UC DAVIS ENERGY EFFICIENCY CENTER GETS $1.1 MILLION FROM CHEVRON, WAL-MART AND GOLDMAN SACHS

ENERGY EFFICIENCY CENTER GETS $1.1 MILLION FROM CHEVRON, WAL-MART AND GOLDMAN SACHS

The UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center will receive grants of $1.1 million from three new sponsors: Chevron Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
and Goldman Sachs.

Chevron and Wal-Mart have each pledged $100,000 per year for five years. Goldman Sachs is providing $100,000 this year. Their contributions bring the 2-year-old center's funding to a total of over $5 million.

"This support is essential to the Energy Efficiency Center's efforts to bring new technologies out of inventors' garages and research labs and into the market, where they can make real and lasting changes," said founding director Andrew Hargadon, a professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management.

Established in 2006, the Energy Efficiency Center is the world's first university center of excellence in energy efficiency. Its objective is to speed the transfer of new energy-saving products and services into the homes and lives of Californians.

The center's start-up funding of $1 million came from the California Clean Energy Fund, a public benefit corporation dedicated to making equity investments in clean energy companies. UC Davis is matching the CalCEF grant with $1.3 million in operating and research funds, faculty time, and office and laboratory space.

The EEC's teaching and research partners at UC Davis include the California Lighting Technology Center, Western Cooling Efficiency Center, Center for Entrepreneurship, Institute of Transportation Studies, Agricultural Sustainability Institute, California Biomass Collaborative, California Institute of Food and Agricultural Research, and Postharvest Technology Research and Information Center.

The three new sponsors will have the following representatives on the 14-member Energy Efficiency Center board of advisers.

* Chevron: John McDonald, vice president and chief technology officer;
* Wal-Mart: Charles Zimmerman, vice president of prototype and new format development; and
* Goldman Sachs: Larry Kellerman, managing director.

The full board of advisers is listed online at <http://eec.ucdavis.edu/logos>.

Additional information:
* UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center <http://eec.ucdavis.edu>
* Chevron <http://www.chevron.com>
* Wal-Mart <http://www.walmartstores.com>
* Goldman Sachs <http://www2.goldmansachs.com/>