2Sustain

Over this past summer, 51 Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) Climate Corps fellows fanned out across 47 leading companies to seek out energy savings.

Without a doubt, they accomplished their task.

Working at companies such as Bloomberg, eBay, McDonald’s, Pepsi, Target, Verizon and Xerox, the EDF Climate Corps fellows uncovered energy efficiency opportunities that represent net operating savings of more than $350 million and over 400,000 metric tons of annual greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the EDF, energy use from commercial buildings accounts for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, and over the past three years groups of EDF Climate Corps fellows have been tasked with finding savings that companies can benefit from and build upon year after year. For instance, the Climate Corps may identify savings that can be recovered from improving lighting, or adopting more energy efficient computer equipment and heating and cooling systems. (more…)

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) just completed the second year of its Climate Corps campaign, and the outcomes are impressive.

Not familiar with the Climate Corp? Let me fill you in:  The Climate Corps sends talented MBA students from top-ranking business schools to Fortune 500 and other leading companies where they make the business case for energy efficiency investments in office buildings and data centers.

This past summer, 26 Climate Corps fellows uncovered efficiencies in lighting, computer equipment and heating and cooling systems that could

• Save more than $54 million in net operational costs over the lifetime of the projects;

• Cut the equivalent of 160 million kilowatt hours of energy use annually—that’s enough to power 14,000 homes;

• Avoid 100,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year— equivalent to taking more than 12,000 SUVs off the road.

The Climate Corps is now recruiting host companies and MBA students for next summer. Find out more details here.

In addition, you can read more about the work of the 2009 fellows here.

Energy efficiency may not be the most “exciting” topic in your sustainability plan, but companies have proven over and over again that gathering this low-hanging fruit is a relatively easy and reliable way to cut costs, reduce GHG emissions, and start moving down the path toward a more sustainable future.

For more information about improving energy efficiencies at your organization, also see this post about the Pew Center’s new corporate energy efficiency web portal.