2009 Fellows

In 2009 our program grew to 26 fellows, and in 2010 we hope to expand to over 50.

Identified Savings

Our 2009 class uncovered efficiencies in lighting, computer equipment, and heating and cooling systems that could:

• Save $54 million in net operational costs over the project lifetimes;
• Cut the equivalent of 160 million kilowatt hours of energy use per year—enough to power 14,000 homes;
• Avoid over 100,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year— equivalent to taking more than 12,000 SUVs off the road.

In 2009, EDF and Net Impact increased the size of the Climate Corps program with 23 companies and 26 fellows participating. MBA students came from a variety of the country's top business programs, and host companies weren't limited to one geographic region or sector.

Here are some of the amazing outcomes of the 2009 fellowships:

Accenture - Greg Buzzell

Greg Buzzell spent the summer at Accenture where he worked with several internal teams to analyze strategies for potential savings in electricity and CO₂. His analysis of Accenture buildings around the world helped identify priority locations where the company could realize significant efficiencies over the next five years.

Advanced Micro Devices (Sunnyvale, CA) - Harpreet Singh

Harpreet Singh, a MBA student at University of California at Davis, spent his summer in Sunnyvale, California, at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. Following the management adage, "You can't manage what you don't measure," Singh used his statistical expertise to first determine the energy usage patterns and profile at the 1 AMD office building. He scoured through a year's worth of data collected by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to divide AMD's energy consumption into the following four categories: HVAC cooling, lighting, computing equipment and lab consumption.

After finding where energy was consumed, Singh identified and evaluated potential energy efficiency projects for each category. Projects included a lighting retrofit and an installation of a new chiller. In total, Singh identified opportunities that could save AMD approximately $300,000 over the life of the projects. In addition, these opportunities could save up to 512,000 kWh of electricity per year.

Advanced Micro Devices (Austin, TX) - Neelam Bhatia

Neelam Bhatia spent her summer as a Climate Corps fellow in Austin, TX at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. A MBA student from Cornell University, Bhatia evaluated energy efficiency opportunities such as lighting retrofits, energy management software and thermal energy storage at the company's Lone Star Campus building and data center.

As part of her fellowship, Bhatia examined AMD's use of energy during peak and off-peak hours. By using thermal energy storage tanks, which store energy in the form of ice during the off-peak hours for use during peak-hours, Bhatia calculated that AMD could capitalize on lower off-peak energy rates to potentially save thousands of dollars every year.

She also discovered rebate opportunities from Austin Energy that could reduce the upfront costs and payback periods of AMD's energy efficiency investments. Bhatia's diligence allowed AMD to capitalize on a rebate worth more than $50,000 for cooling equipment that had been installed at AMD a week before the internship began. Over the course of the summer, Bhatia identified several hundred thousand additional dollars in potential rebates for various projects she had recommended.

In total, Bhatia identified opportunities that could save AMD up to $1.3 million over the life of the projects. In addition the opportunities could save up to 3.5 million kWh of electricity annually.

Biltmore Farms - Hunt Briggs

Hunt Briggs spent his summer at Biltmore Farms, a prominent community development firm in Asheville, NC comprised of four divisions: Commercial, Communities, Homes and Hotels. Briggs, a MBA/MS student at the University of Michgian's Erb Institute, worked with Biltmore Farms commercial operations manager to determine the best protocol for managing energy in four of the company's facilities. One of these facilities was the DoubleTree Biltmore Hotel. The hotel is responsible for a substantial portion of Biltmore Farms' electricity consumption, so Briggs prioritized projects for this location. He identified several energy efficiency opportunities including the installation of occupancy sensors in lobbies, hallways and conference rooms; lighting retrofits and the installation of variable frequency drives.

In total, Briggs identified opportunities across two properties that could reduce annual energy costs by approximately $77,000, cut approximately 830,000 kWh of electricity and avoid 421 tons of CO₂ emissions.

Cisco - Sarah Shapiro

At Cisco, the worldwide leader in supplying networking equipment and network management for the Internet, Climate Corps fellow Sarah Shapiro worked with Cisco engineers on a project to analyze installing Power Distribution Units (PDUs) on racks in data labs. The project, which was started in 2008 by EDF fellow Emily Reyna, could save Cisco an estimated $8 million per year (with an 18-month payback) and reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 39,000 tonnes of GHG emissions each year.

