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On Monday, Deepwater Wind broke ground on what's expected to be the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in U.S. waters. At a planned 30 megawatts, the Block Island Wind Farm project marks what the Sierra Club calls “a watershed moment for American clean energy development.”

In addition to creating 300 local jobs and meeting the energy needs of all the residents of Block Island, the five wind turbines to be installed in Nantucket Sound off the Rhode Island coast are to be interconnected with a mainland grid via a new undersea cable. Deepwater Wind Block Island, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deepwater Wind, completed financing for the offshore wind farm back in March, announcing that it had secured more than $290 million in project financing. The project is slated for completion in 2016.

In September 2012 a Stanford University research team concluded that U.S. Atlantic coast offshore winds hold the potential to meet the electricity needs of no less than one-third the entire nation, or all that's needed across the U.S. East Coast from Maine to Florida. Development of this vast clean renewable energy resource continues to be hindered by engineering and technical challenges, as well as by NIMBY and clean energy opponents despite development of an integrated, flexible ecosystems-based institutional framework and federal funding of R&D by the Obama administration.

A "watershed moment" for U.S. offshore wind power

The high up-front capital and retail costs of U.S. offshore wind power has been a persistent and pointed criticism from those opposed to government support. But project proponents say the Block Island Wind Farm will reduce electricity rates for New England residents by 40 percent.

Residents of Block Island rely on diesel generators for electricity. All of those will be replaced, and all the island's electricity needs will be met upon completion of the offshore wind farm. More substantially, excess electricity will be sent onwards to National Grid's mainland power distribution network and supply renewable electricity to Rhode Island and other New England states.

Moving "Beyond Coal"

The Sierra Club has been drumming up support for the Block Island wind farm since the project was launched in 2009. “The importance of this day cannot be overstated,” Emily Norton, director of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Sierra Club, was quoted as saying.

“The Block Island Wind Farm is our Apollo 11 moment. I am going to remember this day, and tell my kids and grandkids that I was there when the first U.S. offshore wind farm was built – that when we had a choice between bequeathing them a future powered by polluting fossil fuels that lead to extreme storms, heat waves and drought, we chose to power their future from the wind, and the sun, and smart technologies.”

Sierra Club and other U.S. offshore wind power supporters see the Block Island Wind Farm project as “just the beginning of a burgeoning offshore wind industry in the United States."

"The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has designated a wind management area off the coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts that has the potential to generate as much as 9,000 megawatts" of wind power. If fully harnessed, that's enough to "power 700,000 homes and create 43,000 offshore wind-related jobs on the east coast by 2030,” Sierra Club says.

The U.S. has yet to see a single commercial offshore wind power project completed. With plans to install 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the more ambitious Cape Wind project looks as though it's dead in the water. Criticized as poorly designed and conceived, Cape Wind in April 2010 garnered a $150 million promise of a federal loan from the Obama administration that was contingent on Cape Wind securing the $2.6 billion it projected was required to complete the project from private-sector sources.

The European Union, in contrast, continues to forge ahead in developing offshore wind power potential. According to the European Wind Energy Agency (EWEA), 2,488 wind turbines spanning 74 offshore wind farms -- with total renewable energy generation capacity of 8.045 megawatts -- were connected to power grids across the EU as of year-end 2014.

Development of offshore wind power potential in the U.S. dovetails with Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign. “Moving beyond coal means more than just putting a stop to coal fired power; it means investing in America’s true clean energy promise,” Niles added.

“Today, on Block Island, we again prove that America can be a leader in creating a clean energy reality that ensures every person can breathe clean air, enjoy clean water and live in a world free from the threat of climate disruption.”

*Image credits: 1) European Wind Energy Agency 2) Edie.net 

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal said that China would soon have as many drivers as the U.S. has people. India is on track to surpass Japan to become the third largest auto market next year. What will all this growth in automobiles mean for our climate?

Sure, fuel economy is improving, and the continual addition of electrification into the mix will reduce emissions. But will this be enough to offset the surging growth in developing countries? Remember, we need to do more than hold the line. According to James Hansen, we need to reduce emissions by 6 percent every year if we are to stay within 2 degrees of warming.

What if a large percentage of those millions who are expected to purchase their first automobiles decided to go for a bicycle instead?

I have some good news to report on that front, coming out of a tiny shop on the edge of downtown Durham, North Carolina. According to Rob Cotter, CEO and founder of Organic Transit, makers of the ELF solar-pedal trike, there is a niche waiting to be exploited in the space between bicycles and cars.

