2011 Results and Highlights

In 2011, EDF placed 96 specially-trained MBA and MPA students in 78 companies, cities and universities to sleuth out energy savings and carbon dioxide (CO2) reductions. Together, the 2011 Climate Corps fellows uncovered efficiencies in lighting, computer equipment, and heating and cooling systems that could result in:

• $650 million in potential net operational cost savings over the project lifetimes
• Potential reductions in energy use of 600 million kilowatt hours and 27 million therms of natural gas annually -- enough to power 38,000 homes per year
• Opportunities to avoid over 440,000 metric tons of C02 emissions annually -- equivalent to taking nearly 87,000 vehicles off the road per year

Highlights from 2011

• McDonald’s worked with Pia Jean Kristiansen, an EDF Climate Corps fellow and MBA candidate from the University of Michigan, to find creative ways to engage the company’s estimated 700,000 U.S. restaurant employees in energy efficiency initiatives. Kristiansen’s work will result in an educational video developed to educate employees on ways to reduce an average restaurant’s energy consumption up to 10 percent.

• Neal Tsay, an EDF Climate Corps fellow and MBA candidate from UCLA, worked with sustainability leaders at Target to develop a plan to achieve its commitment to earn ENERGY STAR ratings for 75 percent of its U.S. buildings by 2015. Additionally, Tsay sought to improve energy efficiency in Target stores by proposing initiatives that could eliminate 50,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions each year and generate several million dollars in annual energy savings.

• The New York City Housing Authority learned how to reduce annual energy costs by $58 million, thanks to a plan developed by EDF Climate Corps fellows Harrison Thomas and Amy Kochanowsky, who are working on degrees in business, environmental management and public policy at Duke University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.Their findings could cut the housing authority’s annual energy costs by 11 percent.

• North Carolina Agricultural and Technical (A&T) University discovered it could save $2.5 million over the next five years by implementing the recommendations from EDF Climate Corps fellows LaKausha Simpson, a PhD candidate in engineering at A&T, and Jonathan Wilson, an MBA candidate at Wake Forest University. A&T's investments in energy efficiency measures, such as improved lighting, will pay for themselves in only three months.

2011 Company Results

Select a company for the complete description of its project and results.