2Sustain

Are you tasked with helping your company improve its energy efficiency strategies?

If so, then your job just got a whole lot easier.

Yesterday, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change launched its new Corporate Energy Efficiency Web Portal.

The Web portal, which will continue to be built over time, currently features a variety of valuable resources, including:

• A comprehensive, searchable database of energy efficiency initiatives undertaken by the 45 companies in the Pew Center’s Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC).

• Results from a survey on corporate energy efficiency strategies.

• Presentations delivered at a series of workshops held by the Pew Center to support the project.

• Notable external resources on corporate energy efficiency strategies and news articles.

Results of the recent survey are particularly intriguing because they show that for the 48 companies that completed the questionnaire…

• The average energy efficiency reported was 20%, or 2.2% on an annualized basis.

• The three main drivers of energy efficiency initiatives were: reducing their carbon footprint, responding to rising energy prices, and demonstrating their commitment to corporate social responsibility.

• 81% said that they had modified their products and services to enhance or offer new levels of energy efficiency performance. The motives here included: “to take advantage of new market trends brought on by consumer concerns about energy prices” and “to respond to competitive pressures.”

• The CEO and senior management team were most frequently identified as the key champions of corporate efficiency programs. Interestingly, they ranked higher than facility managers, and environmental health and safety teams.

The Corporate Energy Efficiency Web Portal is part of a broader project funded by a three-year $1.4 million grant from Toyota. And, just like the Pew Center’s Climate Techbook, which is an e-guide to low-carbon technologies and climate change solutions, there’s no doubt that the portal is going to prove an essential on-line resource for companies looking to improve energy efficiency strategies in internal operations, supply chains, product manufacture, and services.