“In the bicycle world,” said Cotter, who I spoke with in a tiny office in the corner of his shop, “they have what they call the 'great blue ocean.' That’s the 80 percent of people who could be riding bicycles but don’t.”

There are a variety of reasons for this, but they basically boil down to these few:

• They’d commute by bike don’t want to get to work all sweaty.


• They don’t want to get caught in the rain.


• They want to carry a bunch of cargo.


• They don’t want to pedal up big hills.


• They want to be safer.

Filling the bike-car gap?

Enter the ELF, a three-wheeled, covered bicycle that you can pedal or drive with a motor. The 11Ah 48-volt Lithium-ion battery that powers the electric motor can be charged at an outlet, or from the solar panel that sits atop the vehicle’s roof. The motor will take you comfortably down the road at 20 miles per hour -- faster if you pedal along.

It addresses all of the above concerns without missing a beat. No need to get sweaty. The roof keeps off the rain. There’s cargo room enough to carry a dozen grocery bags or 350 pounds of cargo. The 750-watt motor will take over on big hills, if you’d prefer. And it’s safer for several reasons: First, because a three-wheel platform is more stable than two -- no need to balance. Second, because it’s taller and brightly colored —much more visible in traffic. And third, because there is some measure of protection offered by the surrounding cover, which is made by a material similar to that used in canoes. When you're done, park it in the sun and let it charge up.

The product is durable, stands up well to sun and weather, and has excellent visibility. It comes with LED headlights, taillights and brake lights.

Cotter, who worked on race cars after college, later fell in with Paul MacCready of Gossamer Condor fame. The two worked together in the Human Powered Vehicle Association. “I knew then that I could build a vehicle that could the equivalent of 800 miles per gallon,” said Cotter, but in the Reagan years, interest in fuel economy and efficiency waned. So, he took a job as a creative director, started producing documentaries and became very involved in human rights.

Now, he has put it all together in the name of  “environmental prosperity," with the ELF that can achieve a jaw-dropping equivalent of 1,800 miles per gallon.

Taking it on the road

I took one for a short test drive, and while it took a few minutes to get used to, it definitely put a smile on my face. Yes, it rattled a bit going over bumps, and yes, I had to remember which gear I had left it in when I switched back from motor power to pedaling. But it did what I asked it to do, which was to take me from point A to point B without much effort on my part -- and virtually no impact on the planet. It was not hard to see the possibilities.

Unlike some reviewers, who focused on the shortfalls of the vehicle when compared to an automobile, having recently traveled in places like India and rural Kenya, I could certainly see how a vehicle like this could fit in. I can see a whole bunch of these Elves chugging alongside bicycles carrying three people and motorcycles carrying four, as they often do in places like this.

I expect this niche will become an important one over the years to come, because of its ability to meet the transportation needs of thousands, if not millions of people, as they emerge from poverty or simply adjust their lifestyle to a more urban and Earth-friendly one, and while doing so with minimal impact to the planet on which we all live. Other players will certainly jump in, but ELF will certainly participate and hopefully be remembered for its pioneering work in this important area.

Image credit: RP Siegel

The sustainably-sourced guaranteed lower electricity bill is the true disruptive challenge confronting electric utilities and their regulators. Competitors are offering it. Utilities are not.

For example, customers in the approximately 10 states that currently enable economic net metering are buying solar systems through financial contracts that guarantee lower monthly utility bills. By 2016 the price of solar energy is projected to be equal to or even less than utility rates in all 50 states. The potential for customers to buy sustainably-sourced energy through contracts that guarantee lower monthly electricity bills could soon explode across the U.S.

Four global mega-trends bigger than the electric utility industry

Technology innovations, manufacturing economies of scale and shifts in consumer decision-making are four 21st century mega-trends reshaping every business. This global phenomenon is now slamming against the traditional electric utility business model. The electric utility industry’s ability to stop or retard these disruptions has a limited, and eroding, time horizon.

The specific 21st-century disruptions confronting the electric utility industry include:

• Global investments in solar, battery, LED and smart-building technologies are achieving manufacturing economies of scale that deliver the type of continuous price declines associated with computers and smartphones.


• Well capitalized competitors to the utility business model have emerged with business cultures focused on delivering guaranteed lower customer electricity bills.


• The 21st century Information Age has displaced the 20th century’s branded mass-marketing strategies. Consumer peer-postings in social media, rather than branded messaging, now drives what consumers buy, who they buy from and what price they expect to pay.


