The Energy Leadership Awards were established in 1991 to recognize public officials who have provided exemplary leadership in instituting and advancing energy efficiency in the United States and abroad. The awards are presented at the annual United States Energy Association/Johnson Controls Energy Efficiency Forum; therefore, the winner must be present to receive it.

A person must be nominated by a peer or self-nominated. A subcommittee of the Forum Planning Committee will review the nomination forms and make recommendations. Members of the Forum Planning Committee will vote on the final award winners, who will be notified before the event.

Members of the Forum Committee select these individuals after reviewing application entries and supporting materials. Awards are presented in the following categories:

Congressional Award
Recognizes a current or former member of congress, or congressional staff person, who has contributed to legislative achievements to encourage energy efficiency gains, particularly in federal government activities.

Public Service Award
Recognizes a current or former federal or state government official (non-elected) who has motivated action to addressing energy efficiency in government operations and has served as an advocate of energy efficiency.

2008 Public Service Award Recipients:

International Award
Recognizes a current or former public official who has encourages energy efficiency internationally.

Governor's Award
Recognizes an individual who has contributed to energy efficiency at the state government level. The recipient may be a current or former governor, agency executive, committee member or other state official.

Mayor's Award
Recognizes a current or former holder of a city-level elective office who has made a significant contribution to energy efficiency at the city government level.

2008 Mayor's Award Recipients:

Douglas Decker Lifetime Achievement Award
This very special award is made only in those years in which an individual fitting any of the four other categories has made such a significant, continuing contribution to the development and stability of our energy sources and preservation of the world's environment through energy efficiency gains that they deserve this recognition.



The winners of the seventh annual Igniting Creative Energy Challenge showed that a young generation is ready to fight to save our natural resources. The winners — three students and a teacher — traveled to Hawaii in March to celebrate their victory. The Challenge is an educational competition that motivates students to learn more about energy and the environment.

Students in grades K-12 throughout the U.S. and Canada are asked to submit entries that demonstrate an understanding of what an individual, family or group can do in their home, school or community to conserve energy and help the environment. They are encouraged to express their ideas in any creative form such as science projects, essays, stories, artwork, photographs, music, videos, web site projects, and more. The judging staff consists of professionals nationwide with backgrounds in science, math, music, art and gifted and talented education, as well as environmental industry experts.

Our seventh annual Igniting Creative Energy Challenge winners are:

Elementary Division —Tessa Hartley, a kindergartner from St. James, Missouri. Her winning project is a book she wrote and illustrated titled ABCs in My Trash. It identifies how she saved a piece of trash for every letter of the alphabet and found a way to reuse it. Tessa’s project demonstrates that using creativity — with recycling and in life — can go a long way.

Middle School Division — Matthew Belz, a sixth-grader from Upper Arlington, Ohio. His winning project is a video documentary showing his journey to find an environmentally friendly alternative to the polystyrene trays used in his school’s cafeteria. His extensive research led him to discover a feasible, practical solution — trays made of sugar cane fiber that are similar in cost and more environmentally conscious than polystyrene trays.

High School Division — Wesley Fulkerson, a junior in El Cajon, California. His winning project is a song he wrote and recorded called “It’s a Beautiful World.” The song encourages others to make simple changes in their lives to conserve energy and drives home the idea that if we all do little things we can collectively make a big difference.

Teacher Division — Jean Kegerreis, a chemistry and zoology teacher in West Ottawa Public Schools in Holland, Michigan. As the teacher with the highest average score of qualifying student entries, Ms. Kegerreis was named the national winner.

The Igniting Creative Energy Challenge is sponsored by:



Four Ph.D. candidates studying Engineering & Public Policy and Civil & Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University took first-place in an open letter writing competition sponsored by Johnson Controls. Dubbed Tomorrow’s Energy Ambassadors, Managers and Scholars (TEAMS), the competition urged college seniors and graduate students to demonstrate an awareness of important issues related to energy and sustainability through an open letter that challenged the field of presidential candidates to clarify their positions on topics such as energy independence, climate change, and renewable energy. Students at more than 200 member schools of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education were invited to participate.

The students’ winning letter appeared as a full page ad in the Pittsburgh and Washington, DC regional editions of USA Today. In addition to publishing the winning letter and recognizing the students at the 2008 Energy Efficiency Forum, Johnson Controls presented Carnegie Mellon University’s Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research with a check for $10,000 and supplied the student team with a $2,500 grant. Editors from Newsweek, IndustryWeek, Environmental Design + Construction, Sustainable Facility, Mission Critical (formerly Energy & Power Management) and Greener World Media judged the top 10 entries which came from Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, Duke University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Purdue University, University of South Carolina, University of Arkansas, University of Cincinnati, University of Montana, and University of Nevada – Las Vegas.


Pictured (l-r) are first-place TEAM challenge winners: Carnegie Mellon University engineering graduate students Benjamin Flath, Constantine Samaras, Shahzeen Attari, Inês Margarida Lima de Azevedo, and Professor David Dzombak.

Benjamin Flath, of Scotch Plains, New Jersey, is a PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University. His area of study is in Civil & Environmental Engineering. He is in the class of 2008.

Constantine Samaras, of Annapolis, Maryland, is a Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University. His areas of study are Engineering and Public Policy, and Civil & Environmental Engineering. He is in the class of 2008.

Shahzeen Attari, of Dubai, UAE, is a Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University. Her areas of study are Engineering and Public Policy, and Civil & Environmental Engineering. She is in the class of 2009.

Inês Margarida Lima de Azevedo, of Lisbon, Portugal, is a Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University. Her area of study is in Engineering and Public Policy. She is in the class of 2009.

Professor David Dzombak is a Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also Faculty Director of the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research.

Please click on any of the links below for more information on the following:

View previous year's award recipients:

US Energy Association
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Suite 550, Mailbox 142
Washington, DC 20004-3022
202.312.1230
kgrover@usea.org

View an Anniversary Slideshow

The Energy Efficiency Forum is in its nineteenth year. To see a little bit of our past history, including some of our noted speakers, please click the link to view our anniversary slideshow

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