Shapiro, a University of Michigan MBA/MS student, also helped analyze the savings generated by implementing incremental temperature increases in Cisco's large data labs. Cisco has experimented with raising ambient temperatures in data labs by 10°F and chilled water supply temperatures by 4°F and discovered that these increases do not harm lab equipment. By implementing these temperature increases in all of Cisco's major labs, the project team estimates that it can save approximately $1.8 million and 18 million kWh of electricity annually.

Dell - Jeremy Foster

Jeremy Foster spent his summer as a Climate Corps fellow at Dell in Austin, Texas. Foster, a MBA student at Yale, focused on energy efficiency investments within Dell as well as throughout its supply chain.

Within Dell, Foster worked to improve the company's process and tools for evaluating and funding internal energy efficiency investments. He discovered that the established processes could work more effectively for the facility managers and they weren't always clear on the availability of capital for energy efficiency projects. Based on interviews with the facility team, he proposed a re-designed template to streamline the process and clarify the availability of funding for these projects. Dell plans to use this new template and encourage facility managers to apply for energy efficiency project investments.

Foster also explored opportunities to reduce energy use and costs in Dell's supply chain. By conducting a supplier efficiency improvement pilot, Foster estimated that Dell could help its direct suppliers save millions in annual energy costs.

eBay - Cindy Chen

Cindy Chen spent her summer working at eBay in San Jose, CA, identifying opportunities to help eBay reach their 2012 commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 15% from their 2008 baseline. An MBA student from Berkeley, she analyzed the company's energy use, as well as the sources from which it was derived. As a result, she recommended a series of energy efficiency projects as well as offsetting the company's dependency on grid electricity with renewable sources.

Chen's analysis of eBay office facilities, which comprise approximately 34% of the company's total corporate footprint, identified low-hanging energy efficiency opportunities. For example, by simply eliminating individual mini-fridges and desk heaters, eBay could recognize immediate savings and reduce its energy consumption by more than 245,000 kWh, while avoiding approximately 60 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year.

EMC Corporation - Ian Lavery

Ian Lavery, a second year student at MIT's Sloan School of Management, was placed at EMC Corporation in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. The company, a global provider of information infrastructure systems and technology, employs more than 40,000 people and is "pretty sophisticated about energy savings," Ian says. "All the low-hanging fruit was already picked."

Responding to the challenge, he identified several opportunities for improving energy efficiency in one of EMC's buildings. Three of the projects included retro-commissioning the building's control systems, installing window film, and rolling out PC and Monitor Management software. Combined, these projects could reduce annual energy costs by approximately $443,000, cut almost 3 million kWh of electricity, and avoid 1,900 metric tons of CO₂ emissions.

Genzyme - Anand Natarajan

Anand Natarajan, an MBA student at Case Western, spent his summer at Genzyme, one of the world's leading biotechnology companies since 1981. Genzyme is a partner in the EPA Climate Leaders program and established a goal to reduce corporate GHG emissions by 25%, normalized to revenue, from 2007 to 2012. Natarajan examined a number of Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) identified via energy audits and suggested by Facilities and Engineering staff that could have the best combination of environmental and financial return on investment.

Natarajan analyzed a range of energy efficiency categories such as HVAC controls, Building Management Systems, Building Envelope/Insulation, IT, Kitchen/cafeteria and Renewable Energy Systems. He calculated that six ECMs would be technically and financially feasible. In total, these opportunities could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,500 metric tons annually and generate significant energy cost savings of approximately $820,000 over the life of the projects. He discovered that significant savings could come from implementing software to automatically shut down desktop computers and monitors during off hours and from improvements in the building insulation. To arrive at these conclusions, Natarajan developed a process and decision tool template to evaluate ECMs. This tool could be rolled out to all Genzyme facilities in the future to evaluate ECM opportunities.

Giant Food Stores Grocery Chain - Chris Anderson

Chris Anderson spent his summer steeped in the grocery retail world as a Climate Corps fellow at Giant Food Stores, headquartered in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The chain of 150 grocery stores is part of the Ahold family of quality supermarkets based in the U.S. and Europe. A joint law/business student at Penn State, Anderson identified several promising opportunities for cost savings and energy efficiency improvements at Giant Food Stores.

During one facility tour, Anderson found himself looking at freezer doors, wondering why some had heaters while others had more energy efficient anti-fog film. By probing beyond the initial answer, he uncovered an anti-fog product that could be retrofitted on existing doors which, if implemented at 2/3 of stores, could reduce CO₂ emissions by 26,000 metric tons per year and end the inefficient practice of heating up freezer doors.