• The emergence of a consensus among mothers and the millennial generation that their health is at risk from 20th century industrialization. These key consumer segments are actively deserting brands that no longer align with their growing expectations for value and values. They are actively seeking and buying price competitive products that enhance human health.

How global mega-trends are disrupting the electric utility business model

The global mega-trends reshaping what consumers buy and who they buy from are now having measurable impacts on the historical utility business model. These impacts include:

• Utilities are losing value-alignment with their customers. Utilities do not have a competing product to customer-owned sustainable technologies packaged into financial contracts that deliver guaranteed lower electricity bills.


• Utilities are losing their values-alignment with their customers. Customers seeking sustainably-sourced products are increasingly able to buy home and office technologies that demonstrate their commitment to human and environmental health.


• Utilities are increasingly disconnected from their customers. Consumers now expect a social media conversation with the companies they do business with. Utility customers are increasingly bypassing utility messaging by using social media to harvest peer insights and to acquire issues-based learning through the comic wit of John Oliver, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert


• An emerging grassroots political coalition of strange bedfellows is challenging utility-centric regulation and legislation. Unlikely alliances like the one that emerged in Georgia between the Tea Party and environmentalists are challenging utilities at their commissions, state legislatures and the ballot box on the industry’s value and values.

If it is of any comfort to the electric utility industry, it does not stand alone in attempting to deal with these disruptive mega-trends. These same mega-trends explain why Chipotle displaced McDonalds as the most valuable restaurant chain in America. It explains why companies from Apple to Walmart are greening their supply chains and have adopted goals for operating their businesses with 100 percent renewable energy. It explains why 21st century business best practices are truly different compared to the 20th century.

"Cost less, mean more” defines business success

The electric utility industry, and its regulators, now confront a 21st century formula for business success. This new formula is to deliver “cost less, mean more” customer results. Market research is adamant that customers expect it all. They expect competitively-priced products that align with their values.

This 21st century business success formula contrasts with the traditional electric utility business model that too often is defined by annual rate increases, service interruptions and environmental impacts. The industry’s hallmark customer education programs and cash incentive promotions of energy-efficient technologies may be reaching a point of diminishing customer engagement. Customers question these programs and cash incentives when they fail to achieve sustained lower electricity bills as utility rates move higher. Utility cash incentive programs for energy-efficiency technologies or demand-response is losing competitiveness to customer-owned solutions that deliver sustainably-sourced guaranteed lower electricity bills.

This trend will only accelerate as customer-centric innovations merge to deliver the zero net energy (ZNE) building. ZNE buildings generate as much annual renewable energy as they consume through the design integration of onsite renewable energy, batteries, LED lighting, energy efficiency, collaborative living/work spaces, smart sensors and Internet-of-things management systems. The financial community is on track to introduce innovations that will finance ZNE buildings to deliver guaranteed lower electricity bills. California, the seventh largest economy in the world, has integrated ZNE into its building codes. Similar to what happened in solar, California will create consumer demand critical mass for ZNE. This will drive global manufacturing economies of scales that will move ZNE buildings to price competitiveness against traditional electric utility service.

Get weird: Deliver guaranteed lower bills or lose!

Ironically, at one time the electric utility was viewed as being weird or outside the business norm. During their first 50 years, utilities were a growth industry delivering annual electricity rate reductions through innovation. The electric utility industry, and its regulators, must rediscover the ability to get weird.

The path to being weird begins with leadership and culture. Having worked with utilities and solar companies, I can confirm their cultures are as different as night and day. Succeeding solar companies have a singular focus on innovations that drive down the customer’s monthly bill. They are consumed with a search for marketing innovations that will win customers. They are in constant dialogue on acquisitions or alliances that hold the potential for cost-saving economies of scale, financing innovations, customer growth and expansion of product offerings.

To remain competitive and relevant the electric utility industry, and its regulators, will need to place their focus on the sustainably-sourced guaranteed lower monthly electricity bill. An industry focus on rate re-designs that preserve revenues plus programs to shape consumer behavior around the industry’s cost curve do not align with customer expectations. The sustainably-sourced guaranteed lower electricity bill is emerging as the consumer electricity procurement-metric of the 21st century.

How to restore the electric utility’s mojo

Restoring the industry’s mojo by aligning with customer expectations on value and values is the path to achieving the industry's quest for revenue success. Finding this new mojo will require an issues-structured dialogue between utilities, regulators and stakeholders with the goal of surfacing public policy innovations that will align utilities with customer expectations.

