Eco-Justice

WASHINGTON (September 30, 2010) -- The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement issued a new rule today aimed at improving the safety of offshore drilling operations.

Three months after President Obama pledged his commitment to Gulf Coast restoration in a June address from the Oval Office, the White House released a report yesterday that outlines recommendations for ecosystem restoration and economic recovery in the region affected by the BP oil spill. The paper was drafted by a working group led by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who once served as the Governor of Mississippi.

Several conference calls were held to coincide with the publication of America's Gulf Coast: A Long Term Recovery Plan After The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Along with four other non-profits, the Environmental Defense Fund issued a press release on Tuesday that offered broad support for the central tenets of the Mabus report, including the creation of a Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force chaired by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

By an overwhelming majority, residents of the Gulf Coast want their political leaders to deliver on the promise of environmental restoration. Still, the path to recovery is far from finished, as funding for the recommendations in the Mabus report has not yet been finalized in Congress.

In the next few days, we’ll be writing more about what this could mean for economic development and job creation in the coastal zone, but for now, we’d like to hear from you. Take a look through the report and send us your thoughts.

By Anne Marie Pippin, EDF Climate Corps Fellow at Bank of America, MBA Candidate at Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, Member of Net Impact

As my fellowship with Bank of America has recently drawn to a close, it’s a great time to reflect on my experience this summer as an EDF Climate Corps fellow spending my summer at the nation’s largest financial institution.

As a first time participant of the EDF Climate Corps program, I knew that expectations were high for the target findings of my summer project. These high expectations coupled with Bank of America’s impressive track record of environmental stewardship and innovation in energy efficiency, led to a ten-week experience unlike any other for a business student seeking a career in corporate sustainability.

Let’s first start with what Bank of America is currently doing in the energy efficiency space.  In 2007, Bank of America announced a ten year, $20 billion environmental business commitment to address climate change through lending, investing products and services, and its own operations.

As part of this commitment, $1.4 billion was allocated toward achieving LEED certification for all new construction, meeting the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest environmental standards for design and construction.  An additional $100 million was pledged for energy conservation measures, such as installing energy-efficient lighting and HVAC systems for bank facilities.

This past summer I worked with the Environmental Risk and Sustainability Team, which is responsible for ensuring that compliance and sustainability procedures are integrated into the bank’s real estate practices at every level.  Bank of America maintains a corporate real estate portfolio that is second in the nation only to Walmart (currently around 124 million sq. ft.).  Because of this, the team utilizes a multi-faceted approach to ensure Bank of America’s corporate real estate environmental goals are carried out daily in a practical and effective manner.

The Environmental Risk and Sustainability Team’s overall vision is guided by the acronym CLEAR, which stands for:

• C – Compliance
• L – LEED Certification
• E – Emissions Reductions
• A – Avoiding Toxics
• R – Resource Conservation & Education

Within this impressive framework, energy efficiency project identification and environmental innovation already exist as a standard management practice. I was not surprised when Bank of America redirected my goals from identifying energy efficiency projects within existing facilities, as a number of my colleagues in the EDF Climate Corps program had, to a different project that aligned with the company’s vision for sustainability.  I was asked to evaluate and recommend green, sustainable options for sites needing remediation within Bank of America’s real estate portfolio. While remediation itself is inherently green, the process of cleaning up such sites can be resource intensive and leave a significant “environmental footprint” of its own.  I was asked to evaluate various innovations in treatment technologies, waste disposal, energy generation and cleaner burning transportation fuels. My goal was to create a number of opportunities to make the remediation process more sustainable and efficient.

Looking back to when I presented my financial analysis and recommendations to corporate leadership, I was energized to think about how  my relatively brief period of time with the company will impact environmental policy and operational decision-making at Bank of America moving forward.

On a larger scale, its exhilarating to think about how the collective experience of all 51 EDF Climate Corps fellows will contribute not only to the identification of energy efficiency cost savings (which totaled, a not too shabby, $350 million this summer), but more broadly towards shaping corporate triple-bottom-line policy at some of the country’s largest companies.  With the EDF Climate Corps program experiencing a seven-fold increase in participation since its inception in 2008, its an exciting time to observe how the powerful results of this program  impact corporate America, contributing to operational efficiencies and the promise of a more sustainable world for future generations.

Sign up to receive emails about EDF Climate Corps 2010, including regular blog posts by our fellows. You can also visit our Facebook page to get regular updates about this project.

Today, Tim Fitzgerald, EDF's Senior Policy Specialist for Oceans, testified at the third meeting of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Speaking particularly on concerns of seafood safety, Tim mentioned EDF's work with the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance to help them preserve their markets in the face of this disaster. Read Tim's full remarks:

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If there was a public policy that could create jobs, reduce our dependence on oil, save individuals and businesses money on their energy bills and reduce pollution, would you support it? 

Well, there is and you can: California’s clean energy policy. 

