Along with new EDF Climate Corps hosts, new project offerings in 2014

Environmental Defense Fund unveiled today the first group of participating organizations to sign on for EDF Climate Corps 2014, along with a revamped list of smart energy management offerings the program will provide for them. New host organizations including Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Dow Chemical Company and Jackson Family Wines join veteran participants like AT&T, Shorenstein Properties, PepsiCo, Caesars Entertainment and McDonald’s in choosing EDF Climate Corps as a cost-effective resource to advance organizational energy management.

Building on the foundation of energy efficiency projects that EDF Climate Corps is known for, including lighting retrofits, HVAC system upgrades and employee engagement campaigns, participating organizations will also benefit from the newest additions to EDF Climate Corps project offerings below.

1. Data analysis: EDF Climate Corps fellows are well equipped to support host organizations in compiling, analyzing and tracking large amounts of energy and GHG emissions data. For instance, the EDF Climate Corps fellow at U.S. Army Fort Bragg initiated an energy data auditing process and uncovered savings opportunities.
2. Demand response: EDF Climate Corps is working with organizations to explore demand response opportunities to generate revenue through demand side management, plan demand response events and uncover energy market opportunities. For example, the Institute for Sustainable Energy Development brought on an EDF Climate Corps fellow to surface demand response opportunities in Chicago buildings.
3. Energy management strategies: Many EDF Climate Corps fellows will support host organizations in setting goals, achieving 3^rd party certifications, designing tools and developing GHG reporting and performance improvement processes this year. Last summer, Dunkin’ Brands’ fellow calculated the company’s carbon footprint, analyzed trends and identified feasible carbon reduction goals.
4. Funding mechanisms: Fellows will create financing strategies to support energy management investments, much like the greenENERGY Fund implemented by an EDF Climate Corps alumna at adidas Group.
5. Renewable energy: After tackling traditional energy efficiency projects, organizations like Mack Trucks are exploring opportunities surrounding solar power, smart power grids and other sources of renewable energy. EDF Climate Corps fellows are equipped to help plan and implement these opportunities.
6. Supply chain and logistics efficiencies: Major shippers and warehouse operators seeking improved environmental performance and efficiency will avail of EDF Climate Corps’ new offering focused on supply chain efficiencies. Organizations including Office Depot tasked their EDF Climate Corps fellows with exploring some of these areas this last summer.
7. Water and energy efficiency: Water scarcity is an increasing risk to businesses. That’s why AT&T tasked their EDF Climate Corps fellows with developing scalable tools to improve building-related water efficiency. This year, EDF Climate Corps fellows will take those learnings to other organizations interested in improving both water and energy efficiency.

Also new this year, EDF Climate Corps is scaling its impacts by building and tapping into regional networks for advanced energy management. We’re piloting this approach in Chicago, where we’re collaborating with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Retrofit Chicago initiative aimed at cutting energy use in a critical mass of the city’s buildings. We’re committed to creating a tipping point that drives large scale reductions in energy costs and emissions throughout the region.

It’s not too late to collaborate with us this year, so sign up at now at edfclimatecorps.org or contact me directly. You can also learn first-hand about the value of EDF Climate Corps at one of our upcoming webinars, where you will hear from veteran participants about their experience working with EDF and our fellows who, collectively, have uncovered nearly $1.3 billion in energy savings to date.

About EDF Climate Corps
EDF Climate Corps (edfclimatecorps.org) taps the talents of tomorrow’s leaders to save energy, money and the environment by placing specially trained EDF fellows in companies, cities and universities as dedicated energy problem solvers. Working with hundreds of leading organizations, EDF Climate Corps has uncovered nearly $1.3 billion in energy savings. For more information, visit edfclimatecorps.org. Read our blog at edfclimatecorps.org/blog. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/edfbiz and on Facebook at facebook.com/EDFClimateCorps.