To implement this new mojo, the industry will need to develop and/or acquire work associates capable of identifying and executing innovations that win customers. To communicate their new mojo, utilities will probably have to go through a humbling and frustrating learning curve to learn how to achieve interactive conversations with their customers via mobile social media. Their new mojo will inspire individual utilities to explore acquisitions and strategic alliances that enable the delivery of sustainably-sourced guaranteed lower electricity bills.

In summary: To win customers in the 21st century, the electric utility industry must get weird, or go outside its existing norms, in figuring out how to deliver a sustainably sourced guaranteed lower electricity bill.

Image credit: Flickr/Alan Levine

The animals at the Detroit Zoo generate much poop, which is something that can be used to generate energy and fertilizer. That is why the Detroit Zoological Society and the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) announced a crowdfunding campaign through Patronicity, a Michigan-based crowdfunding site. The campaign is to raise funds for a biodigester that will produce energy from animal manure at the Detroit Zoo.

The goal is to raise $55,000 by June 15, and if that is raised, the MEDC will provide a $55,000 matching grant. So far, $11,854 has been raised as of April 25.

The biodigester will turn 400 tons of animal manure generated annually at the Detroit Zoo into a biogas. In turn, the biogas will be used to help power the 18,000-square-foot Ruth Roby Glancy Animal Health Complex. Construction is slated to begin this spring and be completed in the fall. It will be the first biodigester used at a zoo in the U.S.

“The biodigester will turn one of our most abundant resources – manure – into energy, and represents a significant step on our green journey,” said Ron Kagan, executive director and CEO of the Detroit Zoological Society.

The biodigester will use anaerobic digestion, a process that breaks down plant and animal materials through micro-organisms. The process starts when biomass is put inside a digester. Micro-organisms then digest the biomass, which release a biogas that can be used to generate power and heat. Any remaining material will be used as fertilizer for animal habitats, gardens and public spaces throughout the zoo’s 135 acres.

“We are pleased to partner with the Detroit Zoo and support this eco-friendly, energy-saving project,” said MEDC Community Development Director Katharine Czarnecki. “This campaign will allow residents, businesses and everyone who appreciates the Zoo and the positive impact it has on Metro Detroit to be a part of this innovative undertaking.”

The biodigester will save the zoo $70,000 to $80,000 a year in energy costs. It will also help the zoo meet its goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity and natural gas by 20 percent by the end of 2015. Both the emissions reduction goal and the biodigester are part of the sustainability initiatives of the Detroit Zoological Society Greenprint, a green roadmap guiding the zoo to be more environmentally friendly.

The sustainability efforts of the society were recognized with a Green Award in 2014 by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Last year, the zoo’s Arctic Cafe was recognized as a Three Star Green-Certified Restaurant by the Green Restaurant Association.  It is one of only four restaurants in Michigan and one of only eight zoo restaurants in the U.S. to be certified green.

Image credit: Scott Calleja

By Dr Raj Aseervatham

When I test-drove a Model S Tesla, I was quietly disappointed. Before you lodge a formal complaint, let me explain, because it is only a marginal disappointment.

It moved like a spaceship. Wait, I haven’t actually ever been in a spaceship per se. Not even Elon Musk's anything-you-can-do-Branson-I-can-do-too rocket. But I have watched enough space movies to know that once we’re in space it’s notably quiet.

When I depressed the accelerator (acutely aware that the term ‘hit the gas’ was now redundant), external surroundings moved with startlingly immediacy from the front of me to the back of me, which was the most significant clue that I was moving. The car dealer in the seat next to me also twitched a bit, which was my second clue that we were attaining commendable velocities instantly. It brought a smile to my face. It doesn’t take much to please me.

And while it falls considerably short of making a full light-year on one tank of electrons, the top-range battery allows distances of 500 kilometers (more than 300 miles) at a respectable pace without refueling.

But there was no throaty roar, so I felt nothing like Steve McQueen, Michael Schumacher or Daniel Ricciardo. Therein lay my disappointment.

Still, it’s all good because I was told by the dealer -- in response to my subsequent whining -- that I could soon get an app on my phone that simulates a throaty roar. Its throatiness is correlated to the Bluetooth-communicated meters-per-second-squared of acceleration. Its pitch is calibrated to an F1-snarl or a Lamborghini growl (or anything in between). The result is pumped through the speakers that Elon Musk reportedly required to be able to ”crank up to 11." Problem solved.

