(Sacramento, CA - December 12, 2008) The California Air Resources Board today approved two diesel truck regulations that will dramatically cut the largest source of diesel pollution in the state and are the first of their kind in the United States, according to Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The Air Resource Board estimates that the truck regulations are expected to save 9,400 lives between 2010 and 2025 and greatly reduce health care costs.

“In passing these rules, California will continue to lead a nationwide movement to protect our most vulnerable citizens and reduce health care costs by placing highly cost-effective controls on diesel engines,” testified Dr. John Balbus, EDF’s chief health scientist and a member of the National Academy of Science Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, during the public meeting this morning before the Air Resources Board voted to approve the rule late today. “The scientific literature is overflowing with studies documenting harm from diesel emissions to the lungs, the immune system, the heart and cardiovascular system, even the developing brain.”

Retrofitting these trucks with particulate matter filters can reduce diesel soot up to 85 percent, and upgrading to newer trucks to meet EPA’s latest engine standards can reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxide up to about 90%. The state is offering truckers more than $1 billion in funding to offset the costs of complying with the new rules.

“We should be positive about the overall outcome: we are on a path to reduce deadly diesel emissions,” said Camille Kustin, an EDF policy analyst based in Sacramento. “However, we’ll be moving along that path slower than we had hoped.”

Diesel trucks are the largest emitter of toxic diesel particulate matter in the state due to a combination of lagging emission standards, the long life of the diesel engine, and the high number of miles each truck travels. The newest diesel trucks are much cleaner than their predecessors thanks to recent EPA regulations, but the natural turnover of trucks will not happen fast enough in order for the state to meet federal clean air requirements and to achieve near and long term health benefits. There are more than 900,000 diesel trucks in California, but they produce more than double the amount of the particulate matter and nitrogen oxide from all of the state’s 20 million passenger cars and trucks.

“California’s businesses and consumers can reap substantial economic benefits from implementing The Global Warming Solutions Act and lead the world in pioneering a green, low carbon economy that sustains our future,” said David Festa, vice president of EDF’s West Coast Region and a former director of Policy and Strategic Planning at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

(Austin, TX – Dec. 9, 2008) The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hear public comments this week regarding preliminary federal observer data that show an increase of endangered loggerhead sea turtle interactions with grouper fishermen’s longline fishing gear off the west coast of Florida. The Council has reported considering several solutions to the problem: time/area season closures, fishing gear modifications, alternative baits, observer programs and effort limitation.

The following statement can be attributed to Heather Paffe, Director of the Gulf of Mexico Oceans Program of Environmental Defense Fund:

“The best solution will use a combination of methods to keep grouper fishermen on the water, while reducing turtle interaction to ensure that steady growth and recovery levels are maintained. We are working with industry members, including fishermen, regulators and other environmental groups to find a win-win compromise for the near future.

For the longer term, regulators and fishermen are already working together on a new grouper Individual Fishing Quota management plan, expected for implementation in 2010. Studies show that the plan will reduce the amount of fishing by at least 30 percent. With fewer hooks in the water, and more time to tend fishing gear, there are fewer chances for interactions with turtles.”
 

