The City of Lancaster announced receipt of the Energy Globe Award for the United States, which recognizes Lancaster’s many alternative energy projects, including those developed in partnership with KB Home, Solar City and BYD.

Each year, the Energy Globe Awards select winners from more than 800 projects in 105 countries, with the goal of presenting successful sustainable projects to a broad audience. Founded in 2000, by Austrian Wolfgang Neumann, the Energy Globe Award is considered today’s most prominent award for sustainability, and has been labeled the Oscar of the sustainability movement.

“We’re honored to accept this prestigious international award,” said Mayor R. Rex Parris. “The City of Lancaster has made great strides toward our goal of becoming the alternative energy capital of the world, yet we couldn’t have done it without our partners. It is our successful public-private partnerships with companies such as KB Home, BYD, and SolarCity that have multiplied our efforts, increased our efficiency, and helped us achieve these accomplishments in a very short period of time.”

According to the selection committee; the City of Lancaster’s submission, “Leading the Way in Public and Private Partnership for the Development of Alternative Energy Projects,” has demonstrated that local government can be instrumental in furthering formidable energy conservation issues. With its “Home of the Future” project, conducted in conjunction with KB Home and China-based BYD, Lancaster has masterminded and facilitated a public-private partnership of international proportions which has provided the citizens of Lancaster affordable energy-efficient homes in record time. This project was complemented by the affordable solar financing program “Solar Lancaster,” created in partnership with SolarCity, which provided businesses and homeowners the opportunity to pay less for solar electricity than they pay for utility power.

“The Solar Lancaster program gave local homeowners, businesses, schools, places of worship and other non-profits the chance to use cleaner energy for a lower price, while the customer response allowed us to open a local operations center and create local jobs. The City of Lancaster staff continually went out of their way to ensure the program was a success for the business owners and most importantly, its citizens,” commented Jim Cahill, Southern California Regional Director for SolarCity.

Lancaster enjoys more than 325 days of sunshine per year, making it the ideal place to pioneer new solar energy technologies. According to industry experts, the Lancaster area averages more than seven Kilowatt hours of solar energy per meter per day, making it the strongest sunshine near a major metropolitan area. Having been named the “Most Business-Friendly City” in Los Angeles County, the City of Lancaster is well known for welcoming public-private partnerships, and quickly implementing innovative ideas.

“KB Home is a proud partner with the City of Lancaster and we’re not at all surprised that they have received this very prestigious award,” added Tom DiPrima, executive vice-president, KB Home Southern California division. “The city has long recognized the important role government can play in building a healthy, business friendly environment, generating jobs and providing the tools homebuilders need to develop sustainable and energy-efficient communities.”

“BYD was impressed with Mayor Parris and his team from our first meetings – they truly are committed to economic and environmental recovery and understand what it takes to get business done.  They have been a pleasure to work with and this award is truly earned by their efforts to make Lancaster the alternative energy capital for the state and now the World.  We are proud to do business with this team,” stated Stella Li, Senior Vice President of BYD Ltd.

On June 5, World Environment Day, Energy Globe, in cooperation with UNIDO, UNEP and UNESCO, presented exceptional environmental projects from around the world, publishing the Lancaster project  on the Energy Globe website www.energyglobe.info.

“Amongst all the projects submitted from the United States, the City of Lancaster‘s endeavors shone the brightest,” said Austrian Trade Commissioner Rudolf Thaler. “This forward-thinking city is harnessing the power of one of its greatest natural resources—the sun—and taking advantage of the abundant opportunities for solar energy present in this particular portion of Southern California’s High-Desert region.”