For pedestrians, who may not have this app, encountering a Tesla is a bit like being stalked by a Stealth fighter. A pearly white Model S slunk up behind me at the Gold Coast a few weeks ago. I noticed it a millisecond after I stepped off the curb in front of it. The driver nearly soiled himself as I hastily avoided the dubious honor of being the first martyr to Sexy-Sustainability-on-Wheels -- which would have been unsustainable for me, and therefore would have dented Elon’s claims regarding net gains, not to mention the shell of the delectable car.

Clean cars, dirty energy?

I am happy that car manufacturers like Tesla are focusing on transforming electric vehicles from pottering, distance-challenged, Noddy-like contraptions to Maserati-styled land-sharks. Even if the chassis of the Model S looks just like a massive slab of hundreds of strapped-together batteries covered in a smooth molded shell, and the car currently costs about as much as the quantity of 10-dollar notes you can cram into said chassis, it’s still a pretty good advance of technology.

Yet it’s not all silent applause. Because, obviously, the electricity used to charge these now-sexy machines can come from some grimy sources.

In some places, you’re ecologically better off driving an unsexy hybrid than a curvy spaceship-inspired electric vehicle. And that’s because burning some petrol in your combustion engine is better than burning the brown coal in the regional power station to get the electrons into your whopping electric battery. Here’s an example from the U.S.

Don’t get me wrong. I mean, it’s a giant step for a man to (almost) mainstream commercialize Top Gear performance electric vehicles, and it’s a small step for mankind to have a worthy receptor of clean energy that gets you from A to B and back so quietly. So kudos all round, say I.

Now we just need to get that clean energy delivered.

Tesla gets into the energy storage game

But Elon Musk, who is being compared to Tony Stark of Iron Man fame, is ahead of me.

He is not just a producer of cars. Following some mysterious Tweets from the industrialist early in April about the unveiling on April 30 of a product sans wheels, and the feverish speculation that followed, he is, apparently, poised to become a producer of batteries.

Now, lest you unkindly depreciate his personal brand by comparing him to an Energizer bunny, let me tell you that being a producer of batteries now has Messianic credibility. Because, as you will already know, having cheap batteries that can save large amounts of energy for long periods of time makes you a game-changer. And this is because we now have a wee chance at properly plugging in to our solar system’s ultimate power station, which delivers abundantly clean energy to your rooftops.

This, of course, leads us to the warmly sustainable position of your house soaking up some rays through its solar panels (yesterday's news) and becoming a battery (today's news), or your community becoming a bigger dynamic battery (tomorrow's news). Your house charges up your car any time of the day or night, which then charges silently through your suburban streets and interstate highways -- below the speed limit, of course.

We may already be there. Bloomberg reports that Walmart claims 11 of its stores in California are now installed with Tesla batteries. As you and I both know, the average Walmart store is far larger than the average home and runs a far greater number of electrical appliances. So, now it's just a matter of cost versus scale.

On this trajectory, big power stations become less relevant: We pull down some poles and wires and we decentralize our power supply-versus-demand characteristics.

It’s called a disruptive technology.

In a very quiet package.

Sneaky, Mr Musk. I cheer you in appropriately hushed tones.

Image credit: Flickr/Windell Oskay

Dr Raj Aseervatham is a driving enthusiast and a social and environmental professional who has worked extensively in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas on corporate responsibility and sustainability programs for government, consultancy and private industry.

By Elisabeth Comere

When the Edelman 2015 Global Trust Barometer was released in January, one thing became abundantly clear: Consumer trust, or lack thereof, will force industry and businesses to rethink the way they practice sustainability.

Edelman’s Canadian Findings show that overall public confidence in business has hit a five-year low, sitting below 50 percent. In addition, 53 percent of respondents believe businesses fail to contribute to the greater good, and perhaps more telling is the belief held by 75 percent of respondents that the driving change in business and industry today is greed and money as opposed to a desire to improve people’s lives and make the world a better place.

These results have major implications for those of us pushing sustainability agendas within our companies and to our customers. Trust is the cornerstone of an effective sustainability strategy. The study, however, suggests that globally companies are losing trust by underperforming in two key areas: integrity and engagement.

Skepticism on the sustainability front is a warning called out in the 2015 State of Green Business Report.  It suggests that that corporate sustainability targets will be questioned and higher targets will be demanded; businesses will be urged to work in collaboration with partners to address pressing social and environmental challenges; and consumers want to see businesses and government work collaboratively to shape policies that will accelerate the transition to low-carbon and more sustainable economy.

