Electricity rates for about 90,000 San Francisco ratepayers could almost double if the San Francisco Board of Supervisors goes forward with a deal for Shell Oil to provide 100 percent renewable energy for the city, according to NBC Bay Area. 

About two years ago, in December 2010, I addressed the different changes in our collective thinking that might usher in a sustainable world. It was argued that this depended to a great extent on folks “getting it” with respect to how people view sustainability and their responsibility (personal and corporate – although I understand some [...]

Some 77 percent of energy and utility professionals expect an increase in environmental regulations during President Obama’s second term, according to a survey by environmental software provider Enviance. Despite this expectation, many utilities lack environmental reporting systems – some of which are already mandatory – and plans to deal with possible future regulation, the survey [...]

We’ve been discussing aspects of social impacts and sustainability in my last few articles. I’ve recently come across some excellent discussions on the interrelationship between sustainability and economics. The gist of the discussions is that there is not a trade-off between a sustainable business model or sustainable manufacturing and profit – one can minimize the [...]

On average, EDF Climate Corps fellows each find $1 million in energy savings for their host organizations, such as Google, Facebook and the Boston public school system. This is more than 60 times what it costs to hire the fellows, EDF says. Members of the program, which places specially trained MBA and MPA students in [...]

With world energy consumption set to rise by about 40 percent by 2030, the sources and structures of transportation fuel systems will radically change, according to a new BSR report. The Sustainability Impacts of Fuel — the first report in sustainability consulting firm BSR’s Future of Fuels initiative — assesses the total sustainability impacts of [...]

Over 12 percent of US energy use is directly related to water consumption, according to research from The University of Texas at Austin. In Evaluating the energy consumed for water use in the United States slightly more than 46 quads of energy, or just under half of US energy consumption, are directly or indirectly related [...]

Here’s the latest standards and compliance news affecting corporate environmental and energy executives. Today’s briefing includes seven items. Five new IEEE standards activities address a variety of communications and operational needs for current and future smart grids. Four standards are updates — IEEE 1815, IEEE 1366, IEEE 1377, IEEE C37.104. The IEEE P1854 – Guide [...]

Rocky Mountain Institute and AT&T are working together to improve energy efficiency across the company’s 65,000 facilities in over 60 countries, and share the results with others, as part of the 2012 Portfolio Energy RetroFit Challenge. Launched by RMI earlier this year, the Portfolio RetroFit Challenge aims to demonstrate to building owners and operators that [...]

Data centers can waste 90 percent or more of the electricity they pull off the grid, with idly running servers and backup generators the major contributors, according to a report published by The New York Times, which has garnered some backlash by industry commentators. The article is the first in a series about how the [...]

NASA, the General Services Administration, the Department of Defense and the Smithsonian Institution have all used information and communications technologies to reduce energy consumption and emissions while at the same time cutting costs and meeting sustainability mandates, according to a report released by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. The C2ES report, “Leading by [...]

Nearly one half of CFOs see sustainability as a key driver of financial performance and two-thirds are involved in driving strategies in their organizations, according to a global Deloitte survey of 250 CFOs, representing companies with greater than $1 billion in annual revenue . 

The largest global corporations are tackling potential future energy cost rises through executive-level engagement and proactive energy strategies, according to research by Ernst & Young. The Global Annual Cleantech Insights and Trends survey of 100 global executives at companies worth over $1 billion within energy intensive sectors found that for 36 percent of respondents, the CEO [...]

New York City has publicly posted 2011 energy benchmarking results for 2,065 large commercial properties representing more than 530 million square feet, marking the first time any US city, state or county has disclosed private-sector building energy data from a mandatory policy. 

Here’s the latest standards and compliance news affecting corporate environmental and energy executives. Today’s briefing includes eight items. IMPACT Exhibition Management Co. has continued to reduce energy use to ISO 50001 standards for a second year at the IMPACT Arena, Exhibition and Convention Center in Bangkok, Thailand. In June the average electricity usage at the 60,000-square-meter [...]

Last year was the most successful year to date in the history of fuel cells with annual megawatts shipped exceeding 100 MW, according to the Fuel Cell Industry Review 2012. The report says annual fuel cell system shipments (excluding toys and education kits) in 2011 were 24,600 — growing by 39 percent compared to 2010, [...]

The US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has selected Hewlett Packard and Intel to provide what it says will be the world’s most energy efficient data center. The $10 million HPC data center, to be installed at NREL’s Golden, Colo., campus, is projected to have an annualized average power usage effectiveness rating of [...]

Achieving 40 GW of new combined heat and power by 2020 would save energy users $10 billion a year compared to current energy use and reduce emissions by 150 million metric tons of CO2 annually, according to a report by the Department of Energy and EPA. Combined Heat and Power: A Clean Energy Solution, released [...]

I often hear that IT sustainability — aka green IT initiatives — don’t make it into the top three priorities for a Chief Information Officer (CIO). When I ask why and if they know how much energy IT consumes and how much it costs, I am more often than not met with a muffled response [...]

It is easy to overlook the fact that the Earth contains the same amount of water now as when dinosaurs roamed and Homo sapiens were just beginning to make their presence known. However, of all the existing water, 99.7 percent is locked in oceans, ice, and the atmosphere. Even much of the remaining 0.3 percent, comprising groundwater, lakes, and rivers, is too deep to easily access or increasingly becoming polluted from poor sanitation.

Facebook generated 285,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and used 532 million kWh of energy last year, according to the company’s 2011 carbon footprint report, the first such data shared by the company. The carbon footprint report released Wednesday includes emissions, energy mix and energy use information for all of Facebook’s data centers, global offices as well as employee travel and server transportation.