Anderson also calculated that if Giant Food Stores were to retrofit 1/3 of its 150 stores in the chain with skylights, the company could avoid over 13,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. As new stores are being built, skylights are being installed to reduce electricity consumption during peak daylight hours when some of the store's overhead lights are being cycled off.

Grubb Properties - Lindsay McCombs

Lindsay McCombs spent her summer as a Climate Corps fellow at Grubb Properties, a fully integrated real estate company, focused on the Charlotte and Triangle markets of North Carolina. McCombs, a MBA student at University of North Carolina, worked with Grubb Properties to identify and evaluate energy efficiency improvements for their portfolio of commercial and multi-family real estate in Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C. In addition to working with existing buildings, McCombs worked with the development team to create efficiency guidelines for new construction. She also helped internal committees establish company sustainability practices and evaluate the feasibility of using renewable energy to light buildings.

McCombs investigated opportunities at four properties. She analyzed a variety of projects including the installation of vending machine sensors, LED lighting retrofits and use of window film. In total, McCombs identified opportunities that could reduce annual energy costs by approximately $53,000, cut approximately 590,000 kWh of electricity and avoid 380 tons of CO₂ emissions.

Houston Rockets / Toyota Center - Carin Dopieralski

Carin Dopieralski spent her summer as a Climate Corps fellow at the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets NBA basketball team and the Houston Aeros AHL hockey team and the site of a wide variety of concert events throughout the year. A MBA student at Rice University, Dopieralski worked with facility managers and engineers at the Toyota Center to find opportunities to reduce energy consumption and further the Center's progress toward Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Existing Building Operations and Maintenance (LEED EBOM) accreditation.

Dopieralski investigated a variety of projects, from lighting retrofits and solar window film applications to vending machine and office occupancy sensors to PC Power Management Software and fan replacements. In total, Dopieralski identified projects that could reduce annual energy costs by approximately $68,000, cut more than 1.1 million kWh of electricity and avoid 661 tons of CO₂ emissions.

HP - Sandrine Dury

Sandrine Dury spent her summer as a Climate Corps fellow at HP, the world's largest technology company. A dual MBA/MSc in Environment and Resources student at Stanford University, Dury analyzed energy efficiency projects related to lighting, airflow and cooling at one of HP's Research and Development laboratories. In total, Dury identified energy-saving measures that could save HP approximately $577,000 over the life of the projects, and reduce energy use by 2 million kWh and CO₂ emissions by 650 metric tons per year.

Intuit - Pablo Medina

Pablo Medina spent his summer as a Climate Corps fellow at Intuit, a leading provider of business and financial management solutions. Medina, a MBA/MS student at the University of Michgian's Erb Institute, evaluated energy consumption at four of Intuit's data centers which use a significant amount of air conditioning energy to cool computer equipment. Medina identified eight efficiency opportunities ranging from simple actions like bundling cables which improves airflow to creating hot air containment aisles which lead to increased cooling efficiency. Combined, the opportunities could potentially save Intuit close to $358,000 and 2,600,000 kWh annually.

NI - Bryan Snarr

Bryan Snarr participated as a Climate Corps fellow at National Instruments (NI), an Austin, Texas-based provider of software and hardware for scientists and engineers. Snarr, a District Sales Manager at NI and an MBA student at the University of California at Davis, evaluated energy efficiency projects related to lighting, data centers, and office equipment. Some projects were as simple as raising the thermostat settings in data centers and turning off under-cabinet lighting in cubicles when not in use. In total, Snarr identified opportunities that could save NI approximately 1.6 million kWh per year, an 8% reduction from its current consumption. With these projects NI could also save nearly $109,000 in energy costs per year.

North Carolina Central University - David Fox and Sahil Thaker

NC Central University hosted two Climate Corps fellows this summer, David Fox and Sahil Thaker. Fox, a joint JD/MBA student at NC Central, and Thaker, a MEM candidate at Duke University, teamed up with the Facilities Management Department at NC Central to look for energy efficiency opportunities across the campus.

Since NC Central completed an energy audit prior to the fellows' arrival, the fellows were able to look beyond the most basic efficiency upgrades and look at building envelopes, high efficiency windows and steam plant upgrades rather than spending their time cataloging the number and types of light bulbs on campus. The fellows also experimented with different kinds of lighting and tinkered with the settings of HVAC controls to discover the greatest savings opportunities.