Three-Point Strategy to Tackle Public Trust

1. Integrity: Establish well-rounded sustainability priorities

Sustainability agendas and priorities must be created within the context of the company’s business, products and supply chains to see transformational change across all networks.  This not only recognizes a major shift in the marketplace, but it also supports the business case for establishing sustainable business practices and credibility in public and private arenas.  See Purdy’s Chocolatier, a trusted Canadian brand that has been committed to “going green” since the 1960s.  In recent years, the sustainable cocoa industry has evolved allowing Purdy’s to produce sustainably sourced chocolates through their Sustainable Cocoa Program, a program dedicated to sustainable farming and sustainable living in communities in which they operate.

Against a backdrop of a rising global population, emerging economies, climate change, finite natural resources, increasing regulations and societal expectations, integrity is about ethics and owning successes and failures, and radical transparency.  As a result of the internet, user-generated content, peer-to-peer networks and data leaks, this is the new necessity for practicing sustainability.

Businesses that are not walking the talk are risking their reputations and customer retention, ultimately baring negative effects on long term growth.  Eventually, and without reprioritizing corporate commitments and responsibilities, not only will companies face public scrutiny, but they will spend more time and resources defending their corporate image. Even with rebranding and crisis communications strategies in place, it may be too late and too long a recovery process of repositioning one’s brand and regaining public confidence again. The stats below demonstrate that trusted companies have more to gain from placing sustainability at the forefront of their business model.   Not only does it increase market share, but it can position a company as a thought leader in the sustainability realm offering longer term benefits (e.g. increased customer loyalty and sales, user-generated shares through peer-to-peer networks; every public relations and marketers dream).  The key takeaway is, consumers are willing to spend more on quality products and services that are produced by transparent and responsible companies.

2. Engagement: Include stakeholders in the innovation process

Building trust is also about the ability to have the right collaboration to drive engagement for a shared vision.  We cannot change the world by ourselves however, by working in collaboration with civil society, customers, peers and government, we can create shared value. One organization that demonstrates this point well is the Carton Council of Canada, a non-for-profit group of competing carton packaging manufacturing companies that have come together to advance sustainable recycling solutions in Canada to divert cartons from landfills.

Continued success depends on gathering support from peers; understanding, adapting to and addressing challenges; seeking to lead by example; and inspiring many stakeholders to join together to find effective solutions.

In addition, we need to establish a structured and consistent way of gathering feedback from customers, key stakeholders and employees, and make sure this knowledge feeds into the risk management and decision-making process. By respecting their interests, listening to concerns, and having an open and honest lines of communication, it can spur innovation, effective solutions and sustained market growth.

3. Transparency: Share and report your progress

Placing integrity at the core of your business requires openly sharing your strategies, practices and progress to-date with stakeholders on a regular basis and in an engaging way.  This is a testament to an organization’s accountability not only for its actions on sustainability, but also for its shortcomings.

Loblaws, Canada’s largest food retailer, was one of the first to publish their CSR Report in corporate Canada, and has continued to put forward their track record, successes and shortfalls since 2008, and as such, they continue to position their company as a trusted brand.

Silence is a breeding ground for skepticism as key opinion leaders and consumers have an abundance of user-generated content at their fingertips that influences their opinion of your company and its practices. Every year, companies need to map the sustainability issues of greatest relevance to their business and of most interest or concern to their stakeholders to ensure their efforts maximize both impact and resonance.

Image credits: 1) Edelman 2) www.613style.com 3) Carton Council 4) www.ottawafoodbank.ca (Featured image: Flickr/purplejavatroll Elisabeth Comere is responsible for environment at Tetra Pak – the world leader in packaging and food processing solutions. She joined the company in 2006 as Environment Manager for Europe where she helped define and drive Tetra Pak’s environmental strategy and contributed shaping recycling for cartons in Europe. Since 2010, she is based in the U.S., focusing on advancing the Tetra Pak’s commitment to sustainability in the U.S. and Canada and is involved in various industry and customer packaging and sustainability initiatives.

Today, Yum! Brands and TriplePundit hosted a special Twitter Chat about its environmental commitments – at #3pYumChat.

The sustainability experts at Yum! Brands - Roger McClendon, Chief Sustainability Officer and Laurie Schalow, VP of Corporate Social Responsibility, both engaged with TriplePundit on Twitter to address the company’s goals, successes, and opportunities for global sustainability.

The parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut reports annually on its CSR performance, which it views as key to creating positive change. The four strategic pillars for Yum! Brands within CSR are: food, people, community and environment.

During this chat, we focused on the environmental pillar. We learned about how Yum! Brands is an environmental steward, and has created three global iconic brands that people recognize and trust.

