Cleveland, June 30, 2010 — The Council of Smaller Enterprises has won a national award for their leadership in promoting sustainable business practices. The Institute for Sustainable Development announced the winners of the Green Plus North American Sustainable Enterprise Awards at a ceremony earlier this month in the Silver LEED Certified North Carolina Research Triangle Park headquarters.
COSE, the small business partner of the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP), won the 2010 Green Plus Chamber of the Year Award for its exceptional efforts to aide its members in improving their energy efficiency and sustainability practices.
For more than ten years COSE has been on the forefront of energy savings and efficiency issues as a provider of electricity and natural gas savings options to small and mid-sized businesses. Last year, COSE was designated as the Energy Efficiency Administrator for the First Energy territories by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). In addition, COSE recently received a $100,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Development to fund projects that provide energy efficiency assistance to small businesses.
“COSE provides the most concrete energy efficiency and sustainability assistance to its members of any chamber we could find,” said Chris Carmody, Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development. “COSE is setting the standard for member assistance in a time when energy efficiency and sustainable practices are more important than ever before.”
“COSE and GCP are pleased to be recognized with this award,” said Steve Millard, President & Executive Director of COSE. “This award challenges us to continue driving efforts to create a more sustainable regional economy and aide small business members to embrace sustainability,”
In addition to COSE being recognized, the Bedford-based Taylor Companies won the Green Plus People’s Choice Award at the same ceremonies. The Taylor Companies, the first Certified Green Plus company in the state of Ohio, is noted for its reclamation of an industrial brown-field in order to keep its manufacturing jobs local, as well as its extensive efforts to reduce its waste, water, and energy consumption and its exemplary employee and community support