• Any Inventory resetting must be done using a reporting mechanism that tracks production/import over a significant period.  EPA”s experience with reporting of production and import data under its Inventory Update Rule (IUR) – which entails the reporting of only one year”s volume once every five years (recently raised from every four years) – shows that there is enormous fluctuation from one reporting cycle to the next that must reflect underlying changes in chemical supply and demand dynamics and production and use patterns.²  These data demonstrate that infrequent and time-limited reporting yields a highly inaccurate picture of which chemicals are in commerce, as well as their actual manufacturing levels over time. 
  • Given experience with IUR reporting, EDF is concerned that use of only a 3-year window as suggested by EPA could significantly underestimate the number of chemicals in commerce. 
  • EPA needs to carefully consider the length of the reporting period it uses to reset the Inventory, and should require reporting of any production or import that has taken place at any time during the reporting window. 
  • While we are concerned that some companies might be able to “game the system” if a too-short reporting window is employed, this concern will be alleviated considerably as long as EPA requires (as it has proposed) that any chemicals removed from the Inventory be subject to PMN notification prior to their reintroduction.
  • We support EPA’s proposal to conduct a reset on a periodic basis, a measure that would also help to alleviate our concerns that a reset with too short a window could miss many chemicals in commerce.
• No lower threshold should apply to the reporting used to reset the Inventory.  Production or import of a chemical in any amount at any time during the reporting window should trigger its retention on the Inventory if its original purpose is to be retained.
• Exemptions available from reporting conducted under TSCA Section 8(a) should not apply.  Numerous classes of chemicals have been granted full or partial exemptions from IUR reporting by EPA, some of which are based on presumptions of low environmental or health concern.  Because the purpose of the Inventory is to list chemicals in commerce independent of any sort of risk consideration, such exemptions are wholly inappropriate.  Specifically, EPA should not provide Inventory reset exemptions for:
  • Polymers (exempted from IUR reporting under CFR 710.46(a)(1))
  • Microorganisms (CFR 710.46(a)(2))
  • Naturally occurring substances (CFR 710.46(a)(3))
  • Certain forms of natural gas (CFR 710.46(a)(4))
  • Petroleum process streams (CFR 710.46(b)(1))
  • Specific exempted chemical substances (CFR 710.46(b)(2))

• A publicly available list of all chemicals removed from the Inventory must be maintained.   Many such chemicals, even if not in active production, may nevertheless still be stockpiled, present in products as ingredients, byproducts or residuals, or present as pollutants in air, water, soil, sediment or waste sites.  And of course, they may return to active production in the future.  Maintenance of a public list of all chemicals removed from the Inventory would serve as a compliance tool (see more on compliance below).  It is critical, therefore, that EPA retain — and the public still have access to — an inventory of, and any and all information available on, any chemicals removed from the Inventory.
• Any chemicals removed from the Inventory must be subject to TSCA Section 5 notification requirements.  As discussed at length in our May 2008 comments and noted above, we strongly support EPA’s proposal in this regard.  We support EPA’s “clean” reset option, under which EPA would set forth this requirement as unambiguous policy via a Federal Register notice:  As has been the case historically, any chemical not on the Inventory is subject to Section 5 requirements. 
• We do not support the alternative EPA discusses of seeking to issue a Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) to cover such chemicals.  This approach would be more cumbersome and not offer any advantages over the more direct proposed approach.
• Processors should be included in the Inventory reset.  The language of Section 8(b) is unambiguous:  EPA is required to “compile, keep current, and publish a list of each chemical substance which is manufactured or processed in the United States.”  We see no basis or rationale for excluding processors from certification under an Inventory reset.
• EPA should not allow companies to certify “future” manufacture or production as a means to retain a chemical on the Inventory.  Such an approach would necessarily be based on speculative or uncertain information that could easily change, leaving chemicals listed on the Inventory that are not actually in commerce, thereby frustrating the entire purpose of the reset.  This approach could also create a perverse incentive for companies to seek to retain listings for chemicals not currently in production so as to avoid Section 5 notification and review requirements, thereby frustrating what we see as a key advantage to the core element of EPA’s proposed approach.
• EPA needs to require, not merely invite, certification and take additional steps to ensure compliance.  We are troubled by EPA’s statement that it would merely “invite” companies to certify their production or import (73 FR 70642; paragraph 3 of the Inventory reset background document).  Elsewhere EPA more appropriately refers to “requiring certification” (paragraph 9(a) of the Inventory reset background document).  If the Inventory reset exercise is to be – and be perceived as – credible, it must include all reasonable steps to ensure compliance by all companies that produce, import or process chemicals:
  • EPA must require companies to certify as to which chemicals they produce, import or process.  Such a certification should be signed by a senior officer and be legally binding.
  • EPA should also require that a company certification indicate that the chemicals it identifies are the only chemicals listed on the Inventory that it produces, imports or processes.
  • EPA should commit to undertake additional steps to assess the extent of compliance achieved under the reset, and to promptly initiate actions, including robust enforcement, to address any non-compliance.  EPA should cross-check its reset Inventory chemical lists with other sources of reported information (e.g., IUR and other Section 8 reporting; PMN submissions, etc.) as one means to identify discrepancies.  It should use its enforcement authorities (access to company records, audits, inspections, etc.) on at least a spot basis to ensure full compliance.
  • EPA should provide public access to up-to-date versions of both the reset Inventory and the list of removed chemicals.  As proposed by EPA, these lists should also include entries for any chemicals with identities claimed as confidential business information, providing as much identifying information as possible consistent with allowed protections for legitimate CBI.