A few topics discussed included:

• Green buildings
• Waste recovery and recycling
• Energy efficiency

Featured Guests on @YumBrands:

• Roger McClendon — Chief Sustainability Officer, Yum! Brands
• Laurie Schalow — VP of CSR, Yum! Brands

Moderators:

• Nick Aster (@NickAster) — TriplePundit Founder and Publisher
• Marissa Rosen (@MarissaR1) — TriplePundit Director of Social Media
• Jen Boynton (@JenBoynton) — TriplePundit Editor-In-Chief

 

General Mills is such a large company that when it does something, good or bad, you take notice. In this case, General Mills is striving to do good for the environment by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.

It reduced its GHG emissions rate by 23 percent last year from a 2005 baseline, surpassing its goal of a 20 percent reduction by 2015. The company also managed to cut absolute GHG emissions by 10 percent since 2005 while net sales increased by 59 percent.

Becoming more energy efficient in its operations and using less GHG-intensive forms of energy are the focus of its emissions reduction efforts, as its 45th annual Global Responsibility Report reveals. The company provided several examples. One is its Murfreesboro, Tennessee, facility where an anaerobic reactor uses self-renewing bacteria to convert the whey by-product from Greek yogurt into a biogas. It may sound unconventional, but this biogas has the potential to generate over 10 percent of the power used at the facility and reduce natural gas use by 10 percent.

Going up the value chain

Most of the GHG emissions associated with General Mills’ value chain are from entities the company doesn’t own or control. Over 60 percent of its value chain emissions come from agriculture, ingredients and packaging. So, General Mills is focusing on sustainably sourcing its 10 priority ingredients by 2020. These 'priority' ingredients include vanilla, palm oil and sugarcane, and they represent over 50 of the total ingredients the company buys.

General Mills' goal for palm oil is to source 100 percent from “responsible and sustainable sources” by 2015. It is bit behind to meet the goal as 83 percent of the palm oil purchased in 2014 was sustainably sourced. Most palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia, and in both countries the palm oil sector is responsible for deforestation.

The areas where General Mills lags behind

In some environmental areas General Mills is not slated to meet its 2015 targets. One of those areas is energy use reduction. The company’s goal is to reduce its energy usage rate by 20 percent by 2020 from a 2005 baseline. Through 2014, it only managed to reduce energy usage rate by 10 percent, unchanged since 2013. It attributes the stagnation to “stronger growth in relatively high energy products, such as Greek yogurt.”

General Mills does focus on increasing energy efficiency, and if it continue to focus on it, combined with increasing renewable energy use, it will eventually reduce its energy usage rate. Case in point: Its facility in Inofita, Greece, installed nearly 800 square feet of solar panels in 2014, reducing diesel consumption related to water heating. The solar panels also decrease related GHG emissions and are projected to save about $50,000 a year. The solar energy system is also projected to pay for itself in two years.

Another area that General Mills lags behind is transportation fuels reduction. The company aimed to cut fuel usage rate by 35 percent by the end of this year, using a 2009 baseline. It has only reduced this rate by 22 percent through 2014, compared to 24 percent through 2013. The reason for the slow progress is due partly to winter storms in 2014, the company said. Since transporting products is a “significant source of GHG emissions,” General Mills needs to step it up in this area.

Still another area that General Mills lags in is water use reduction, but only by a little bit. The goal is to reduce water usage rate by 20 percent by 2015, from a 2006 baseline. The company achieved a 17 percent reduction in 2014. There are several reasons the company is lagging: high water usage in yogurt products and associated cooling systems following its Yoplait acquisition in 2012 combined with expanding its Greek yogurt business, the company said.

It will be interesting to see where General Mills is next year. Will the company achieve more progress toward its environmental goals? Stay tuned to find out.

Image credit: GeneralMills

Unilever is furthering its ambition to make sustainable living commonplace by partnering with global sustainability movements Global Citizen and Live Earth: Road to Paris.

This is the first time that the FMCG giant has partnered with two global movements on this scale through its Unilever brightFuture campaign, which will encourage action amongst consumers towards a more sustainable future. 

Paul Polman, ceo, Unilever said: “2015 is a critical moment in time, an opportunity to agree on a universal agenda that tackles poverty and inequality and to all take action to protect the one planet we have. As a business we can deploy our resources, expertise and scale to help our consumers to take action. Today, we are adding our support for the growing movement of citizens and businesses demanding change.”

Planned activity includes encouraging climate-conscious people to sign the “Take Climate Action Now” pledge and helping to build the world’s largest, most effective social activism campaign to help address global sustainable development.

