Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) has been awarded the U.S. Green Building Council – Los Angeles’ (USGBC-LA) Sustainable Innovation Award in the category of “Energy and Operational Carbon” for its soon-to-be-completed [H2] Innovation Experience microgrid demonstration project in Downey, California. SoCalGas was honored at USGBC-LA’s 12th Annual Sustainable Innovation Awards on December 8, which recognized companies’ commitments to sustainability through projects that demonstrate exemplary performance.
“SoCalGas is making sustainability front and center in all that we do, and nowhere is that more apparent than our work on the [H2] Innovation Experience,” said Jawaad Malik, vice president, strategy and sustainability and chief environmental officer for SoCalGas. “The clean fuels microgrid technology at the [H2] Innovation Experience showcases how new and existing energy infrastructure can work together to deliver reliable, around-the-clock energy that also helps California reach its climate goals more quickly and more affordably.”
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The [H2] Innovation Experience – named a world-changing idea by Fast Company in 2021 – is a clean hydrogen microgrid demonstration project featuring clean hydrogen production and storage along with a nearly 2,000 square-foot home that can draw power from solar panels on sunny days and convert excess renewable energy into clean hydrogen. Excess renewable energy can be stored and then converted back into electricity, as needed, via an on-site hydrogen fuel cell 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The microgrid is being constructed to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum standards and is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
The USGBC-LA sustainability award comes on the heels of SoCalGas being awarded in October the top “Business Transformation Award” at the 2022 Responsible Business Awards, hosted by Reuters Events, where the company was recognized for having established truly transformative sustainability priorities with the potential to create impact at scale in the energy sector and beyond.
SoCalGas has long made sustainability a priority at its facilities. The company’s Energy Resource Center (ERC) earned California’s first “Energy Star Building” award in 1995. Later, the ERC became the first building in California to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED “green building” recognition. And it was certified as LEED Gold in 2013 – the second-highest designation – in recognition of the building’s design in terms of carbon, energy, water, waste, transportation, materials, health and indoor environmental quality. And in 2018, the ERC was awarded WELL Certification at the Silver Level by the WELL Building Institute, an award for buildings and spaces that promote human health, well-being, and comfort in their design.
SOURCE: PR Newswire