[ EDF Climate Corps Saves Energy and Money ]

EDF Climate Corps Saves Energy and Money

Katie Ware manages marketing and
communications at Environmental Defense Fund
(EDF), an EarthShare member organization. Here she answers some questions about
EDF Climate Corps, a highly
competitive fellowship program that pairs specially trained graduate students
with companies, cities and universities to take their energy management
programs to the next level – whether they’re just starting out or are already leaders
in the climate and energy space.

Where did the idea
for EDF Climate Corps come from?

We recognized one of the fastest and most cost-effective
ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions was through improved energy efficiency in
buildings. Commercial and residential buildings account for more than a third
of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. McKinsey & Company
estimates that the U.S. could reduce its annual energy consumption 23 percent
through efficiency measures, which could save companies and consumers over a
trillion dollars.

EDF launched Climate Corps in 2008 to seize this opportunity.
We started with just seven student fellows in Bay Area companies. When those
fellows found $35 million in energy savings in just one summer, we realized the
model worked. We’ve since placed nearly 300 fellows in approximately 200
leading companies, cities and universities across the nation.

Since EDF Climate Corps began, we’ve uncovered energy
efficiency opportunities worth $1 billion in net operational costs for participating organizations
like Facebook, Boeing, Chicago Public School Systems and the City of Atlanta,
and more than a million metric tons of avoided annual carbon emissions for the
planet.

 

What are some common
efficiency improvements that organizations make as a result of the program?

When we started the program, we wanted the fellows to take
advantage of the low hanging fruit for energy opportunities – to go in and turn
off the lights, so to speak. The fellows would crunch the numbers and work
closely with companies to implement technical energy efficiency projects in
areas such as lighting, HVAC and office equipment. More recently, we’ve also
seen a shift in the fellows’ efforts toward helping develop more strategic
projects and processes to improve energy management practices.

Many organizations task fellows with projects around
employee engagement, behavior change initiatives, long-term goal setting and
investment prioritization tools. We’ve especially seen this in organizations
that have participated for multiple years. Each year, we’re able to take the
engagement deeper and focus on making improvements to allow for long-term,
comprehensive energy management. We’ve found that fellows are able to provide
value to any organization, whether they’re just beginning to focus on energy
management or are already an industry leader. There’s always more to do.

Our
database of case studies is a good representation of the kinds of projects
fellows work on. Our
blog is also a great resource.

 

What challenges do
companies face in implementing efficiency or sustainability measures?

Companies face many barriers to implementing energy-saving
projects, most of which have nothing to do with technology and everything to do
with the way people make decisions. Put simply, companies are made up of
individuals driven by priorities, habits, and organizational cultures that
often impede progress on energy efficiency.

We’ve been doing a lot of thinking around ways to overcome barriers.
We recently released the report Breaking
Down Barriers to Energy Efficiency: Findings from EDF Climate Corps 2011. It
offers effective ways to motivate employees, create accountability for success,
identify investment opportunities, ensure funding for financially attractive
projects, measure cost savings, and scale performance gains continuously over
time.

Whether a company is trying to get off the starting block,
or taking its energy and climate initiatives to the next level, the report
outlines proven strategies for getting beyond the low-hanging fruit to the tremendous
savings that energy efficiency can deliver.

How do you ensure
companies continue making efficiency upgrades after the students have left the
program?

Fellows often identify folks to pass the baton on to before
leaving the program. We follow up with host organizations to check on
implementation in the years following the fellowship as well. It’s promising to
see that most of the low-to-no cost projects get implemented right away. Many
of the larger scale projects identified in the past couple years are already
complete or underway too. A particularly interesting trend we’ve seen is
organizations participating for multiple summers, with each fellow building on
the work of their predecessor(s). 

 

What changes does the
program hope to make in the coming years?

While quick wins and low- or no-cost projects are critical
to building momentum for energy efficiency, our goal is to move companies past
one-off initiatives toward a comprehensive energy management strategy that
delivers systemic and lasting reductions in energy use and greenhouse gas
emissions. As we continue to expand our network and engage more deeply with
organizations, we look forward to increasing our impact.

 

Do you represent a company or organization that would
like to get involved with EDF Climate Corps to cut energy costs? Email EDF at info@edfclimatecorps.org to learn more.
Spaces are filling up fast for 2013, so be sure to contact them soon.