Climate Corps Poised for Take-Off
Today, EDF announced the first 20 companies that have signed on to our Climate Corps program for summer 2010. It’s amazing how far this program has come since we launched it two years ago,
We piloted the program in 2008 with just seven MBA students placed in Bay Area companies. Those students didn’t know what exactly they were in for, and frankly, neither did we. But together, they found $35 million in savings through energy efficiency. Even more impressive: the companies actually followed their recommendations. To date, projects that account for 97% of those energy savings have either been achieved or are underway.
Last summer we nearly quadrupled the program, placing 26 fellows in organizations throughout the country. Those Climate Corps fellows helped their host companies identify net operating savings of more than $54 million. These projects could also reduce energy use by more than 160 million kWh a year—enough to power 14,000 homes—and avoid more than 100,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year.
