Yahoo!
At a Glance
Industry
Internet, Software, Hardware and Technology Services
Project Type
Commercial Energy Efficiency
Year
2014
Location
Sunnyvale, CA
Summary
Emily McAteer helped refine the company's strategic approach to energy management, investigated on-site generation and proposed an energy savings revolving fund.
Goals
Emily McAteer worked closely with Yahoo’s Energy and Sustainability Strategy team to refine the company’s strategic approach to energy management and implement a number of key projects at the company’s campus headquarters and data centers.
Solutions
McAteer created project financial models to forecast energy cost savings for two major on-site generation projects, including a large solar PV installation and a fuel cell. These dynamic models forecasted project financials under 36 different scenarios for electricity and natural gas pricing.
In support of Yahoo’s new effort to develop an energy savings revolving fund, McAteer also developed a suite of efficiency and energy savings measures to generate seed funding for a proposed energy revolving fund.
As part of Yahoo’s enhanced energy management strategy, McAteer led vendor selection and drove key partnerships to advance the company’s demand management efforts. These partnerships were initiated after financial analysis of potential revenue from advanced energy management strategies, including various building storage applications. McAteer also conducted a post-pilot analysis of the energy savings from an air flow optimization project at one of the company’s data centers.
Finally, McAteer worked with a team of engineers to develop a climate/sustainability mobile iOS app that ultimately won the company-wide Hack Day.
Potential Impact
The team “flipped the switch” for the fuel cell, and the solar installation is scheduled to begin soon. Between these two projects, Yahoo hopes to reach its goal of 50 percent on-site generation for its electrical needs on campus. Also, the company is moving forward with the energy savings revolving fund.