings, electric-vehicle charging stations, solar panels, computerized power-management, updated heating and air-conditioning systems, LED lights and natural gas-powered fuel cells.
The 10 award winners and their business categories are:
- Grand Champion — Irvine Co. — property management
- Hilton San Diego Bayfront — hospitality
- Janssen Research & Development — biotech
- AT&T Services San Diego — communications
- City of Chula Vista — local government
- Sharp HealthCare — health care
- General Dynamics NASSCO — manufacturing
- U.S. Navy for the Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton— federal government
- Poway Unified School District — K-12 schools
- California State University San Marcos — higher education
The biggest savings in electricity use were made by the Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, with 8.5 million kilowatt hours saved, and NASSCO, with 7.8 million kilowatt hours. An average American home uses about 11,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year.
The utility posted YouTube videos about each winner at sdge.com/energyshowcase.
After the awards breakfast, the utility opened a three-hour-long energy expo with more than 75 exhibitors and an collection of electric cars for attendees to test drive.
SDG&E, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, serves 3.4 million electricity and natural gas customers in San Diego and south Orange counties.