• Implementing AB 32 is likely to increase employment in several sectors of the state’s economy, as well as associated supply chains, including biomass-based fuels, building and transportation infrastructure construction, clean technologies, environmental engineering, consumer products, information technologies, transportation and logistics, waste management, and water purification and conservation.
• California’s friendly regulatory setting will attract additional investments in energy-related research and development. California has five of the nation’s top 10 cities for clean tech investment (San Jose, Berkeley, Pasadena, San Francisco and San Diego).
• Several Western states (Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Utah) and Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario) have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as part of a Western Regional Climate Action Initiative. Regional cooperation over climate change policies significantly reduces the impetus for businesses to flee California to avoid climate pollution policy.
• AB 32 will help California improve energy independence by establishing a more diverse energy supply system that can mitigate economic risks of single fuel-supply disruptions and improve long-term economic growth and higher employment levels.
• Market-based policies that expand access to financing for consumers, small businesses and particularly vulnerable populations—and are designed to smooth the transition to a low-carbon economy—will spur the development of a new industry to provide that financing.

WHAT:       Texas’ Changing Economic Climate: Risks and Opportunities in a  Carbon-Constrained World

(Sparks, MD – December 8, 2008) Environmental Defense Fund has released a five-step framework to help companies minimize the environmental impact of their corporate fleets while protecting the bottom line. The new report, “Greening Fleets: A roadmap to lower costs and cleaner corporate fleets,” highlights the work of EDF and PHH Arval in developing the industry-leading approach to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions without increasing costs. A PDF is available at www.edf.org/greenfleet.

The best practices discussed in the report were developed in conjunction with PHH Arval, which has partnered with EDF to help corporate fleets reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. While most companies are interested in operating in a more environmentally-friendly way, they are also concerned about associated costs. The EDF report highlights results achieved by several companies using the PHH GreenFleet program. On average, these clients have reduced GHG emissions by 14% while reducing operating costs by 4%.

“For over three years we’ve been helping leading companies identify the most efficient methods for achieving their fleet environmental goals,” said EDF project manager Jason Mathers. “Managing greenhouse gases make good business sense, so we are eager to make this report widely available to companies that are watching the bottom line while working to ‘green’ their operations.”

Karen Healey, director of PHH Arval’s environmental initiatives, added, “We’re proud of our success with EDF. By highlighting best practices in greening fleets, this report can help all fleets achieve their environmental and business goals.”

EDF will be hosting a conference call on Wednesday January 14, 2009 from 1 to 2pm EST to review these best practices and answer questions from fleet managers. For more information or to RSVP for the call, email greenfleet@edf.org.

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Proposed Truck Clean-Up Rule Will Save Billions in Health-Related Costs for Truckers and Other Californians

Rule Makes Smart Economic Sense, Will Stimulate Economy, Save Lives

(Sacramento, CA - December 5, 2008)— A new study released today concludes that state-of-the-science economic models, including those used for CARB’s economic analyses of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), are not capable of simulating the fundamental changes in California’s economy that AB 32 measures are likely to cause. While critics of ARB claim that costs might be underestimated, this new study shows that many benefits also are not represented by models and more modeling isn’t as useful as consideration of lessons from prior policies and economics literature.

