The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and the Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE) are recognizing 12 top programs efficiency programs from nominations across the United States, Canada, and Australia that save both energy and water.

These programs were chosen because of their market penetration and innovation in helping customers or stakeholders to achieve both water and energy savings through efficiency. The top 5 award winners are:

  1. Southern California Edison: Leak Detection Pilot Program
    • This pilot created an energy and water utility partnership that developed a water savings program that also took into account energy embedded in water. This reveals the usefulness of collaborative efforts.
  2. Darden Restaurants: Darden Sustainability-15 X 15
    • Darden made an average investment of $3.3m and achieved savings annually of $6m through committing to energy and water reduction. Its efforts demonstrate that it is possible for companies to start resource saving programs that lead to significant savings with little cost.
  3. City of Boulder, Colorado: Energy Performance Contracting Program
    • By using taking advantage of the Energy Performance Contract (EPC) program, the City of Boulder was able to improve the performance of 66 of 330 city-owned facilities.
  4. Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA): Long Term Sustainability Program
    • Through prioritizing demand-side management, avoiding capacity expansions, and decreasing operating expenses, this program allowed the water utility company to manage customer costs and provide environmental benefits.
  5. United Technologies Corporation (UTC): 2015 Sustainability Goals
    • UTC built upon its EH&S goals set in 1992 to now transform into goals that improve resource performance and sustainability.

Honorable Mentions: Promising Programs:

  1. City Of Santa Rosa, California: Ozone Laundry Program
  2. Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC): Green Home Certification Standard
  3. The City of Austin: Multifamily Energy and Water Efficiency Program
  4. Bonneville Power Administration: Save Water-Save Energy Agricultural Energy Efficiency Program
  5. Denver Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA): Watts to Water
  6. Town of Windsor, California: Windsor Efficiency PAYS®

Honorable Mention: Sustained Achievement:

  1. Resource Action Programs: LivingWise

The lessons learned from all winning programs can be found in a new report, Tackling the Nexus: Exemplary Programs that Save Both Energy and Water, released today by ACEEE and AWE. This report is one of the first in-depth looks at the kinds of programs that are being implemented across the country.