Energy & Infrastructure

The World Environment Center (WEC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Sheryl Telford to its board of directors.
Telford leads corporate responsibility and environmental health and safety at Chemours. Most recently she guided development of Chemours’ recently launched Corporate Responsibility Commitment and its associated goals. The Chemours Corporate Responsibility Commitment is an enabler of the company’s growth strategy with emphasis on an evolved portfolio of products, inspired people, and caring for a shared planet.

At Sunwealth, we invest in a sustainable future by financing diverse renewable energy projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen local resilience and bring the benefits of renewable energy to under-served communities. Since 2014, we have financed over 70 solar installations on rooftops and in open spaces. We are poised to invest over $12 million in solar energy and storage projects in 2018, more than double our 2017 investment. We have a 2019 pipeline of over $40 million in new solar projects that will provide 20 megawatts of solar power across 50 communities.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that two-thirds of the world’s power will be generated by renewable resources by 2050. This projection is based on the continuing growth of new renewable power generation projects, primarily wind and solar. Conditions have certainly changed since New Alternatives Fund entered the investment world in 1982. Our Fund’s approach has always been to consider the broad sector of energy and related environmental areas like clean water, clean air, and naturally grown and organic food. Energy is not just the production of electric power we also see conservation and efficiency playing major roles.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 25%-30% of energy wasted in the home is due to inefficient windows. So clearly, when buying a new home or upgrading your current home, selecting the ideal set of windows is an important part of the decision.

The Financial Stability Board's Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) has developed recommendations that help companies disclose climate-related risks and opportunities in their financial filings and help investors make better-informed decisions. Now, TCFD is asking for companies with publicly-listed debt or equity and financial institutions to sign on in support of the effort. GRI encourages companies to join the momentum.

Through an ongoing collaboration with Mohawk Group, Groundswell recently worked with Chicago-based nonprofit Elevate Energy – a fellow Citi Foundation Progress Maker -- to install a SmartFlower solar system in a community garden in South Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood.

The leaves on the trees may no longer be green, but Cisco employees are! Despite the changing of the seasons, employees across Cisco spent last week participating in local, environmentally-friendly activities to reduce their carbon footprints.

Results presented from the first year of operation of Guardians of the Coast, one of the biggest citizen science projects in Italy, promoted by the Costa Crociere Foundation. The initiative actively involved 156 secondary schools , over 600 teachers and 5,700 students during the 2017-2018 academic year. Each school "adopted" a section of the Italian coast, covering a total of 2,610 km , equal to one third of the country's natural coastline.

All over California, school districts are beginning to install energy storage. Mountain View Los Altos (MVLA) High School District was the first district in the state to combine energy storage with solar power generation and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.