• CARB’s economic evaluation of the Proposed Scoping Plan relied on two computable general equilibrium (CGE) models that are the most sophisticated representations of the state’s economy available. Nevertheless, they are missing representations of economic processes that would isolate the differences between command-and-control (CAC) and market-based (MB) policies.
• The CGE model made no comparison between market-based and command-and-control policies because it is not analytically possible to do so. However, empirical reviews of past programs find savings of 40 to 95 percent from using market-based measures. One prominent example is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Acid Rain Program, which EDF helped design.
• The mandated 30 percent emissions reductions of AB 32, and the Governor’s Executive Order that set goals for 2050, are likely to lead to substantial changes in the state’s economy. Conventional economic models cannot compare regulatory approaches with any degree of confidence for these major initiatives because the models cannot reliably forecast economic changes that go beyond the bounds within which the models are calibrated.
• Economic models do not capture market-based advantages specific to compliance costs, including the impacts of technological innovation or the differences among companies that lead to incentives to trade emissions allowances. These interactions are complex, self-reinforcing and adaptive, so they cannot be easily represented in models that are available today.  
• Extensive experience indicates that while market-based programs are significantly more cost-effective than command-and-control measures, it is critical to carefully design them to ensure delivery of efficient, equitable, and lowest-cost emissions reductions.

“While it is possible to tinker with various assumptions and perform more modeling runs to try and estimate the statewide impacts of various policy scenarios, it is not likely to add valuable or reliable information to the discussion,” added Fine. “Instead, this report recommends policymakers consider knowledge and experience about the basic systems of incentives for innovation and flexibility for compliance cost reduction that have been proven by other market-based policies.”

“It is critical to look beyond economic analyses,” concluded Fine. “It also is important to recognize our past experiences, the economic principles and existing regulatory portfolio in California that led to the development of the measures in the Scoping Plan. Rather than continuing with an esoteric tit-for-tat debate about the quality of modeling analyses, the broader lessons and logic provide clear rationale to move forward with the directionally sound Scoping Plan. Comprehensive, intelligent and speedy action in California can help mitigate the costs of climate change, provide an economic stimulus, improve air quality and reduce our dependence on imported energy.”

(Silver Spring, MD and San Francisco, CA – Dec. 4, 2008) As part of a continuing effort to implement innovative environmental sustainability practices, Virgin America, the California-based airline, has partnered with Carbonfund.org , the nation’s leading nonprofit carbon offset provider, to allow travelers to help offset the environmental impact of their flight. Travelers on the new airline can choose to offset their flight at the time of booking through the Virgin America ticket purchase confirmation web page. Coming soon, Virgin America will also give guests the opportunity to offset during their flight via the airline’s touch-screen seatback inflight entertainment system.

“As both a Virgin-branded company and the country’s only California-based airline, it is in our DNA to make environmentally sustainable practices a core priority in our business model,” said Virgin America Senior Vice President Dave Pflieger. “While our investment in new aircraft and consistent use of operational practices already make us one of the most environmentally efficient airlines in the U.S., our partnership with Carbonfund.org will give our guests the option to help us further reduce our carbon footprint through fully-vetted and impactful offset projects.”

Virgin America and Carbonfund.org selected offset projects focus on emissions reductions in renewable energy and energy efficiency. As with all projects supported by Carbonfund.org, these projects are independently verified. The new carrier also looked to Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) CarbonOffsetList.org to help select credible and meaningful offset projects. EDF’s carefully researched list provides a strong and independent starting point for selecting carbon offsets that represent real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Virgin America’s selected projects include:

• Inland Empire Utilities Agency Biodigester, a methane capture and elimination project that creates clean, renewable energy and reduces more than 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere every year, while also protecting the quality of the region’s groundwater. The project is located in Chino Basin, Calif.

• IdleAire, a truck stop electrification project that reduces tailpipe emissions from trucks by connecting truck cabins with electricity at rest stops and eliminating the need to keep engines running for power. This approach saves a gallon of diesel per hour.