While most states in the U.S. have passed policies to grow their clean energy sectors, California has easily been the most visionary. Who wouldn’t want to be America’s leader in this booming global market? States across the country are looking to supplant California as the leader in this growing new economy. 

The capstone of California’s approach is its landmark climate policy—AB 32—that has delivered to it the lion’s share of economic rewards in the form of business investment and energy-related financial savings.

That is the finding of a new report released this week by the Cleantech Group, California in Perspective: A Review of State Energy Policies and Their Impact on High Growth Cleantech Markets. 

Here are the CliffsNotes: 

• In the four years since AB 32 passed, California has distinguished itself as the domestic market leader in clean tech, a global industry that is expected to grow from $10 billion this year to $80 billion in 2020.
• Since 2006, California clean tech companies have reaped 40% of all dollars that went into market categories related to AB 32: renewable energy; energy efficiency; cleaner vehicles and low-carbon transportation fuels.

The report concludes that, ‘If California’s clean energy policies remain in place, we can assume that leading venture-backed states like California will receive an outsized portion of market share in these large clean energy markets going forward to 2020.’ 

All of this will be at risk if Prop 23 passes in November. Prop 23 is backed by two Texas-based oil companies that are spending millions to kill California’s clean energy and clean air standards so that they can continue polluting, kill competition and jobs from our clean tech companies and keep us addicted to dirty fossil fuels. 

To ensure we maintain and increase our market leadership—and deliver a higher quality of life to those who live and work here—California voters should vote 'no' on Prop 23 and support clean energy and air policies that benefit not only our economy but our environment as well.

In the scorching summer of 2010, while American hopes for mild weather and reduced electric bills turned to dust, 51 MBA students discovered that they could turn everyday items into gold. As a part of EDF Climate Corps, these trained business students spent their summer working in leading corporations across the country to accelerate energy efficiency investments. The results of the projects recommended during this summer’s program prove that these students have somewhat of a Midas touch and the power to bring dollar signs to any CFO’s eyes:

• $350 million in potential net operational cost savings over the project lifetimes
• Potential reductions in energy use of 678 million kilowatt hours per year — enough to power 60,000 homes
• Opportunities to avoid over 400,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year — equivalent to taking more than 67,000 SUVs off the road.

While these numbers truly exemplify the overall power of the EDF Climate Corps program, the real nuggets of gold lie in the stories of how each particular fellow hit the jackpot. For organizations looking to cut electricity costs or individuals looking to reduce their carbon footprint, these stories will serve as lessons and truly be the gifts that keep on giving. To take advantage of this goldmine of knowledge, follow the links below to each fellow’s narrative blog.

Fellows searched high and low – climbing up on roofs and crouching down to examine PCs .

• Julia Li at Procter & Gamble climbed onto the roof of the Pringles plant in Tennessee to find a hot, black surface where she considered frying an egg. Instead, she recommended a roof coating that would contribute to the approximate 18 million kWh of electricity reductions she identified.
• Megan Rast at eBay examined computers and recommended PC power management software that could contribute to her overall identified cost savings of more than $1.5 million.

Many fellows made discoveries by looking up…at light bulbs.

• Sarah Will at REI cannot stop looking up! She identified $900,000 in annual savings for REI, partly because of her self-proclaimed “obsession with light bulbs.”
• Nick Fassler at HCA Healthcare found ways to reduce energy use from lighting by up to 30%, which if rolled out across HCA’s hospitals could save the company $7.8 million in annual electricity costs.
• Marty Griffith at New Jersey Natural Gas planned a sneaky middle-of-the-night trip into his office building to find a portion of lights unnecessarily left on all night. He recommended occupancy sensors that would result in thousands of dollars in savings.

Some fellows’ findings were born from the heat of the summer itself and attempts to avoid heart-stopping electric bills by managing HVAC systems.

• Ryan Mallett at Verizon analyzed a thermal storage system to shift production of chilled water into the night time hours when energy is less expensive. This could potentially save up to 1.6 million kWh and $420,000.
• Stuart DeCew at RBS/Citizens Financial Group helped conduct free energy efficiency audits at multiple bank branches. He identified a number of programs offered by utilities to provide these free services around New York and Connecticut.
• Jonathan "J." Stone at News Corp. – Dow Jones experimented with temperature changes in 1 degree increments to find a setting that would stimulate productivity while reducing energy bills.

Others didn’t find savings in material things but, instead, in recommending energy-efficient strategies.

• Yih-Wei Chien at J.C. Penny helped design a strategic initiative to incentivize and motivate approximately 5,500 corporate employees to think, act, and behave with energy conservation at the forefront of their attentions.
• Chris Gassman at Compass Group helped develop strategic responses to client carbon requests – asking “How do we grow our business?” and “How do we increase profit via revenue?”
• Rich Tesler at SunGard helped make the business case for “green leasing,” proving that it could increase profitability, reduce liability and enhance brand.

Meanwhile, some fellows got lucky by simply asking the right questions.

