Every day this week we're looking at different aspects of environmental and sustainability management and counting down the top stories that grabbed your attention this year. Today we're looking at two subjects: energy management (below), and environmental reporting/financing.
For the latest on energy management, be sure to check out our new site, Energy Manager Today.
Here are Environmental Leader’s top 15 energy management stories for 2012, based on reader interest:
15. First Solar and Suntech Lead 2011 Top 10 Solar Manufacturers
First Solar, Suntech Power, Yingli Green Energy, Trina Solar, Canadian Solar, Sharp, Hanwha Solar One, Jinko Solar, LDK Solar and SolarWorld were 2011's top 10 solar module manufacturers, according to the Solar Supply Tracker from Lux Research. The leaders’ modular production for the year totaled 12.5 GW, and commanded a total global market share of 43.9 percent, Lux said...
14. Energy Retrofit ‘Disaster’ as Toronto’s $21.1m Project Fails to Deliver
The city of Toronto spent $21.1 million retrofitting 89 arenas and more than 50 community centers and pools, and doesn’t know if the energy efficiency measures produced any real cost savings, media reported. At the arenas, equipment malfunctioned and many employees also disabled the system, rendering it useless...
13. Demystifying Green Real Estate Development
"As I was analyzing the idea of my latest commercial development, a medical office building, I realized that not going green was the single biggest mistake I could make," writes Frank A. Deluca, CEO at DCL Equity Partners. "From a sustainable and energy efficiency standpoint, to future value, it made sense to be sustainable..."
12. Walmart Rockets from 15th to Third in EPA Green Power Rankings
Walmart shot to third place in the EPA’s rankings of the country’s top green power purchasers in February, from 15th place in the previous quarter. The Green Power Partnership ranking, for the retailer’s Texas and California facilities alone, pushed Whole Foods down to fourth place...
11. Siemens Buys Energy Management Firm Pace Global
Siemens completed the acquisition of Pace Global Energy, a company that combines strategic enterprise consulting with energy and carbon management. Pace Global will integrate within the Siemens Building Technologies division, but will continue to operate as a separate operating unit...
10. Green Roof Product Cools Solar Panels
Green Roof Technology has launched a system for integrating solar power into a green roof, optimizing energy production by creating a cool micro-climate. The company, a division of Green Roof Service, calls its Sun-Root product the first fully integrated, non-penetrative solar and extensive green roof system in North America...
9. Q-Cells, Solar Trust of America File for Bankruptcy; Serious Energy Sheds Staff
Solar manufacturers Q-Cells and Solar Trust of America filed for bankruptcy, leaving the fate of a 1,000 MW California solar thermal project in doubt. Meanwhile, media reported that green building firm Serious Energy was dropping staff related to its building energy efficiency and financing lines of business, and focusing on its core green drywall and windows business...
8. EPA Honors Coke, Microsoft, Whole Foods, 21 Other Companies in Green Power Leadership Awards
Coca-Cola Refreshments, Microsoft, Whole Foods and Lockheed Martin were among the winners of the EPA’s 2012 Green Power Leadership Awards. Made in conjunction with the nonprofit Center for Resource Solutions, the awards are designed to recognize organizations, programs and individuals that significantly advance the development of green power sources...
7. ‘Father of LEED’ Slams Energy Dashboards
Building energy dashboards often miss – or mask – the root cause of a building’s energy-efficiency problems, and there needs to be a radical shift in the way such products are designed, built, evaluated and sold, according to several leaders in building automation and energy management...
6. Routes Revealed for Natural Gas Highway
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. unveiled the route plan for the first stations in America’s Natural Gas Highway, a liquefied natural gas network of at least 150 stations. The company said it expected to have 70 LNG stations open by the end of the year. But while it completed 76 by December, only 10 of these were actually open and operating...
5. GE Renames Converteam Efficiency Business
GE rebranded Converteam, the French process control and automation business it acquired in September 2011, renaming it Power Conversion. GE said the Power Conversion business will help it maximize its expertise and expand its presence in the energy efficiency, electrification and automation sector, which is valued at $30 billion and growing above global GDP...
4. Salesforce Worst of ‘Dirty’ Cloud Companies, Greenpeace says
Salesforce, the world’s largest vendor of enterprise cloud computing, received the worst ratings in a Greenpeace report that claims cloud computing companies are perpetuating the use of fossil fuel. The non-profit estimated that just four percent of the company's power comes from renewables. Meanwhile, Apple showed marked improvement from last year...
3. GE Splits Energy Group Into Three Standalone Businesses
General Electric again, this time announcing it is splitting up its energy infrastructure division into three standalone businesses. The change will remove a management layer, align the units with the industries to which they sell and cut overhead costs by about $300 million. GE vice chairman and GE energy infrastructure CEO John Krenicki is departing the company after 29 years...
2. Solar Waterfall Could Power Rio Olympics
Swiss architectural and design firm Rafaa proposed building a 345-foot solar tower and urban waterfall that will provide power to the city of Rio de Janeiro during the Olympic Games in 2016. Excess energy from the solar panels would be pumped as seawater into the tower, and at night, the seawater would be released to run a turbine...
1. 10 Reasons Why Sustainable/Energy Retrofits of Commercial Buildings Will Be the Next Big Thing
Michael C. Polentz and Clayton B. Gantz of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips explore the drivers - such as new financial tools, green leases and legislative mandates - behind commercial retrofits...
