Commercial, Demand Management, Distributed Energy Resources, Energy Efficiency, Industrial, Commercial, Distributed Generation, Industrial, Sourcing Renewables  -  May 25, 2016

Best Buy, Tesla, PepsiCo among 100+ organizations to host EDF Climate Corps fellows

More than 100 organizations across the U.S. are about to receive some summer help in accelerating their energy efficiency and clean energy projects. 

In its ninth year, the Environmental Defense Fund's Climate Corps program is placing 127 fellows into more than 100 organizations — including big commercial and industrial names such as Best Buy, General Motors, Tesla and PepsiCo — across the private and public sectors this summer. Over the coming months, EDF said in announcing the launch of the 2016 program that fellows will get clean energy projects "on the fast track to accomplishment, simultaneously improving the organizations' bottom line and environmental impact."

Last year, Climate Corps fellows recommended more $60 million of new investments in clean energy technology and EDF expects that number to increase in 2016.

"It's been interesting to watch how companies approach energy management and how it has shifted over time," Liz Delaney, program director of EDF Climate Corps told Smart Energy Decisions on May 25. "When we started the program in 2008, we had just a handful of fellows and 100% of the projects we worked on were commercial energy efficiency projects, and it was straight-out building a business case for investment in technology upgrades." 

Since then, EDF has seen the number of companies interested in energy management strategies grow and has also observed a massive diversification in what the fellows are actually working on, Delaney said. This summer, the fellows will be deployed to develop detailed plans for onsite and offsite renewable projects; portfolio-wide demand response plans; resilient solutions such as microgrids; improvement in onsite energy efficiency performance; as well as energy-related data analysis programs. 

The most notable trend, Delaney said, has been the growth in interest from corporations on renewable energy projects as the costs associated with them continues to decline. Corporate participants, she said, range from those just starting to look at energy management to those that are more progressive and looking for advanced, innovative projects. 

Additionally, the program has increased its focus on states that consume the largest amounts of electricity and have aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets in place. New York, for example, will be home to 33 fellows in the public and private sector as the city and state work to meet ambitious energy reduction goals set forth by the governor and mayor, EDF said. 

A full list of the program's participants is available on the Climate Corps' website, here. EDF is a content parter of Smart Energy Decisions. 

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