EDF Climate Corps fellow | July 30, 2010
By Judd Eder, 2010 Climate Corps fellow at Eaton Corporation, MBA candidate at Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Member of Net Impact
This summer, I have had the opportunity to work as an EDF Climate Corps fellow for Eaton Corporation, a power management company that has a nearly 100-year history of "Doing Business Right." It is a company with an abundance of internal and external energy resources with a management team that truly cares about reducing its footprint. Eaton is also a part of the Department of Energy's Save Energy Now leadership program and a commended member of the Carbon Disclosure Project.
So what does this all mean for me as an MBA fellow searching for energy efficiency opportunities at such an environmentally mature company? Both fortunately and unfortunately, it means that all the easy projects are already done. In 90% of cases, the slam dunks have already gone through the hoop.
Ultimately what I'm faced with is a list of what I call positive challenges - they're challenging, but we're glad they're around. For example, I spent a few spare hours looking into energy efficiency measures for the new Eaton world headquarters only to find out that the building is already engineered to be LEED gold certified.
How can I make an impact when the gears are already turning? With so many good people already on the job, what are the next steps?
Taking Energy Efficiency to the next level
Over the past couple of months, my manager has been teaching me the value of higher-level energy strategy, which critical in moving a large corporation toward its many important environmental goals.
Below, are a noteworthy few of the abundant principles necessary for any company to take energy efficiency to the next level:
- Prioritize. In order to truly impact your energy footprint, you must first understand it. Just as in every other aspect of business, the 80/20 rule is almost certainly going to apply to a company's energy portfolio. Dedicate your most important resources to the most critical projects.
- Create the process. Put the tools in place to help your people easily follow the goal. Give them the resources they need to identify, implement and evaluate energy and greenhouse gas reduction projects.
- Share the knowledge. With so many capable people in an organization, it is critical to share project successes and failures across the board. If a project in Sumter, SC can save energy and inspire a facility manager in Southfield, MI to do the same, then we are really making an impact.
Building the pipeline isn't easy. It takes more than a success here and there to make a lasting positive impression - it takes an entire company moving in the same direction.
But where do we look after the low-hanging fruit has been picked? I may not have the answer to that, but I do know that we're not going to stop. We're going to keep climbing higher up the tree.
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