The fresh and focused eyes of the fellows also helped the university uncover policy changes that could make a big difference. For instance, rather than allowing the limited number of students who stay on campus for the summer to remain spread out in the dorms they use during the year, NC Central could consolidate them into one or two buildings. By cutting down on the number of buildings that needed to be fully lit and air conditioned throughout the summer, the University could save $74,000 each year. In total, the opportunities Fox and Thaker identified could reduce NC Central's annual energy costs by $2.6 million and cut approximately 50 million kWh of electricity per year.

Raytheon - Mark Braby

Mark Braby spent his summer as a Climate Corps fellow at Raytheon, a global aerospace and defense company headquartered in Waltham, Mass. Braby, an MBA student at Duke University, worked with Raytheon's Network Centric Systems (NCS) division in Dallas, to identify energy reduction opportunities within the company. NCS is a significant consumer of electricity, using almost 225 million kWh of electricity annually.

Based on his analysis of the division's energy use, Braby recommended several initiatives including reducing the company's computing footprint by replacing a portion of their PC environment with thin clients. Thin clients run programs and store data centrally on central servers. They are significantly more energy efficient than PCs, using as little as 6 to 20 watts of electricity (compared to 70 to 150 watts to run PCs). For companies with large computing environments, like Raytheon, switching to thin clients can add up to significant savings.

Implementing this virtualization project, along with four other energy-efficiency projects Braby recommended, could save Raytheon up to $3.4 million in operating costs over the life of the projects and avoid up to 1,586 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually.

salesforce.com - Catherine Sweere

Catherine Sweere spent her summer as a Climate Corps fellow at salesforce.com, the enterprise cloud computing company, which delivers business applications to customers over the Internet. A MBA student at Carnegie Mellon University, Sweere focused her work on salesforce.com's IT (information technology) asset management system – by looking at various servers and specific performance indicators such as power draw and carbon emissions factors within specific service locations. Sweere identified the highest energy consuming assets and technology refreshes that were effecting overall environmental performance. With this information, she developed a dynamic tool that provided a the feasible means of integrating energy consumption and emission factors into procurement decisions. This will become part of the company's departmental decision-making process regarding the purchase of IT assets and could contribute to significant energy cost savings.

Savvis – Sachin Kapasi

Sachin Kapasi, a MBA student at University of North Carolina, spent his summer at Savvis, a leader in outsourced Internet infrastructure services for the enterprise. Kapasi conducted a scientific experiment to quantify the energy savings that can be achieved by undertaking a virtualization strategy for data centers.

Virtualization, in its simplest form, means consolidation of multiple application workloads, currently residing in separate under-utilized systems, onto a common platform with shared resources, and is a fundamental building-block of modern cloud computing. Consolidating workloads with virtualization technology saves energy and reduces energy costs.

For the study, Kapasi worked with Savvis' Cloud solutions team to set up a cloud environment and tested a virtualization management algorithm on 17 servers with simulated typical workloads. The results of the study demonstrated substantial energy savings; virtualization of 17 servers resulted in a cumulative annual saving of more than 20,000 kWh. The results of the study could be used as a future framework to help data centers quantify and estimate the extent of energy savings achieved by pursuing a virtualization strategy.

Shorenstein - Reuben Schwartz

Reuben Schwartz, in the Berkeley-Columbia Executive dual MBA program, has been working with Shorenstein, one of the country's oldest and most respected real estate organizations active nationally in the ownership and operation of high-quality office properties. Schwartz, an architect by training, was charged with finding ways for tenants to reduce energy consumption. Using one of Shorenstein's office towers as a test case to incentivize changes in behavior, he identified the need to provide tenants with data that links specific actions to energy use. He recommended and oversaw installation of a web-based real time energy monitoring system, and collected baseline data to determine current tenant use and identify controllable changes available for tenants.

After establishing the baseline, Schwartz worked with tenants to reveal easily achievable opportunities to reduce use, and to encourage behavior changes and set targets for further reductions. He monitored the effects of these changes, which resulted in energy savings for the tenants. With these results, Schwartz developed a guide to explain how tenants can reduce energy use, and Shorenstein hopes to replicate these savings throughout their portfolio. The company is considering implementing similar monitoring systems in other properties to raise awareness and encourage energy savings.