• Jen Snook at AT&T asked “why?” She couldn’t understand why the lights in given spaces were left on roughly half the time while the spaces were occupied less than ten percent of the time. After careful questioning, she helped AT&T realize that installing occupancy sensors could represent an 80% savings in electricity use across more than 100 million square feet of space.
• Nirupam Khanna at Alcatel-Lucent asked “where?” After repeatedly getting lost and asking directions back to his cubicle, he stumbled upon windows letting in excessive solar heat and causing the HVAC system to work overtime. He recommended Alcatel-Lucent install solar window films that can reject up to 60% of solar heat coming through windows in summer and help retain it in the winter.
• Graham Brown at JBG Companies asked “who?” He wanted to know who would be “responsible for connecting the dots between energy use, operating costs and potential savings” after he left. So he recommended a new permanent position for the company, an energy officer.

One fellow peered through physical wreckage to find golden opportunities.

• Rob Powell at Gaylord Entertainment was able to make real-time energy recommendations as the company rebuilt its Opreyland resort, which had suffered severe damage during the devastating floods that engulfed much of Middle Tennessee this year.

These stories are just a drop in my proverbial bucket filled with gold. To really take advantage of the lessons learned and opportunities identified by these fellows, check out the entire compilation of blogs from this summer. Need to see it to believe it? View a slideshow of these fellows in action at their companies.

Sign up to receive emails about EDF Climate Corps 2010, including regular blog posts by our fellows. You can also visit our Facebook page to get regular updates about this project.

An infrastructure bank may be a relatively new idea in the U.S. but Europe has had one (The European Investment Bank) since 1958.  President Obama brought national attention to the idea when he proposed it on Labor Day along with a $50 billion infrastructure investment plan.  But what is it?              Well, an infrastructure bank [...]

Today the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), a Congressionally-chartered non-profit, announced a new Fisheries Innovation Fund to “support sustainable fisheries in the U.S. by fostering innovation and supporting effective participation of fishermen and fishing communities in the design and implementation of catch share fisheries.” Grants will focus on capacity building, fishery innovations, and monitoring and evaluation in catch share programs.

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Federal climate legislation is on the shelf for at least this year, making California’s AB 32 the most significant U.S. effort to cut global warming pollution. 

This means polluters—especially oil and coal companies that have been fighting clean energy for years—are spending millions to derail it.

We’ve been seeing this for decades in Washington and in international venues. Few have a keener or more insightful perspective on this history than Eric Pooley, who will be in Sacramento tomorrow to discuss his acclaimed new book The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers and the Fight to Save the Earth.  

Pooley’s book takes readers on a multi-year journey on the front lines with climate warriors such as EDF’s Fred Krupp, former Vice President Al Gore and the sometimes edgy, always enigmatic CEO of Duke Energy, Jim Rogers.  

The story is as tantalizing as it is timely: Californians head to the polls in five weeks to vote on Proposition 23, the polluter-funded initiative to suspend AB 32.  The initiative’s main backers—Valero, Tesoro and the billionaire Koch Brothers—known as the Toxic Triplets, were dealt a big blow last week when gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman came out and opposed it. Still, these deep-pocketed polluters will spend millions on ads between now and Election Day to try and win this war.

Eric will read from and discuss The Climate War tomorrow from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. at a breakfast co-sponsored by EDF and the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT) at CEERT’s office, 1100 11^th Street, Suite 311, in Sacramento.  For information or to RSVP, please contact me at dbwalker@edf.org.

Pooley will also be the special guest speaker at a California Air Resources Board event later tomorrow.

Federal climate legislation is on the shelf for at least this year, making California’s AB 32 the most significant U.S. effort to cut global warming pollution. 

This means polluters—especially oil and coal companies that have been fighting clean energy for years—are spending millions to derail it.

We’ve been seeing this for decades in Washington and in international venues. Few have a keener or more insightful perspective on this history than Eric Pooley, who will be in Sacramento tomorrow to discuss his acclaimed new book The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers and the Fight to Save the Earth.  

Pooley’s book takes readers on a multi-year journey on the front lines with climate warriors such as EDF’s Fred Krupp, former Vice President Al Gore and the sometimes edgy, always enigmatic CEO of Duke Energy, Jim Rogers.  

The story is as tantalizing as it is timely: Californians head to the polls in five weeks to vote on Proposition 23, the polluter-funded initiative to suspend AB 32.  The initiative’s main backers—Valero, Tesoro and the billionaire Koch Brothers—known as the Toxic Triplets, were dealt a big blow last week when gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman came out and opposed it. Still, these deep-pocketed polluters will spend millions on ads between now and Election Day to try and win this war.

Eric will read from and discuss The Climate War tomorrow from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. at a breakfast co-sponsored by EDF and the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT) at CEERT’s office, 1100 11^th Street, Suite 311, in Sacramento.  For information or to RSVP, please contact me at dbwalker@edf.org.

Pooley will also be the special guest speaker at a California Air Resources Board event later tomorrow.