2Sustain

In the wake of rising energy prices, businesses around the country are constantly searching for ways to cut costs and improve efficiencies. In fact, researchers estimate the energy consumption management industry is now a $5.2 billion industry in the US –and it’s growing at an astonishing 40 percent per year. However, the steady introduction of new vendors, each with its own version of “energy management” software, has generated a high level confusion and propelled the need for thoughtful analysis on current offerings.

Fortunately, Groom Energy Solutions provides some needed clarification with its new report, The Enterprise Smart Grid – a Corporate Buyer’s Guide for Energy Management Software. Responses from 65 interviews with corporate energy, facility and sustainability managers and vendors offering Enterprise Smart Grid related technologies identified 11 distinct functional areas and categorized the range of vendor solutions to assist companies as they develop their own energy management strategy.

For example, Groom Energy found that: (more…)

Anheuser-Busch InBev and GE have formed a strategic alliance to drive energy efficiency and water savings in existing and greenfield AB InBev facilities across China.

In 2010, AB InBev announced a set of aggressive three-year global environmental goals as part of its Better World commitment. According to a press release, the new partnership with GE will initially focus on designing and implementing several key solutions. For example, the companies will collaborate regarding: (more…)

For the first time ever, Google has released information about its carbon footprint.

Last week, the company revealed that in 2010 it generated a total of 1.46 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. As The Guardian points out, those emissions are slightly higher than the country of Laos in south-east Asia and about equivalent to the UN’s operational footprint.

However, Google says its ultimate carbon impact is zero –because the company: (more…)

FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. and the world’s largest express transportation company, is expanding its fleet of fuel efficient vehicles.

This summer, FedEx Express will:

• place 24 new all-electric vehicles into service, adding three new cities and more than doubling its fleet to 43 all-electric vehicles while growing the diversity of suppliers it uses for electric vehicles,

• add more hybrid-electrics,

• pilot composite vehicles made from recycled rubber material, resin, fiberglass and poly core and

• upgrade more than a tenth of its conventional vehicle fleet to more energy-efficient vehicles.

The 24 new all-electric vehicles will be analyzed to further our understanding of all-electric technology and its demands on the energy grid. For example: (more…)

According to a survey released last week by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), cloud computing can both save American businesses billions of dollars in energy costs by 2020 and help their information technology (IT) operations run more efficiently.

The study, Cloud Computing–The IT Solution for the 21st Century, polled 11 global firms that have used cloud computing services for at least the past two years. This new research, conducted by Verdantix and sponsored by AT&T, includes analyses that demonstrate how business can use cloud solutions to decrease carbon emissions while simultaneously improving the bottom line.

For example, the data shows that: (more…)