EDF Climate Corps Blog: Student Stories

  • Incentives Cut Energy Use at Chicago Public Schools

    EDF Climate Corps fellow | August 13, 2012

    Fellow: Tyler Browne, 2012 EDF Climate Corps Fellow at Chicago Public Schools, MPA/MSES candidate at Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs  

    Organization: Chicago Public Schools (CPS)

    The Opportunity: About 675 schools in the third largest school district in the country

    Summary: Chicago Public Schools recognizes the financial, environmental  and infrastructural  benefits of curtailing energy consumption. That's why it's working aggressively to implement the Energy Shared Savings program  at its nearly 700 schools.

  • You Can Always Do Better – Process Improvement at LBA Realty

    EDF Climate Corps fellow | August 9, 2012

    Fellow: Andy Perkins, 2012 EDF Climate Corps Fellow at LBA Realty, MBA Candidate at Yale University School of Management

    Organization: LBA Realty

    The Opportunity: 39 million square feet of industrial and commercial real estate

    Summary: In the world of commercial real estate, Net Operating Income (NOI) is everything. Its focus on operational efficiency and driving down costs is the measuring stick by which a building's value is determined. It drives the entire industry. I discovered that LBA could improve the NOI of its future energy efficiency projects by creating a standard process for vetting vendor proposals.

  • Native Philosophies Unite with EDF Fellow’s Objectives

    EDF Climate Corps fellow | July 31, 2012

    By: Erika Dahl and David King, 2012 EDF Climate Corps fellows at Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, MBA candidate at Western Carolina University School of Business and MS candidate at Appalachian State University Department of Technology and Design

    Organization: Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI)

    Opportunity: Impact EBCI's next generation of environmental leaders

    Summary: The cultural values of the Cherokee may leverage energy savings as great as those from a lighting or HVAC upgrade, thanks to a collaboration between Sacred Path – a tribal education group at Eastern Band of Cherokee – and EDF Climate Corps.

  • A Conversation with National Geographic’s Sustainability Trailblazers

    EDF Climate Corps fellow | July 26, 2012

    Fellow: Katie DeWitt, 2012 EDF Climate Corps fellow at National Geographic Society, MBA candidate at University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business

    Organization: National Geographic (Nat Geo)

    Opportunity: A decade of experience in sustainable and energy-efficient operations

    Summary: On my first day at National Geographic (Nat Geo), I was given a tour of the company's extensive sustainability infrastructure. It was immediately clear that my challenge as an EDF Climate Corps fellow wasn't to convince the operations staff the value of energy efficiency, but to identify additional eco-business opportunities for Nat Geo.

  • Shorenstein Fellow Reflects on Returning to EDF Climate Corps for Year Number Two

    EDF Climate Corps fellow | July 23, 2012

    Fellow: Jaxon Love, 2012 EDF Climate Corps fellow at Shorenstein, MBA/MAcc Graduate at Lundquist School of Business, University of Oregon

    Organization: Shorenstein

    Opportunity: Jaxon Love began his 2012 EDF Climate Corps fellowship a year ahead of the pack

    Summary: Jaxon Love is one of three 2012 EDF Climate Corps fellows participating in the program for a second year in a row. He was a fellow at Shorenstein in 2011 and is currently halfway through his second fellowship at the firm. We caught up with him to ask what brought him back.

  • An EDF Climate Corps Fellow’s Take on Business Model Innovation

    EDF Climate Corps fellow | July 12, 2012

    Fellow: Alicia Cushman, 2012 EDF Climate Corps Fellow at The JBG Companies, MBA Candidate at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business

    Organization: The JBG Companies (JBG)

    Opportunity: 9.2 million square feet of commercial real estate space and one eager MBA student

    Summary: “A Whole Different Kind of Innovation (Wall Street Journal, June 18th)," declares that business model innovation is "crucial to meeting the challenges associated with energy use," perhaps even more so than technological innovation. Naturally, as an EDF Climate Corps fellow working with The JBG Companies this summer, I had a few thoughts of my own on the matter.

  • Eight Ways National Geographic is Engaging Employees to Cut Costs

    EDF Climate Corps fellow | July 11, 2012

    Fellow: Katie DeWitt, 2012 EDF Climate Corps fellow at National Geographic Society, MBA candidate at University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business

    Organization: National Geographic Society (Nat Geo)

    Opportunity: 1,307 passionate employees

    Summary: Though the National Geographic Society is best known for inspiring people to care about the planet through educational materials and breathtaking images, its internal environmental activities are equally impressive…though less visible to the public. This summer, I'm getting an inside view of those activities and writing to tell you what I see.

  • Partnering for a Better City: Au Bon Pain Fellow Invited to Boston Sustainability Conference

    EDF Climate Corps fellow | July 11, 2012

    Fellow: Jana Holt, 2012 EDF Climate Corps Fellow at Au Bon Pain, Dual MBA/MEM Candidate at The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. Organization: Boston’s A Better City Challenge for Sustainability (ABC) Opportunity: “The private sector has the ability to influence social change on the larger community quickly and efficiently. A Better City Challenge for Sustainability is designed to leverage this ability and make Greater Boston a leader in sustainable business practices.” – ABC’s Web site Summary: Jana Holt presented EDF Climate Corps and the wisdom of energy efficiency to members of Boston's A Better City Challenge earlier this month. Her favorite part? The two-way street of sustainability education she's now a part of.

  • "Superior Energy Performance" Accreditation: The Future of Industrial Efficiency?

    EDF Climate Corps fellow | July 2, 2012

    Organization: Ingersoll Rand

    Opportunity: 72 facilities worldwide

    Challenge: Acquiring Superior Energy Performance (SEP) accreditation

    Summary: Ingersoll Rand is seeking Superior Energy Performance (SEP) accreditation at its Trane plant in Tyler, Texas. The company brought me on board as an EDF Climate Corps fellow this summer to focus on bringing this project to fruition. Before I got started, I needed to figure out just what exactly SEP is and why it’s so important. 

  • QTS 2012: Continuing the Quest for Data Center Energy Efficiency

    EDF Climate Corps fellow | June 27, 2012

    Organization: Quality Technology Services (QTS)
    Opportunity: 3 million square feet of data center space
    Challenge: Data centers require plenty of energy

    SUMMARY: QTS announced yesterday it hired Sukrit Sehgal, QTS’s 2011 EDF Climate Corps fellow, as its first ever director of sustainability. Even more exciting (for me!), is that QTS hired me as its second EDF Climate Corps fellow to drive further steps toward energy efficiency this summer. In addition to conventional data center energy challenges, QTS also faces entirely unique challenges due to the nature of its service as a multi-tenant data center (MTDC) provider.

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