A Seattle business magazine has added Spokane's GreenCupboards, to its 2012 Washington Green 50 list.

The list is described as Washington's top sustainable organizations and businesses.

A total of four companies from Spokane made the list. The other three are Avista Utilities, plus Itron Inc. and Demand Energy, a startup in Liberty Lake.

Tove Tupper, GreenCupboard's marketing director, noted that this listing is the first recognition for the company by Seattle Business. 

The full list is available here.

GreenCupboards was also a finalist in the retail and consumer category, taking second place. Other companies in the retail and consumer category included Brooks Sports and Alaska Airlines.

The company started four years ago and recently moved into offices at the McKinstry Innovation Center, east of downtown Spokane.

GreenCupboards has been on a growth tear lately; in the past two years it's expanded from 14 employees to 55 employees.

Five statewide tech companies will receive $1.5 million in loans and grants from the Sirti Foundation, including two area firms developing energy technologies.

The money comes from an award from Washington’s Department of Commerce Energy Program, funded through the federal stimulus package. The goal is to assist companies to create high-quality jobs in energy-saving areas or environmentally beneficial products.

The two Spokane companies receiving grants and loans are:

• $350,000 to Demand Energy Networks, a Liberty Lake firm developing Demand Shifter, an energy storage device that extracts energy from the grid, stores electricity in its batteries, and reintroduces energy back into the grid when it is needed. It will get $100,000 in loans and $250,000 in grants.  The company was launched in 2008. The grant anticipates creation of 49 additional jobs and leveraging $3,410,943 in additional funding.
  

The Spokesman-Review ran a story this past January on Demand Energy Networks. It’s here and includes the photo above, showing Randi Neilsen, a company executive. 

• $200,000 to Great Northern Spokane, LLC, which is creating a geothermal heat pump demonstration project in the former Burlington Norther Santa Fe terminal acquired this year by energy management company, McKinstry.

The award provides a $100,000 loan plus a $100,000 grant. The goal is for McKinstry to use the project as a demonstration to work with other companies looking for energy savings. The project estimates eight new jobs.

Read the rest of the story below.