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Port Kicks Off its Green Business Challenge with an Educational Breakfast Event

Friday, 14 January 2011
Contact: Marguerite Elicone (619) 686-6222

The Port of San Diego is kicking off a campaign to encourage its waterfront tenants to go green.

The Port of San Diego's Green Business Challenge will be officially launched at a breakfast on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina on Harbor Island. The breakfast will be from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. in the Fairbanks Ballroom in the hotel's Bay Tower, located at 1380 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego (map).

• Green Business Challenge website

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Complimentary to all interested Port tenants and partners, the breakfast will be an informative gathering where tenants can enjoy a plated breakfast featuring locally-grown, sustainable food. Attendees will hear from Dr. Lisa Shaffer of the University of California at San Diego's Rady School of Management. Dr. Shaffer will present her research on the economic benefits of green business and how companies can save money by conserving energy and water.

A panel composed of Port tenants that have already implemented sustainable practices will discuss a variety of topics regarding their organizations' environmental leadership. The panel will include representatives from Sun Harbor Marina, Hornblower Cruises and Events, and the San Diego Sheraton Hotel and Marina.

The breakfast is sponsored by San Diego Gas & Electric, a partner and sponsor in the Port of San Diego's Green Port Program. Christina Rathbun, Customer Programs Advisor for Industrial and Commercial Markets at SDG&E, will give an overview of SDG&E's energy programs.

The breakfast is an opportunity to educate the Port's tenants about the Green Business Challenge and to encourage them to participate.  Participants will use a simple, online tool that allows them to track and calculate their efforts to go green. Free training will be provided and tenants will be able to take advantage of energy rebate programs. Tenants will also be included in a marketing and communications campaign aimed at promoting the Green Business Challenge and will be honored at a special event acknowledging their participation, initiatives and energy reductions. That event will be held at the end of 2011. More information is available on the Green Business Challenge website.

The Green Business Challenge Breakfast and the Green Business Challenge are funded through a partnership the Port shares with San Diego Gas & Electric. The partnership was formed in 2009 to support the Port of San Diego's Green Port Program. The partnership helps identify and fund programs that will facilitate net energy savings and greenhouse gas reductions.

The Green Business Challenge is modeled after a 2009 program developed by ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability for the City of Chicago. ICLEI is a nation-wide non-profit association with 600 local, regional and national governments that are committed to sustainable development. Due to the program's success and popularity in Chicago, ICLEI expanded the program to four selected pilot communities: the Port of San Diego, CA; Charleston, SC; Houston, TX; and Arlington County, VA.