What do the Sacramento Kings, the Selland Family of Restaurants, and Delta Landscape Services all have in common? On September 15, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors recognized them, along with five other regional organizations, for their sustainable business practices. Each winner received a resolution and posed for photos with the Board of Supervisors. The business community and the public are invited to celebrate the winners at the Sustainable Business Awards event on September 24, 2015.
The Sacramento Area Sustainable Business of the Year Awards features a green business expo with a continental breakfast, networking and vendor booths, and an awards ceremony. The ceremony will feature keynote speaker Barry Broome, President and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council and a special appearance by Chris Grainger from the Sacramento Kings. Register today at no cost.
Presented by the Business Environmental Resource Center (BERC), the Sustainable Business Awards recognize top environmentally proactive Sacramento area businesses whose work practices demonstrate an outstanding commitment to enhancing sustainability. The awards are part of BERC’s Sustainable Business Program, the region’s benchmark for achieving sustainable practices. Since its start in 2007, the program has certified more than 500 businesses and organizations.
Each of this year’s winners demonstrates that sustainable practices are both good for the environment and good for business. Following is a complete list of the winners and their award winning projects or programs.
Transportation & Air Quality
AmeriPride Uniform Services uses a low emission fleet for its distribution services. Each vehicle is equipped with GPS devices to monitor idling and speeding. Diesel engine vehicles are also equipped with automatic idle shut-off parameters. AmeriPride has replaced fleet vehicles with lower emitting, more fuel efficient and alternative fuel vehicles.
Water Conservation
Delta Landscape Services has designed their operations with sustainability in mind. Delta prioritizes drought resistant landscape projects and landscaping materials. The company has implemented companywide practices to conserve water, such as following planting seasons, taller mow heights, and lawn mulching.
Energy Conservation
The Melting Pot has replaced all feasible lights with LED bulbs. This restaurant has installed variable speed motors in their refrigeration systems and a low temperature dishwasher to reduce ambient temperature and energy consumption. They also use induction table heaters, which increase efficiency and maintain cooler ambient temperatures.
Solid Waste Reduction
The Selland Family of Restaurants includes The Kitchen, Ella Dining Room and Bar, and Selland’s Market Café. These restaurants focus on pre-consumer and post-consumer composting to divert organic waste from landfills. The Selland Family of Restaurants has diverted more than 195,000 pounds of organic waste from landfills, resulting in a reduction of more than 25 tons of methane gas production.
Green Building
The Folsom Dog Resort & Training Center retrofitted their facility to California Title 24 standards. The business installed a state of the art drainage system that diverts pet wastewater directly to the sewer system while letting rainwater flow into the storm drain.
Pollution Prevention
Premier Mushrooms Incorporated installed a biomass generator that produces clean burning renewable fuel gas from locally sourced walnut shells, ultimately fueling 30% of the farm’s energy needs. The farm also features a high efficient air chiller, on-site compost production for mushrooms that do not make it to full maturity, and a wastewater capturing system to recycle water for composting needs.
Pollution Prevention
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has a 99.8% solid waste diversion rate, features a Hot Rot composting system to create compost for on-site gardens, and converts 100% of their used vegetable oil into biodiesel for on-site operations. Sierra Nevada also treats post-production water at an on-site facility that recovers biogas and uses it to generate energy for the brewing facility.
Innovation in Sustainability
The Sacramento Kings are using sustainable practices to build their new arena, The Golden 1 Center. The center will be carbon and grid neutral, and is expected to be LEED Gold-certified. The Kings are using regionally sourced materials for construction to reflect the region in the architecture, such as Sierra limestone and San Benito sand for concrete. The whole project is using only Forest Stewardship Council-Certified wood.
