Energy Efficiency

Executives who see the business value or operational benefits of increasing efficiency, particularly within the automotive industry, stand to benefit the most from complying and implementing applicable solutions.

Retail giant Walmart uses a massive amount of energy to power its operations globally. According to a Forbes estimate, the company’s worldwide power demand is about 29,000 GWH per year.

“Poor but sexy”. The famous slogan created by former mayor Klaus Wowereit in 2004 has somehow come to define the German capital, even though gentrification over the last few years is quickly changing the cityscape, especially across swaths of East Berlin.

Breakthrough Energy Coalition has pledged investment dollars to bring to market and scale clean and affordable energy technologies.

FCA US LLC announced today that it has invested $40 million in FCA Transport, the FCA US-owned truck fleet, to convert its 179 Detroit-based parts-haulers to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) rather than traditional diesel. The move gives FCA the largest private fleet of CNG-powered heavy-duty vehicles in the state of Michigan.

On December 1, 21st Century Fox announced that it has joined the American Business Act on Climate Pledge, a new initiative from the Obama Administration in which a total of 154 companies from across the American economy have committed to demonstrate their support for action on climate change and to voice support for a strong outcome to the COP21 Paris climate negotiations. The company has committed to reduce its carbon emissions, invest in renewable energy, and disclose its annual energy use.

Energy-efficient homes of the future have arrived and are growing in popularity. According to a report by McGraw Hill Construction, nearly one-third of new single-family homes in the U.S. will be green by 2016. They are energy and natural resource efficient, designed to reduce overall impact on human health and the environment. An increased number of consumers are going a step further and striving for net-zero energy homes that use renewable energy solutions, such as solar power systems, to offset all or most of their energy consumption. Across the country, the number of net-zero energy residential and commercial buildings doubled between 2012 and 2014 as cited by the New Buildings Institute.

For the second consecutive year, Accenture (NYSE:ACN) is recognized as a global leader for its actions and strategies in response to climate change and is named to the “Climate A List” by CDP, an international not-for-profit that drives sustainable economies. The “Climate A List” is produced at the request of 822 investors who represent more than a third of the world’s invested capital.

So what would the Olympics look like in non-sports form? Let’s assume the whole world was willing to gather for some other purpose, sending official delegations, national leaders, support staff and even fans to one city for two weeks. What if that gathering captured the same spirit of hope and enthusiasm that permeates the Olympic Games? Perhaps the focus could even be something as ambitious as solving climate change.