Meet the 2020 GABA "Environmental Champions" honorees
Posted on 10/01/2020 by Austin Chamber
Learn more about GABA 2020!
The Greater Austin Business Awards, now in its 20th year, celebrates the people and companies that have demonstrated a unique vision, innovation, and best business practices.
The Environmental Champion award recognizes best practices in business sustainability, such as creating more goods and services with fewer resources, waste and pollution, resulting in a positive impact for the environment.
Join us on December 8th as we announce the award recipients!
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Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
AMD’s environmental goals and initiatives span our supply chain, operations and products. These goals are designed to significantly outperform industry averages, such as 75% lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to the industry average). Our Austin operations are LEED Gold certified and utilize recycling, composting, native landscaping, and rainwater collecting. In 2019, we collected and reused over 1 million gallons of rainwater for irrigation and cooling the HVAC chillers. We also collaborate with the City of Austin on various initiatives including the Mayor’s 2020 Mobility Pledge, Green Business Leaders Program, and Community Climate Plan.
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Austin Habitat for Humanity ReStore
Green practices are at the core of the ReStore’s mission and operating model. The ReStore serves three purposes 1) to provide additional funding for the creation of affordable homes 2) to increase the community’s access to low-cost building materials and home goods and 3) to divert reusable materials from the landfill. With two convenient ways to donate – drop-off at our two ReStores and a free pick-up service – it’s easy to give items a second life rather than choose the landfill. When it comes to supplies like paint, flooring, backsplash, and housewares, someone’s “too much” might be your “just enough.” That’s the beauty of the ReStore!
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Goodwill Central Texas
Promoting environmental sustainability is key to the mission of Goodwill Central Texas. As one of the largest recyclers in Central Texas, our social enterprise model incorporates environmentally friendly practices across all our operations. Goodwill receives and processes hundreds of thousands of donations annually. Items otherwise destined for the landfill are separated and sorted, enabling us to recycle and upcycle large quantities of recyclable materials. As a tremendous added benefit, revenue generated from recycling funds our holistic suite of services that empower Central Texans through education and work.
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Harris Energy Solutions LLC
Harris Energy Solutions (HES) has extensive experience and expertise in all aspects of energy management, including energy efficiency analysis, energy master planning, alternative energy sources, and building commissioning. By constantly adding new environmental practices to its portfolio, HES is able to reach wide into providing environmental sustainable solutions for its customers. Volunteers from HES regularly visit elementary schools to education students on different uses of solar panels while letting them interact by building small solar powered race cars. HES has also participated in multiple park clean ups with Hill Country Conservancy, EPIC and the Austin Parks Foundation.
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Pease Park Conservancy
Pease Park Conservancy, founded in 2008, has worked to restore, enhance and maintain Austin's first and oldest park, Pease Park. Pease Park Conservancy celebrates the diverse ecology that makes Austin’s first public park valuable and unique. In partnership with the City of Austin Parks & Recreation Department, it is at the core of our mission to maintain this 84-acre public green space for the sustainable use and enjoyment of all. Pease Park is 145 years old, and it is our vision to ensure its continued use via responsible land stewardship, environmental innovation, and inclusive programming.
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Prep To Your Door
Our menu is entirely PLANT-BASED - meat & dairy products account for the majority of GHG emissions associated with the food system. Livestock production has other harmful environmental side effects such as manure runoff into the water supply & habitat fragmentation (clearing forests) to make space for livestock production. We use organic, locally-sourced, and extra food is donated to Keep Austin Fed and other organizations — preventing food waste, as 40% of US food is thrown in the trash! Anything not donated, we compost. All paper and food scraps are composted by Break It Down Austin! Composting prevents the release of methane (a greenhouse gas) in landfills and can be used again as healthy, rich soil!
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Stan's Heating, Air & Cooling
Stan's Whole House Approach includes beyond providing exceptional service, our goal is to save energy in people’s homes and businesses. Initially, we tried installing attic insulation, floor insulation, putting storm windows on people’s homes, caulking and weather stripping to make building shells more airtight, sometimes individually, sometimes in concert. Judging from customer feedback, we found that the more measures we undertook, the better results we got. Conversely, we found that if only one measure was taken, the results varied immensely. This green approach not only benefits customers, but also the environment through impactful energy savings.
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Texas Disposal Systems
Texas Disposal Systems (TDS) are committed to being environmental stewards working in the best interest of their neighbors, employees and the businesses and communities served. Our dedication to doing things the right way was established more than 42 years ago by our founders and owners, Bob and Jim Gregory. We develop strong community partnerships and educate citizens on how to practice eco-friendly habits in order to manage waste, recycle and compost materials in a legal and ethical manner without adversely impacting the environment. TDS is constantly developing initiatives that build strong environmental practices at our facilities and for our customers, even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Texas Gas Service
At Texas Gas Service, we share responsibility for the care of our planet. TGS is committed to a further reduction in emissions. TGS’ sustainability strategy focuses on maintaining safety and eliminating current and potential future emissions that can result from aging infrastructure. Since 2015, TGS sustainability programs have resulted in a cumulative reduction of 22,785 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (C02e), which is equivalent to one year of electric use by 14,145 homes.
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