“Our partnership with Virgin America means support for two innovative projects in the fight against global warming,” said Executive Director Eric Carlson of Carbonfund.org. “We are excited to partner with Virgin America, an airline that has been committed to sustainability practices since day one. Providing travelers a way to get involved in the sustainability effort, by offsetting their flight emissions at the time of bookings, fits well with our goal of making it easy and affordable to offset one’s carbon footprint and support emissions reductions. ”

Developed through a rigorous review process in collaboration with a committee of external experts, CarbonOffsetList.org identifies pre-screened, independently verified offset projects that meet EDF’s criteria for high-quality carbon offsets. Of the 11 projects featured on CarbonOffsetList.org, four are offered through Carbonfund.org.

“While leading companies are eager to purchase carbon offsets to help meet their sustainability goals, many remain unclear where to start in selecting these offsets,” said Tom Murray, managing director, corporate partnerships, EDF. “We developed CarbonOffsetList.org to enable companies such as Virgin America to confidently choose credible offsets. CarbonOffsetList.org eliminates the guesswork and offers buyers direct access to a list of thoroughly vetted projects that meet EDF’s high-quality criteria.”

Virgin America launched in 2007 with the goal of building an airline from the ground up that makes environmentally sustainable practices a core part of its business model. Virgin America operates a fleet that is up to 30% more fuel and carbon efficient than the average fleet flying domestically. From its launch, the airline has employed progressive practices to reduce its carbon footprint, such as single engine taxiing, idle reverse landings, maximizing use of efficient ground power, utilizing advanced avionics to fly more efficiently, and cost index flying – the practice of regulating cruising speeds to reduce fuel burn. The airline’s company-wide sustainability principles can be found at: http://www.virginamerica.com/va/html/sustainability.pdf

More details on the offset program and selected projects can be found at: www.carbonfund.org/virginamerica.

# # #

EDITORS NOTE: Virgin America is a U.S.-controlled and operated airline and an entirely separate company from Virgin Atlantic. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is a minority share investor in Virgin America.

Poznan, Poland (Dec. 3, 2008) - U.S. nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund urged world leaders to stay focused on the only real measure of success - an absolute cap on global greenhouse gas emissions - at the United Nations climate talks that opened here today.

EDF officials said the Poznan conference, a major step on the path to negotiating a new global climate change treaty, will be energized by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s pledge to engage vigorously in climate talks when he takes office Jan. 20.

“The United States spent the past eight years as a global outcast on climate change — and now it’s a whole new game,” said Jennifer Haverkamp, an expert in climate change negotiations who is heading EDF’s delegation observing the U.N. conference. “There is a new reality. The U.S. is a serious player. We hope that will be a catalyst for other reluctant nations to also step forward and say what they will do to reduce global emissions.”

Haverkamp said the Poznan climate change negotiators need to confront tough issues, including deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by northern nations and the inescapable reality that the world?s new leading and emerging economies need to move toward reductions as soon as possible to stabilize the global climate.

Environmental Defense Fund endorses three major policy goals during the Poznan conference:

• To open global carbon markets to tropical forest nations by allowing market-based financing for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) - one of the most cost-effective ways to cut global emissions
• To move beyond the clean development mechanism - a piecemeal approach ? and to insist that new proposals invite broader participation by nations and also ensure an absolute decline in global emissions fast enough to avoid catastrophic global warming
• To explore flexible global frameworks that encourage all nations to participate in lowering carbon emissions - each according to its capacity - so that all nations are invited to share in the responsibilities and rewards of global investments in clean technologies

EDF media contacts:
Molly Moore edfpoznan@yahoo.com Poznan mobile 001-240-393-0686
Andrea Welsh awelsh@edf.org Washington DC (202) 572-3230

(Austin – Dec. 3, 2008) – Representatives from the City of Austin, Austin Energy, The University of Texas’ Austin Technology Incubator, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) unveiled details of the Pecan Street Project, a bold effort to design a new, clean energy infrastructure, business model and proving ground for tomorrow’s energy technology.  Corporate partnerships with Dell, GE Energy, IBM, Intel, Oracle, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Freescale Semiconductor and GridPoint were also announced.

