Blog

Next week, March 3-5, the Wall Street Journal is once again hosting its premier environmental event for chief executives and policymakers "who are shaping the green business market." This year’s ECO:nomics Creating Environmental Capital Conference will be held in Santa Barbara, California at the Bacara Resort and Spa. Just a few of the many leaders who will be participating are Dr. Steven Chu (Energy Secretary), Robert A. Iger (President and CEO of The Walt Disney Company), Peter Voser (Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell), Michael G. Morris (Chairman, President, and CEO of American Electric Power), T. Boone Pickens (Chairman of BP Capital Management), and Amory Lovins (Chairman and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute). The Wall Street Journal describes the motivation for the conference as follows: At this critical moment, with prospects for a global carbon emissions regime in flux, there is an urgent need for new answers. Corporate CEOs and entrepreneurs alike must alter their strategies to a ...

The U.S. will agree to carbon cuts during the upcoming Copenhagen summit, but will they be enough? Concern is growing over the amount of carbon that the U.S. will agree to limit in the coming years. This concern is not a one-way battle; US law makers appear weary over too high of expectations in carbon reductions while Europe and other key climate change combaters seem skeptical of the US’s non-committal stance to be an equal partner in the fight against global warming. It is widely agreed that climate change is a global issue which transcends national boundaries and dismisses domestic political debacles regardless of their seemingly weighty importance on a sustained economy. Nevertheless, limits are in the foreseeable future for the US, albeit likely lower than the limits proposed in Europe.   Just how carbon reduction targets will affect business-as-usual is somewhat unclear, but, at least in the short-run, energy efficiency provides a mechanism to improve the bottom-line while reducing the environm ...

Every business needs to optimize its energy use, particularly in a tough economy. A recent McKinsey study, “Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy,” concluded that energy use in all of our 100 million buildings can be reduced by 23% through an investment of $520 billion in efficiency measures by 2020. These investments would save a combined $1.2 trillion (net present value) and prevent 1.1 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.   While this is a fascinating macro analysis, Sieben has recently completed a set of five studies for clients looking for low cost energy efficiency savings that they could immediately implement. Our engineers identified an average of 7% savings, requiring an $80,000 investment, returning $200,000 per year. On a simple return basis, these clients will earn over 200% on their investment!   Efficiency Street is a new Wall Street, with earnings that just can't be beat. Kudos to our friends at McKinsey for writing an excellent document that shows ...

If you read the latest news and policy articles, energy efficiency is often coined the best short-term attack on global warming. Reduce consumption from current practices, receive a return on investment, and decrease your carbon footprint. That’s great, but what happens when all of the low-hanging fruit has been eaten? Yes, capital intensive projects, renewable energy, and other strategies aimed at fighting climate change are necessary. However, we cannot overlook energy efficiency as a critical component in the long-term abatement of greenhouse has emissions—it’s not just a short-term solution. Today’s energy efficiency improvements are retrofitting yesterday’s technologies, and this is a phenomenon that is here to stay.