EDF Climate Corps | Blogs

Climate Corps 2011: Employee Education Pays off for Joie de Vivre
By Avra Winograd-Hutner, October 24, 2011
On my first day at Joie de Vivre hotels, I was taken down to the basement of the Galleria Park Hotel, whisked past doors with "Staff Only" signs, and led into a windowless office to meet with the head housekeeper. A few minutes into our conversation I was already blown away by her understanding of energy efficiency and commitment to incorporate sustainability into every decision. From......

Boeing, Facebook, Verizon Join New Class of EDF Climate Corps Firms
By Scott Wood, January 31, 2012
EDF today announced the first 20 companies slated to take part in the fifth annual energy-efficiency partnership program, which pairs MBA students with companies looking to take a bite out of...
The Energy Behind Facebook's Many On-Campus Perks
By Naveen Lakshmipathy, September 13, 2011
From three square meals per day in its cafeteria to free shuttles to work to on-site fitness centers, working at Facebook has plenty of benefits -- but those benefits have significant energy costs......
Climate Corps 2011: From Megatron to Low-Hanging Fruit at Mack Trucks
By Rohini Sankapal, September 07, 2011
The subsidiary of Volvo North American Trucks has been home to the star of the summer blockbuster, Transformers 3, as well as a number of obvious but overlooked energy efficiency fixes....
Climate Corps 2011: Getting a Green Team Up and Running at CA
By Sarah Meyers, August 30, 2011
Even if you've got the most motivated employees on your corporate green team, many companies struggle to overcome the next biggest obstacle: How do you set the goals to measure success, and gather......
Avon's 4 Steps to Conducting Business with a Higher Purpose
By Kevin Wooster, August 26, 2011
The competitiveness of global markets and the importance of maintaining low operating costs have made conducting business responsibly all the more challenging, but Avon has found these four steps......
Three Lessons on Energy-Efficient Lighting Design from Facebook
By Naveen Lakshmipathy, August 26, 2011
Facebook's goals for its lighting system are simple: make efficient use of daylight, lighting controls, and efficient fixtures to save energy and keep employees comfortable, while preserving the......
Climate Corps 2011: Taking an HR Approach to Energy Efficiency at PwC
By Annie Chansavang, August 06, 2011
With 30,000 employees in 73 offices, harnessing individuals' energy and efforts will be key to taking sustainability to the next level at PricewaterhouseCoopers....
Climate Corps 2011: Taking the Temperature of Hospitals' HVAC
By Nozomu Nagai, July 29, 2011
After a successful lighting retrofit study at Hospital Corporation of America last year, an EDF Climate Corps fellow seeks a way to more efficiently heat and cool medical facilities and warehouses......
Climate Corps 2011: Social Networking's Role in the Energy Revolution
By Esra Kucukciftci, July 26, 2011
At Facebook, the idea that energy efficiency is profitable is old news. But social networks have the power to move companies and individuals alike that are slower to adopt efficiency as a goal......
Climate Corps 2011: When Efficiency is Like Doing Chores
By Sukrit Sehgal, July 20, 2011
Implementing energy efficiency programs, even at high-tech and already-efficiency-minded companies like QTS, can be a lot like having to face up to your weekend chores list. Sometimes, having......
Climate Corps 2011: A Facebook Hackathon Dedicated to Energy Efficiency
By Cynthia Shih, July 12, 2011
As a Climate Corps fellow, part of my job is to dig in to our company's unique culture. At Facebook, that means a late-night hackathon to plug in new data-logging power meters....
Climate Corps 2011: Finding Even More Efficiency at a QTS Data Center
By Sukrit Sehgal, July 08, 2011
Trying to implement energy-efficiency solutions at the world's second-largest data center poses problems of two kinds: The company has already thought of most of them, and their contracts with......
Climate Corps 2011: How Facebook is Friending Energy Efficiency
By Cynthia Shih, July 01, 2011
'Move fast and break things' is a core motto at the apex social network; three EDF Climate Corps fellows leap into Facebook's Palo Alto headquarters to apply the concept to quickly breaking the......
Climate Corps 2011: Three Handy Tools from One Week at PNC
By Amber M. Sprague, June 23, 2011
One week into my summer internship at PNC Financial Services, I found three tools from EDF's Climate Corps to be extremely useful already....
Climate Corps 2011: Warming Up to Tackle Efficiency from Within
By Jake MacArthur, June 16, 2011
The first dispatch from this year's crop of EDF Climate Corps Fellows offers three lessons from the hands-on training all 57 fellows received at MIT's Sloan School of Management last month....
AT&T, eBay, HCA Tap Energy Saving Rewards With EDF Climate Corps
By Victoria Mills, May 17, 2011
Over the last three years, EDF Climate Corps fellows have uncovered almost a billion kilowatt hours of potential energy savings, representing $439 million in net operating savings. But our biggest......
Avon, Dunkin' Among Firms Enlisting in EDF's Climate Corps 2011
By Rachel Beckhardt Hinchliffe, April 08, 2011
Avon, Dunkin' Brands, Citigroup and Facebook are the among the 49 firms participating in the Environmental Defense Fund's Climate Corps this summer as the program that brings fresh eyes to energy......
7 Reasons to Enlist Your Company in EDF's Climate Corps
By Rachel Beckhardt Hinchliffe, January 25, 2011
As the Environmental Defense Fund's Climate Corps enters its fourth year, the program that places MBA candidates at firms to ferret out energy savings details the advantages for companies that......
Life in the Real World after EDF Climate Corps
By Emily Reyna, October 15, 2010
People often remark on the incredible amount of financial savings uncovered by green MBAs participating in the EDF Climate Corps program. Just as remarkable is how these fellows parlayed their......
Energy Efficiency Sleuths Uncover $350M in Savings
By Victoria Mills, September 14, 2010
The 2010 EDF Climate Corps Fellows illustrate the power of energy efficiency with $350 million in reduced operating costs, 400,000 metric tons of annual greenhouse gas emissions avoided, and......

EDF Climate Corps

EDF Climate Corps is a summer program that works to match students from leading business schools with companies to develop practical, actionable energy efficiency plans and overcome organizational barriers to allow for long-term, systemic energy management.

Environmental Defense Fund recruits students from top-tier MBA programs, provides them with intensive training and embeds them in companies around the country. For 10-12 weeks, the fellows serve as champions of energy efficiency, developing customized investment plans that help companies cut costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

Overall, EDF Climate Corps students/fellows have uncovered efficiencies in lighting, computer equipment and heating and cooling systems that can:

Save $439 million in net operational costs over the project lifetimes;
Cut the equivalent of 958 million kilowatt hours of energy use annually -- enough to power 85,000 homes per year;
Avoid over 557,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually -- equivalent to taking more than 86,000 SUVs off the road per year

You can follow EDF Climate Corps on Facebook.com/EDFClimateCorps.