Dow Chemical, Jones Lang LaSalle and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Sign On for Clean Energy Wins with EDF Climate Corps

(New York, NY – January 14, 2014) With nearly a decade of energy management success, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)’s Climate Corps expands its scope to address the growing variety of clean energy needs for businesses and organizations nationwide.

Each summer, trained EDF Climate Corps fellows from the nation’s top graduate programs team up with leading organizations to identify and implement high-value energy management strategies. EDF Climate Corps has uncovered nearly $1.3 billion in energy savings opportunities since the program began in 2008.

“We’re thrilled to expand the capabilities of EDF Climate Corps to meet the evolving energy management needs of our participating organizations,” says EDF Managing Director Victoria Mills. “We pride ourselves on providing cost-effective and scalable energy strategies, which means we’re constantly looking for new ways to cut costs and emissions.”

This year’s new participants include ASICS America, Dow Chemical, Jackson Family Wines and Jones Lang LaSalle. Returning hosts including PepsiCo, RBS Citizens, Verizon, and Yahoo! – who have all participated for multiple years – signed on for more cost savings and environmental results.

“PepsiCo is looking forward to working with another outstanding EDF Climate Corps fellow as we strive to find more innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment and lower our costs through energy and water conservation,” says Tim Carey, Senior Director of Sustainability for PepsiCo. “Participating in this program has provided us valuable input on many of our current programs and allows talented fellows to learn from our sustainability leaders.”

Participating organizations will benefit from EDF’s expertise on supply chain efficiencies, demand response opportunities, energy data analysis, energy investment funding mechanisms and greenhouse gas reporting, as well as the efficiency projects EDF Climate Corps is already well-known for, including building retrofits, HVAC system upgrades and employee engagement campaigns.

This year, EDF is also partnering with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Retrofit Chicago initiative to cut energy use in a critical mass of Chicago buildings, and create a tipping point that drives large-scale reductions in energy costs and emissions throughout the region.

“Retrofit Chicago is making Chicago a more livable, competitive and sustainable city,” says Karen Weigert, Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Chicago. “We are pleased that EDF Climate Corps is providing boots on the ground to help reach that goal.”;

Jones Lang LaSalle manages the iconic 77 West Wacker building along the Chicago River, and it is one of the first Chicago facilities EDF Climate Corps will tackle using this new regional approach.

“In collaborating with EDF Climate Corps, we look forward to furthering our commitment to help our building owners save on energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” says Myrna Coronado-Brookover, Vice President/General Manager at Jones Lang LaSalle. “Together we will explore clean energy initiatives and build an integrated approach to energy management that involves ownership, management, engineering and tenants.“

EDF Climate Corps is still accepting applications for organizations interested in achieving energy wins in 2014. Learn how EDF Climate Corps can benefit your organization and chat with past participants from Colgate-Palmolive and Comcast at one of our upcoming webinars. Webinar details can be found at http://www.edf.org/climate-corps/webinar.

To sign up for EDF Climate Corps today, visit our Web site at edfclimatecorps.org or e-mail info@edfclimatecorps.org.

The list of 2014 host organizations confirmed to date includes: Alamo Colleges, ASICS America Corporation, Associated Materials, CA Technologies, Caesars Entertainment, City of Baltimore, Dow Chemical Company, Grubb Properties, HCA Healthcare, Jackson Family Wines, Jones Lang LaSalle, Legrand, Mack Trucks, McDonald’s Corporation, Owens Corning, PepsiCo, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, RBS Citizens, Shorenstein Properties, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Vassar College, Verizon Communications, Warburg Pincus and Yahoo!.