State officials recognized 45 Hawaiʻi organizations and events on Friday at the annual Green Business Program Awards.
The awardees included 13 hotels and resorts, several eateries and breweries, the Hawaiʻi Library Association, and the Hawaiʻi Convention Center.
The Hawai’i State Energy Office said that collectively, the recipients had saved about 6.5 million kWh of electricity over the last year, roughly the equivalent of taking 1,300 cars off the road for a year.
They also conserved 60 Olympic swimming-sized pools’ worth of water.
Ernie Lau, manager for the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, encouraged the recipients to keep up their conservation efforts.
"Fresh water on an island is finite. It is not an unlimited resource," he said. "Each year, we spend around $37 million on electricity, and most of that is to pump water out of underground resources aquifers to get it to your businesses and homes. So use less."
The awardees also recycled 12,000 tons of waste.
Find the full list of honorees of this year's Hawai‘i Green Business Program Awards here.
