CARLSBAD, CA, Jan. 29, 2008 -- Poseidon Resources Inc. announced today that the Climate Action Plan developed for its Carlsbad Desalination Project has received an Engineering Excellence Merit Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) California.
ACEC California is a non-profit association of private consulting, engineering and land surveying firms which provides services for all phases of planning, designing and constructing projects. With 22 chapters throughout the state, ACEC California is dedicated to enhancing the consulting, engineering and land surveying professions, protecting the general public, and promoting the use of the private sector in the growth and development of the state. Each year, ACEC California's prestigious Engineering Excellence Awards recognizes projects that benefit local communities and California as a whole. Poseidon's Climate Action Plan was submitted to the ACEC by the company's environmental consultant, Kennedy/Jenks.
"Poseidon Resources is honored that our Climate Action Plan has received the Merit Award," said Scott Maloni, Poseidon Resources' Vice President. "As the first major infrastructure project in California to voluntarily commit to carbon neutrality, Poseidon is taking the extra steps needed to make our plant energy-efficient and environmentally responsible. Once built, the Carlsbad desalination plant will be the most technologically advanced, energy efficient and environmentally-sound desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere," Maloni said.
Poseidon's Climate Action Plan was approved by the California Coastal Commission in 2008 as part of the desalination plant's development approval. As part of its Climate Action Plan, Poseidon will use a number of industry-leading initiatives to minimize its energy consumption, setting a new standard for water infrastructure development. The plan utilizes a portfolio of initiatives including state-of-the-art efficiency measures, green-building design, solar panels, purchasing renewable energy credits and funding carbon offset projects. One of the carbon offset projects includes a pledge to assist San Diego's wildfire recovery by planting 5,000 trees in areas damaged by the 2007 wildfires. Poseidon's plan will reduce the project's overall energy requirements and neutralize the Carlsbad facility's carbon footprint.
Last year, Poseidon Resources won the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce's Environmental Spirit Award and was named one of the Top 100 'Going Green' Companies by Forbes Magazine. In 2006, Poseidon also won the prestigious Excellence in Environmental Engineering Award from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and the 2006 Global Grand Prize for Applied Research from the International Water Association for their desalination pilot plant which has been operating on-site since 2003.
Since 1998, Poseidon Resources has been working in a public-private partnership with the City of Carlsbad to construct a 50-Million-Gallon-Per-Day (MGD) seawater desalination plant at the site of the Encina Power Station to provide a cost-certain, locally-controlled, drought-proof supply of water. Once operational, the Carlsbad desalination plant will provide enough drinking water to serve 300,000 residents annually at a guaranteed price and at no risk to taxpayers. Construction of the proposed $300 million desalination project is scheduled to start in summer 2009 and will be operational in 2011.
Poseidon Resources specializes in developing and financing water infrastructure projects, primarily seawater desalination and water treatment plants. These projects are implemented through innovative public-private partnerships in which private enterprise assumes the developmental and financial risks.
###