On the West coast, The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, founded in 1978 by David Packard of Hewlett-Packard and consisting of 210 respected Silicon Valley businesses, launched a comprehensive “Clean and Green” Alternative Energy Action Plan.
The objective of the 12-point plan is to curb greenhouse gases, reduce dependence on foreign oil and impact climate change throughout the region and beyond. It offers immediate and long-term actions that employers, the community and individuals can take in key areas such as transportation, energy, the environment, housing, land use and manufacturing.
“While the need to curb greenhouse gases is a global issue, we cannot wait for a global solution to effect positive change,” says Carl Guardino, President and CEO of the Leadership Group.
“The impact of our businesses can — and should — go far beyond the bottom line,” says Godfrey Sullivan, CEO of Hyperion Solutions (Nasdaq Global Select:HYSL).
In 2004, Sullivan pioneered an employee incentive program for purchasing fuel-efficient cars at Hyperion called “Drive Clean to Drive Change.” Currently more than 150 Hyperion employees are driving hybrid vehicles that get more than 45 miles per gallon.
The components of the “Clean and Green” plan, to be rolled out regionally beginning in January and over the course of 2007, are:
* Cool Commutes Challenge – A Competition to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
* BART Extension to Silicon Valley – Continued Support for Funding
* California High-Speed Rail Advocacy – Corporate Support for 700-mile Project
* Building a Market for Alternative Fuel Vehicles – What Employers Can Do
* Injecting Fuel Efficiency into the Supply Chain Equation – Reducing Energy for Goods Movement
* CEO Cycling Challenge: Bike-to-Work Day – May 17, 2007 Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV) – A Public/Private Partnership to Improve Energy and Fuel Efficiency
* Clean and Green Tech: Early Adoption or Demonstration – An Energy-Efficient Data Center and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Research
* EnergyWatch Partnership – Working with PG&E for $6.4 Million in Energy Efficiency Rebates
* Lean and Green: Identifying Cutting-Edge Products – Purchasing Energy Efficient Office Products
* Solar Industry Center for Excellence – A Business-to-Business Collaboration
* Municipal Practices and Standards for Green Building – Local Standards for Residential Construction
On the East coast, Environment Northeast released a “climate change roadmap” which would reduce greenhouse emissions by 75% by 2050 in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.
The 275-page plan is the result of two years of research, consultation with industry experts, peer groups and government officials, and a thorough review of best practices in the region.
There are 10 priorities in the roadmap, broken down into energy, transportation and carbon storage categories.
The group plans to present the plan to industry, elected officials, environmental advocacy groups and other leaders across the region in the coming months to catalyze discussions about how to implement policy changes to move forward.
Michael Stoddard, ENE Project Director and co-author of the Climate Change Roadmap said the regional approach expands the marketplace for new technologies, promotes uniformity of regulations, and shares the costs of research, development and planning.
“The goal for the region is to emit one quarter of current greenhouse gas emission levels by 2050, while improving our quality of life and strengthening our state and provincial economies,” said Stoddard,. “New lighting technology uses a quarter as much energy; new car technology can carry passengers using a quarter the amount of fuel; new power plant technology can provide electricity while emitting only a quarter as much CO2, so we know it can be done. Now we need to switch to these and other technologies across the entire economy.”
William Moomaw, Professor, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Director, International Environment and Resource Program, at Tufts University, said, “In place of generic recommendations about improving efficiency or adopting low emission technologies, this report summarizes the divergent laws in each state and province and the gaps between where our policies are and where they need to be.”
The Climate Change Roadmap highlights many best practices found within the region, such as Quebec’s major commitment to build new wind generation, Nova Scotia’s interest in studying the feasibility of carbon sequestration in old coal seams, the new Rhode Island law requiring utilities to procure all cost-effective energy efficiency, the Maine law requiring all new buildings of the state to exceed energy codes by 20%, California’s law setting CO2 standards for new cars, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative under development in the Northeast states, and many others.
The Climate Roadmap also proposes several novel policy recommendations, including:
* requiring all state and provincial government procurement (of appliances, equipment, or construction services) to meet high energy efficiency performance standards;
* instituting a tiered building permit fee and rebate system to reward construction that exceeds building energy codes;
* pursuing a net greenhouse gas emission standard for transportation fuels that factors in the full lifecycle of the fuel’s emissions;
* pursuing a regional carbon sequestration initiative in New England and Eastern Canada;
* promoting the role regional forests can play in sequestering more carbon or providing a low-carbon supply of biofuel.
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