Nuns buy into Fortune 500 firms to spur social change

An order of nuns has emerged as a powerful voice for corporate responsibility. The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia invest in Fortune 500 companies through their retirement fund and seek socially responsible business reform, traveling to shareholder meetings if necessary. The order's targets have included the CEOs of Goldman Sachs, McDonald's and Wells Fargo. "We want social returns, as well as financial ones. ... We're not here to put corporations down. We're here to improve their sense of responsibility,” said Sister Nora Nash.

“You’re not going to get any sympathy for cutting off a nun at your annual meeting,” says Robert McCormick, chief policy officer of Glass, Lewis & Company, a firm that specializes in shareholder proxy votes. With their moral authority, he said, the Sisters of St. Francis “can really bring attention to issues.”

Read more at NYT.com

Wind energy costs rapidly approaching other sources

The best wind energy plants in the world already produce power as economically as coal, gas and nuclear generators, and the average wind farm will be fully competitive by 2016. These are the findings of a new report by London-based Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

The researches suggested that land-based wind farm plants will be "fully competitive" with conventional electricity sources in five years: "The best wind farm plants in the world already produce power as economically as coal, gas and nuclear generators; the average wind farm will be fully competitive by 2016."

Furthermore, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), documented wind's increasing role in U.S. electricity generation: From some 6 billion kWh in 2000 to 95 billion kWh in 2010.

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Sustainability Culture Saves DuPont Billions

Upwards of 40 percent of industry’s energy efficiency improvement opportunities can be realized through low or no-cost projects rooted in corporate culture change, according to a white paper from DuPont.

DuPont has seen its smaller efficiency projects return impressive savings that can be re-invested into larger capital projects. In a recent two year period, these small projects generated an internal rate of return of about 75 percent for DuPont.

The key to DuPont's model is the formation of multi-disciplinary, cross-functional teams. By bringing insight from different internal groups, DuPont has literally saved billions in energy costs.


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HP Raises the Bar by Recycling 2 Billion Pounds of Electronics and Supplies

This month Hewlett Packard celebrated a significant milestone: The IT firm has recycled 2 billion pounds of electronic products and supplies since it launched the program in 1987. The HP Planet Partners program operates in 58 countries and territories, helping HP recycle more used IT equipment than any other company.

In fact, HP recycled six times more IT equipment than IBM and over 75% more than Dell in 2010. And in 2009, HP recycled more IT equipment in two months than Apple did in the entire year.

Beyond recycling, HP has recovered an additional 410 million pounds of computer and printing hardware to date for reuse and remarketing. And in the last six years, HP has put approximately 20 million used IT products back into use through these efforts.

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Cloud computing can cut carbon emissions by half and save $ billions

Blue-chip companies could reduce their carbon emissions by 50% if they migrate their data storage operations to the cloud, a new study says.

The study conducted by the Carbon Disclosure Project in London focused on large IT companies in France and the UK.  The study suggested that by 2020, U.S. companies with annual revenues of more than $1 billion can save $12.3 billion in energy costs and achieve carbon reductions equivalent to 200 million barrels of oil a year if they shift to shared data networks.

Read more at guardian.co.uk

A solar moment with the Georgia PSC Commissioner

Lauren "Bubba" McDonald is the Commissioner of the Georgia Public Service Commission. If you live in Georgia, he's has more to do with your electric bill than anyone else, save the kids who won't turn out the lights when they leave the room.

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting with Mr. McDonald, along with Mr. Steve Valk who heads the local chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby. Steve arranged the meeting after reading of the Commissioner's increasingly encouraging comments on alternative energy. Boardwalk's recent signing of the Global Investor Statement on Climate Change, meant that I could bring the sustainable investor perspective to the conversation.

In summary, the Commissioner was receptive to a variety of opinions, and sees solar playing a larger and larger role in Georgia's energy future. He acknowledged that it is a fast growing industry, not just in his state, but across the country. And while he's not one for "mandates", he says that he "was elected to take action." And sometimes that includes mandates (on power purchases from alternative sources.)

We expect to continue the conversation. In fact, he even invited us to visit him at his "home office" in the North Georgia mountains.

You need not ask me twice, Mr. Commissioner. See you again soon.