“Austin has the opportunity to play the same role in the evolution of America’s energy economy that it did with the semiconductor boom in the ‘80s,” said Austin Mayor Pro Tem Brewster McCracken. “The Pecan Street Project will bring together the best talent from Texas and across the country to address the infrastructure, technology and policy challenges that stand between us and a cleaner, reliable, affordable and modernized electricity system.” 

Austin is not the only city embarking on a “utility redesign” or “smart grid” project.  But because Texas has its own grid, modifications to the power system do not require federal approval.  And because the City Council is Austin Energy’s board of directors, Austin is in a unique position to implement technology changes more quickly and offer its electric grid as a real-world proving ground for tomorrow’s clean energy technology.

“Several other cities are testing clean-generation or efficiency products,” McCracken said. “We’ll do that. But we’ll also test the software, storage and business models we need to make it all fit together.”

The project scope includes designing a system that:

• delivers plentiful, reliable and affordable energy to Austin’s growing citizenry;
• is responsible with Texas’ most precious natural resources, like air and water;
• can eliminate the need for more polluting power plants;
• produces a power plant’s worth of energy, generated within the city limits via renewable resources, and that;
• Austin intends to share with cities across America and around the world. This project will help cities map out the creation of the infrastructure it will take to power their economies and preserve the environment.

The City approached EDF this fall, and preliminary planning meetings occurred in October. Staff from EDF’s Austin, New York, California and Washington, D.C. offices are involved in the project.

“Through their work with McDonald’s, FedEx and DuPont, EDF has demonstrated a unique expertise in bringing together industry leaders to address our most pressing challenges,” McCracken said.  “Together with our experts at Austin Energy, staff from the Austin Technology Incubator, the Chamber and these excellent corporate partners, EDF will spearhead the nine-month project to develop the technical specifications and sustainable business model for a truly modernized utility.”

Corporate partners will assist the project team by providing staff resources and strategic guidance within their areas of expertise.  Partners will also help the project team identify technologies that can be pilot-tested on the local electrical grid once the initial phase of the project is completed.

In addition to the corporate partnerships announced today, the Pecan Street Project will be tapping the expertise of SEMATECH, the world’s leading advanced technology consortium, to help structure the clean energy R&D consortium.

Quotes from Partners

“Austin Energy is doing something quite unique: It is trying to reinvent the electric system and to share the lessons it learns with the world. Austin Energy is opening its grid to new clean, cutting-edge resources that will lead to a cleaner Austin and create a model to tackle global climate change. And Austin Energy is so confident in its vision that it is soliciting input from some of the smartest minds from the nation’s leading corporations on issues ranging from technology to business planning. As a citizen of Austin, I am proud that our city is leading again on the environment and the new economy.” – Jim Marston, Texas regional offices director and senior attorney, Environmental Defense Fund

 “This is an exciting project that underscores the vision set forth by Mayor Wynn and the Austin City Council of exceptional community-wide efficiency in energy use combined with clean, sustainable generation that takes advantage of advancements in distributed energy.” – Roger Duncan, general manager, Austin Energy

“The Austin Chamber is excited to join the City of Austin, Austin Energy, the Austin Technology Incubator, and Environmental Defense Fund in announcing the launch of the Pecan Street Project.  The Pecan Street Project will be focused on developing the electric grid of the future right here in Austin, allowing us to use local clean technology resources and collaborate with key industry partners.”  – Paul Bury, chair-elect, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, CEO and Founder of Bury+Partners, Inc.