Sodexo - Katie Schindall

Katie Schindall spent her summer as a Climate Corps fellow at Sodexo, the leading provider of integrated food and facilities management services in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, serving 10 million customers in 6,000 locations every day. Schindall, a MBA student at Yale, collected baseline data to identify how two of Sodexo's buildings currently use energy, and identified opportunities for greater energy efficiency. She investigated and recommended office building energy efficiency projects related to lighting, office equipment, heating and cooling, water, and IT management.

Her analysis illuminated two key areas in which centralized policies could create significant energy efficiencies across Sodexo's North American operations: enabling power management settings on desktop computers and ensuring Energy Star equipment purchasing. Projects identified by Schindall could save the company approximately $200,000 and 1.7 million kWh annually, while avoiding 554 metric tons of CO₂ emissions. Her recommendations will be included in the rollout of sustainability best practices across the organization.

Sony Pictures Entertainment - Russell Baruffi

Russell Baruffi, a joint MBA/MS student at the University of Michigan, spent his summer as a Climate Corps fellow at Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), the motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution, operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and distribution subsidiary of the Japanese multinational electronics and entertainment conglomerate Sony Corporation. Baruffi explored the SPE campus in Culver City, California and identified several energy efficiency opportunities.

Some of the most significant potential savings Baruffi identified could come from SPE's data centers. One project he investigated is hot and cold aisle containment. Hot and cold aisles are created by arranging computer cabinets so that hot and cold air are separated into different spaces. Arranging the cabinets in this manner reduces the ability of hot and cold air to mix and improves the cooling efficiency of data center air conditioners. Implementing hot and cold aisles SPE could achieve significant savings over the life of the project of up to 3 million kWh of electricity per year, while avoiding annual CO₂ emissions of 873 metric tons.

Stop and Shop/Giant - Andrea Sandor

Andrea Sandor spent her summer as a Climate Corps fellow at Stop and Shop/Giant, a subsidiary of Ahold, an international group of quality supermarkets based in the U.S. and Europe. A MBA student at University of Pennsylvania, Sandor identified several promising opportunities for cost savings and energy efficiency improvements for Ahold's Stop and Shop and Giant stores.

After speaking with several Stop and Shop store managers, Sandor began to see the potential of employee behavior change to achieving energy savings. She began to wonder, if each store trained employees to make small behavioral changes, when combined could the changes across all stores amount to large reductions in energy efficiency? For example, one small change she identified is for each store to close the loading dock door one hour more each day.

Sandor calculated that with training, even if only 1% of Stop and Shop stores made behavior changes in the use of lighting, doors, kitchens, refrigeration and building temperature settings, Ahold could reduce CO₂ emissions by 4,200 metric tons and energy costs by $1.3 million annually.

In addition to behavior change, Sandor analyzed investment of Night Shades, thermal curtains that block ambient heat that normally enters open refrigeration display cases used for items like milk, meat and cheese. Sandor calculated that if Ahold installed night shades in all of Ahold's Stop and Shop stores, the company could avoid over 8,000 metric tons of CO₂ per year and save approximately $3.5 million over the life of the night shades.

SunGard - Ryan Whisnant

Ryan Whisnant, a joint MBA/MS student at the University of Michigan, spent the summer as a Climate Corps fellow at SunGard, an IT services company headquartered outside Philadelphia. Although SunGard had implemented a fair number of energy efficiency measures at its headquarters before Whisnant started his Climate Corps fellowship, his diligent attention uncovered lighting timer errors that resulted in 1/3 of the open floor lighting remaining on during non-business hours. According to Whisnant, fixing this problem in just one building could save SunGard nearly $20,000 annually. Whisnant also developed a plan to cut energy use in the company's headquarters by 25%, through lighting retrofits and HVAC upgrades. If implemented across the company's 7 million square feet of office space worldwide, the plan could cut SunGard's energy bills by over $5 million annually. .

TXU Energy - Patricia Kenlon

Climate Corps fellow Patricia Kenlon spent her summer in Dallas, TX working with TXU Energy (TXUE), an electricity provider with over 2 million customers. A MBA student at NYU, Kenlon identified energy efficiency opportunities ranging from lighting, office equipment energy use, office equipment procurement and heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Kenlon brought fresh eyes to a corporate culture already focused on efficiency, and identified opportunities to reduce the electricity consumption of TXUE's two main office buildings by 10% and 30% respectively, which could save the company over $200,000 and 2.3 million kWh of electricity annually, while avoiding over 6,500 metric tons of CO₂ emissions.

Posted: 12-Nov-2008; Updated: 16-Oct-2009