For full details see the May issue of Ethical Performance.

 

Picture credit: © Pixbox77 | Dreamstime.com - Plant The Tree For Stop Global Waming, Sustainable Photo

 

In a nifty turn of reverse marketing, luxury electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors aims to make its cutting-edge mobile battery technology a workhorse for the stationary energy storage sector. Bloomberg News reported that Tesla will introduce batteries for commercial and residential use this week, following through on a promise company CEO Elon Musk made earlier this year.

For those of you familiar with Mr. Musk, the move is no big shocker. Musk is also chairman of the leading U.S. residential solar installer SolarCity, which is already offering Tesla-branded batteries to its rooftop solar customers. The new announcement could break the energy storage market wide open into non-solar customers as well.

Why invest in energy storage without solar energy?

The question for business is: Why would you invest in on-site energy storage if you don't have an on-site solar array?

After all, the main reason to pair a battery with solar panels is to store energy when the sun is shining, so you can still get zero-emission electricity at night or during inclement weather. And to be clear, the new Tesla venture seems aimed primarily at storing solar energy.

However, additional benefits of energy storage are emerging that apply across all properties, with or without on-site solar (or, for that matter, on-site wind turbines).

Foremost is the rise of the demand-response model for grid electricity rates. Utilities have been adopting more pathways to help customers ease off their electricity use during peak hours, and energy storage plays a pivotal role in this trend.

The attraction for business is that you can shave down your electricity costs by charging up your battery and storing energy during scheduled off-peak hours, when rates are lower. To avoid brownouts and other disruptions, utilities are also beginning to use smart grid technology to request demand cutbacks on the fly, so businesses with energy storage will be able to take advantage of those incentives as well. Reducing the need to build expensive new "peaking" plants is another plus for utilities.

Another strong benefit is the ability to rely on a quiet, zero-emission source of electricity in case of power outages, rather than having to rely on a noisy diesel backup generator.

The backup benefit is becoming more urgent, as a warming global climate has contributed to an increase in the risk of grid outages from damaging storms.

It's also worth noting that in the health care sector, the trend toward in-home and clinic-based care will bring about an increase in the need for small-scale backup power systems to keep medically necessary equipment running, in addition to simply keeping the lights on.

Domesticating the Tesla electric vehicle battery

Despite its relatively short history in the automotive field, Tesla has already become known for its high-end, high-tech, high-performance engineering.

That reputation applies especially to the company's long-range, lithium-ion electric vehicle battery and its growing network of super-fast charging stations.

All that cutting-edge technology comes at a cost, of course. While Tesla has been trying to broaden its customer base with more attractive financing and the introduction of more affordable vehicles, the company's signature Model S is too pricey for most car buyers.

You might assume that a similar obstacle would apply to Tesla's new stationary battery, but you might be wrong about that.

As reported by Dana Hull of Bloomberg News last week, Tesla has been quietly working with California's SGIP, the Self Generation Incentive Program, to procure rebates for its stationary batteries at scores of sites throughout the state.

Hull puts the figure at more than 100 projects for Tesla, which is pretty impressive when you take a look at SGIP's overall record.

SGIP launched in 2001 as a means of smoothing out spikes in energy demand across the California grid, and it recently reported that to date it has 544 projects under its belt.

When the program started it had an integrated solar component, but in 2006 the solar aspect was farmed out to the California Solar Initiative. That's partly why we're guessing that Tesla's close relationship with SGIP could help propel the market for on site energy storage, with or without on site solar.

Energy storage market is mushrooming

Building on its recent work with SGIP, Tesla has also been taking steps to position itself for new growth in the California energy storage market, as indicated by a December 2014 workshop in which the company proposed a low-cost alternative for interconnection in PG&E territory.

Last week, Bloomberg's Dana Hull reported that utility-scale energy storage is also in the works for Tesla.

The company already has Wal-Mart and Cargill in its stable. Schools, factories, and wineries in California are also likely targets for large-scale batteries.

Helping things along, according to Hull, is a potential pile of $65 million in SGIP rebates for Tesla projects.

Tesla is expected to make a public announcement about its stationary battery sales program on April 30, so stay tuned for more details.

Meanwhile, Hull reports that energy storage investment in the U.S. is expected to surge more than 10 times over the current rate by 2019, adding up to $1.5 billion.

The takeaway: Businesses that invest in energy storage will have a leg up on the competition when it comes to bottom line electricity costs as well as energy security, especially when paired with on-site solar or wind power.

Image credit (screenshot): Courtesy of Tesla Motors.

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