Energy & Infrastructure

The hens at Happy Chicken Eggs in Victoria, Australia, are some of the luckiest in the country. They live 100% cage free in lush landscapes and open spaces where they can happily peck and forage all day long. Now, they are contributing to the battle against climate change too.

Ecolab Chairman and CEO Douglas M. Baker, Jr., and University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler announced a $5 million gift from the Ecolab Foundation to the University-wide Driven campaign, in support of environmental sustainability research and education. A cornerstone of the Ecolab Foundation gift is $2 million to establish an endowed chair for the Institute on the Environment.

Financial players and their investors have much to gain from the shift toward greater sustainability. These investments offer a dual benefit: they lower emissions, speeding the transition to a low-carbon economy, and they can make (or save) money. People are increasingly aware of the first two pillars of sustainable investing -- risk identification and transparency. Now we need to inform them about the third: the need to drive capital toward sustainable opportunities, both at home and internationally.

As the United Nations climate change summit opened in Poland this week, delegates of almost all countries in the world are expected to set out how to implement the Paris Agreement and report the nations’ progress.

In a ceremony held on Thursday, November 15, Cheniere Energy celebrated the production of the first LNG from its Corpus Christi Liquefaction plant in Texas. The project will continue through commissioning to deliver the first cargo of LNG at the first greenfield LNG export facility in the United States in nearly 50 years.

NRG Energy's VP of sustainable solutions discusses how the company's Renewable Select program simplifies the renewables procurement process, and makes it easier for companies to choose clean energy.

Kelsea Ballantyne earned her MBA/MS in 2016, as part of the Erb Institute and the Tauber Institute for Global Operations. She’s now in an executive development program at Boeing, working on the 777 and 777X airplanes, and she talked with Erb about her work there.

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), a leading innovator in enterprise software, announced its intent to explore developing a microgrid at its headquarters campus with the City of Palo Alto. A microgrid is a system of generators, batteries, and electric loads that can be operated in a controlled, coordinated way to provide resiliency. Microgrids can operate while connected to the main power grid or can power critical electric loads when off-grid. The VMware microgrid will serve as a testbed for the company and the City of Palo Alto to explore the potential of microgrids to advance resiliency at the corporate and community level. Palo Alto and VMware will also explore a partnership to use this microgrid to augment the community’s emergency services by providing a charging site for the City’s emergency

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), a leading innovator in enterprise software, has announced the achievement of key milestones in its journey to drive positive global impact across people, products and the planet. At the opening of the new VMware Discovery Center in Palo Alto, CEO Pat Gelsinger announced the company has achieved carbon neutrality in global operations two years ahead of the company’s scheduled 2020 goal, and a partnership with the City of Palo Alto to develop a proof-of-concept for a community microgrid.

Oklahoma Gas & Electric is providing 1,500 free trees to customers in its service area through Energy-Saving Trees, an Arbor Day Foundation program that helps conserve energy and reduce energy bills through strategic tree planting.