“We see the Pecan Street Project as a major catalyst for the creation of the next generation of clean tech companies.  It has the potential to be a start-up magnet for the entire Central Texas area.” – Isaac Barchas, director, Austin Technology Incubator

“GE Energy welcomes the opportunity to be engaged in this innovative and important project.  We value our ongoing relationship with Austin Energy and look forward to continuing to deploy our smart grid technologies, further enhancing the intelligence of their network. A smarter grid will optimize the integration of renewable energy sources, drive increased energy efficiencies and empower consumers with information to better manage their energy usage and costs.” – Bob Gilligan, VP T&D, GE Energy

“Today the energy grid is all about distribution; it’s a one-way ride.  A smart grid will act more like the Internet - exchanging information and energy among nodes for collaboration across the network resulting in a more efficient, sustainable grid.  Cisco is applying its expertise in networks and collaboration to this space, and by working with an innovative city like Austin, together we have the opportunity to determine what our energy future looks like.” – Carolyn Purcell, Director, Internet Business Solutions Group for Cisco Systems, Inc.

“Dell knows that increasing the availability and use of renewable energy is integral to a low-carbon economy. Partnerships like the Pecan Street Project are key to these goals and we look forward to playing a role in helping this effort reach them.” – Jeff Krech, Global Facilities Sustainability Program Manager, Dell, Inc.

“Technology and innovation play increasingly important roles in driving solutions to address the world’s environmental challenges. Public-private partnerships like this one are important to not only increase awareness about society’s need to balance energy and environment, but can also demonstrate workable ways toward sustainability.” – Jon C. Arnold, managing director, Worldwide Power & Utilities, Microsoft

“Freescale is excited to be a member of the Pecan Street Project and we are looking forward to working with the other partners and founders to help enable the utility of the future, including renewable energy sources, a smart grid and energy efficiency.” – Vivek Mohindra, senior vice president of strategy and business transformation, Freescale

“Building a sustainable energy future relies on our ability as a nation to radically modernize the energy systems of our major cities.  Being one of the fastest growing and most progressive U.S. cities, Austin is the right place to embark on this project and we look forward to collaborating as part of this consortium.” – Guido Bartels, general manager, IBM’s Global Energy & Utilities Industry and chairman of the GridWise Alliance, a Smart Grid advocacy group

“Today’s aging energy infrastructure demands improvements. As such, utilities are eagerly seeking best practices and successful projects on which to model Smart Grids that will meet their communities’ energy needs. The results of the Pecan Street Project will help guide utilities around the world in choosing and using Smart Grid software and technology to slash energy waste and improve the environmental profile of energy use.” – Quentin Grady, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities

“Intel is happy to provide the core technology that makes the Pecan Street Project possible.  The next generation of smart grids, smart buildings, clean energy sources, plug-in vehicles and utility data centers are being enabled and networked by Intel microprocessors and communications technology, and we are excited to participate in this innovative project.” – Lorie Wigle, general manager of Eco-Technology, Intel Corp.

“An intelligent grid is the essential infrastructure that will enable clean energy and electric vehicles to be adopted on the scale necessary to meet our energy and environmental challenges.  The Pecan Street Project is a significant step for Austin and also represents a major advancement for the Smart Grid nationwide.” – Peter L. Corsell, CEO, GridPoint

“The Pecan Street Project aims to bring companies and organizations together to develop and test real-world applications of emerging technologies, and build a sustainable clean-energy infrastructure for the 21st century.  These objectives certainly resonate with us. As a leading consortium for emerging technology R&D, SEMATECH understands the power of a consortium to accelerate technology innovation and commercialization, and we’re proud to support and bring our experience to bear on this groundbreaking initiative.” – Mike Polcari, president and CEO, SEMATECH

“Twenty years ago, a fundamental part of Austin’s strategy for SEMATECH was training our workforce.  We came together as a community not just to improve technology, but also to improve people’s skills and opportunities. Now, Austin is coming together again to lead in the creation of a clean energy economy.  As a trustee for Austin Community College and the president of the Urban League, I am excited to be part of this mission to solve clean energy’s greatest technical challenges and prepare Austinites for opportunities in green collar jobs.” – Jeffrey Richard, president and CEO, Austin Area Urban League