Apr 3 2008
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) yesterday awarded PG+E a 2008 Partner of the Year Award for Excellence in Energy Efficiency Program Delivery for its outstanding accomplishments in reducing greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. This is the second ENERGY STAR award this year for PG+E. In February, PG+E was awarded the 2008 Excellence in ENERGY STAR Promotion Award for its outstanding contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by sponsoring significant consumer education efforts promoting energy-efficient programs.
PG&E, a long-standing ENERGY STAR partner, is being honored for its work in promoting programs that meet ENERGY STAR guidelines for energy efficiency. The 2008 Partner of the Year award was presented to PG&E for its Large Commercial Automated Benchmarking Program (ABP). PG&E's Change-A-Light Campaign was also awarded the 2008 Excellence in ENERGY STAR Promotion Award.
PG&E's Automated Benchmarking Program was developed to provide commercial buildings with an automated method of uploading energy usage data into the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager building performance rating system, providing an alternative to a manual method and addressing a key barrier to participation. Since this program was implemented, more than 1,000 buildings have been added into the system and the numbers continue to grow.
PG&E's Change-A-Light Campaign provided over one million compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs and CFL literature to customers, resulting in a potential savings of more than 400,000 megawatt-hours of electricity, while preventing the emission of more than 200,000 tons of greenhouse gases -- enough energy savings to power nearly 60,000 homes for one year and the equivalent of removing 31,000 cars from the road. Last year alone, Americans with the help of ENERGY STAR saved $16 billion on their residential and business energy bills and reduced greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 27 million vehicles.
"PG&E believes in the value of energy efficiency and the importance of sharing its benefits with our customers," said Janice Berman, senior director of Customer Energy Efficiency, Generation and Revenue Development. "In our partnership with ENERGY STAR we look for ways to educate customers on how the use of ENERGY STAR programs can save money and protect the environment. We take pride in our partnership with ENERGY STAR to make energy efficiency a fundamental part of serving our customers."
ENERGY STAR Awards are given to a variety of organizations to recognize their efforts to improve energy efficiency and reduce pollution, resulting in significant cost savings. Award winners are selected from more than 9,000 organizations that participate in the ENERGY STAR program.
"Partners like PG&E are leading the way by showing Americans how they can protect our environment through energy efficiency," said Robert J. Meyers, principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air & Radiation. "By promoting ENERGY STAR, they are making it easy for consumers to find energy-efficient products in the marketplace."
PG&E is a national leader in helping its customers use energy efficiency as a cost-effective way of reducing their energy bills and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. From 1976-2007, PG&E's 87 distinct residential and commercial energy efficiency programs have helped customers save more than 134 million megawatt-hours of electricity and 11.1 billion therms of natural gas. These joint efforts helped our customers save more than $22 billion in energy costs, while preventing more than 135 million tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.