Energy efficiency giant
Johnson Controls is reaching out to the public with interactive online programs that can be used in homes, schools and businesses as teaching tools.
In presenting the programs, which are free, the Milwaukee-based company is drawing on its experiences and best practices with employees as well as clients, said company leaders in announcing the new online offerings at Greenbuild.
The programs are part of a larger Johnson Controls initiative called
Efficiency Now. The initiative, which includes an online video by the same name, represents an
interesting strategy on the part of large highly technical, diversified firms that are industry leaders, but whose lines of work and environmental efforts are perhaps not as widely known or understood by the general public.
The centerpiece of the Johnson Controls initiative is
greenprint, a joint project between Johnson Controls and the
Natural Resources Defense Council. The online tool is intended to show how everyday actions affect the planet and identify what visitors to the site can do to improve their energy efficiency and help the environment.
Visitors to the
mygreenprint.org are walked through a series of questions about their habits at work, home and on the road, shown how what they do rates in terms of level of effort and amount of impact, and offered ideas on how they can do better in energy efficiency.
Looking more like a game than a lesson, greenprint takes about 10 minutes to complete, even less if the "quick look" button is clicked at the onset.
The concept has been "wildly successful" since its start, said Clay G. Nesler, Johnson Controls' vice president for Global Energy and Sustainability.
The idea for greenprint grew from a set of flashcard-like teaching tools the company had created to increase employee awareness about energy efficiency. The idea was so popular that workers were sharing the visual aids with their families, friends and their church and community groups, Nesler said.
From there, the firm refined the concept and partnered with the NRDC to develop it from an internal company tool to one available for public use.
Online tool mygreenprint.org is a joint project of Johnson Controls and the NRDC
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Other elements of the Efficiency Now effort Johnson Control's sponsorship of "
Kilowatt Ours: A Plan to Re-Energize America," an award-winning environmental documentary by filmmaker Jeff Barrie. Barrie's website on the film, which has aired on public televisions stations in more than 70 U.S. cities, has a
special tab for teachers with lesson plans, classroom activities and other free resources for educators.
In addition to detailing its new public-facing programs, Johnson Controls also recapped recent developments that ramp up its technical capacity in three major areas and its professional capacity.
The company acquired the Gridlogix software company last month in a move that pairs the Missouri firm's IT product with Johnson Controls' Metasys building management system. Together the two technologies give facilities managers greater and more secure connectivity to IT applications and provide increased monitoring and reporting capability — all of which enable better and more flexible data collection, which in turn drives better efficiency management and decisionmaking.
In July, Johnson Controls acquired PWI, a global energy provider based in Philadelphia that specializes in greenhouse gas management services. The acquisition has been seen as a multifaceted move that allows the firm to further address climate change, broaden its array of energy management solutions and boost its global business.
The same month, the company said it will be integrating IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Energy Management software with the Metasys system. That match-up is aimed at better serving data center customers with enhanced monitoring, control and data interpretation capabilities.
In terms of professional performance, Johnson Controls has set a goal of having 800 more employees — 500 in the U.S. and 300 in Asia — become LEED Accredited Professionals by October 2009. The effort will primarily involve salespeople and service technicians, said Joe Walicki, Johnson Controls' vice president and general manager for Systems.
Efficiency Now is a new Johnson Controls initiative
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"It's an aggressive goal we've put out there and we think it's necessary because we want to assure customers that we're offering them the most current and comprehensive information available to help them make their buildings more efficient," said Walicki in announcing the program at Greenbuild.
Taken all together, the company's efforts mark an attempt to "get back to basics and cut through the clutter" about energy efficiency, climate change and the environment, said Darryl L. Fortune, the director of global public relations for building efficiency.
"It's what our customers wanted, it's also what we wanted," said Fortune, noting the tools and information on the firm's website and its enhanced solutions systems for buildings.
With economy and the environment posing extreme challenges, the company views increased energy efficiency as a key to recovery for both, said Fortune. "When there's a villain, there's also a hero," he said. "Our hero is efficiency."
