By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Wed, 2007-07-18 07:30
Staples is the largest office supply chain in the world and has branches throughout the U.S.A. A few years ago, it became an early leader in establishing company-wide energy policies. Their Central Office of Environmental Affairs, established in 2002, developed a long-term strategy combining both energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy systems (RES).
This strategy has brought them many benefits:
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Energy efficiency measures mainly provide financial savings on short-term, while renewable energy capacity will provide long-term financial savings.
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Including energy efficiency measures in a green energy plan has enabled Staples to invest in green energy while maintaining its internal policies regarding return on capital investment.
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The money saved by energy efficiency in the first phase of the project, can be invested in extra renewable energy in the second phase.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Mon, 2007-05-28 07:00
The Economist Intelligence Unit has made a very revealing survey of business attitudes to climate change worldwide. the result is that business clearly lags behind public opinion (with a few rare exceptions). This could be a comfort for those who are afraid that society overreacts to the climate warning and even think that there is a case of hysteria, but it is less comforting to see that business is not reacting proactively to develop, as the Stern-review pointed out as a chance for the entrepreneurial minds. They instead react defensively to protect their reputation.
Now, these attitudes are in sharp contrast to the messages on sustainable investments from Al Gore and David Blood, but it certainly confirms that their way of thinking is not what gets first to the headlines of the pink papers.
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