Most Read Energy Management Stories of 2011

With 2011 in the books, it’s a good time to look back at the stories that struck a chord with our executive readership. Every day this week we’ll be looking at a different aspect of environmental and sustainability management and counting down the top stories that grabbed your attention this year. Today’s topic: energy management.

Here are Environmental Leader’s top 15 energy management stories for 2011, based on reader interest:

15: Starbucks Misses Energy Consumption Goal, Succeeds on Renewables

Starbucks missed a target to cut energy consumption at company-owned stores 25 percent by 2010, and pushed the target back to 2015, according to its Global Responsibility Report. But Starbucks says it is well positioned to meet the new goal…

14: IBM Buys Tririga, Bolsters Building Management Software

IBM announced that it will buy Tririga, a vendor of facility and real estate management software, for an undisclosed sum, and will integrate Tririga into its Tivoli software and IBM Global Business Services…

13: HP Launches Energy Management Software, Announces Joint Offering with Hara

Hara announced it is collaborating with Hewlett-Packard to offer an energy management and emissions reduction software package, based in part on HP’s new Energy and Sustainability Management package…

12: Energy and Carbon Software Market Poised for 300% Growth; Sector Leaders Named

Groom Energy Solutions predicted 300 percent growth for the enterprise energy and carbon accounting (EECA) software market in 2011, and named Advantage IQ, Enablon, EnerNOC, Enviance, Hara, IHS, Johnson Controls, PE International, SAP, and Summit Energy as EECA leaders for the year. Groom found that more than 200 large corporations – including Arch Coal, Bayer, RJ Reynolds, Safeway and Wyndham Hotels – bought EECA software in 2010…

11: Facebook Data Center Slashes Energy Use

Facebook unveiled a green data center that it said uses 38 percent less energy to do the same work as its existing facilities, while costing 24 percent less – and announced the formation of the Open Compute Project, an industry-wide initiative that it says will share best practices for creating the most economical and energy-efficient data centers…

10: Ameren Says Energy Efficiency Hurts Bottom Line

Utility Ameren Missouri plans to cut energy efficiency investments by $5 million in 2012, down from $25 million in 2011, in an effort to bolster its bottom line…

9: $4bn for Energy Efficiency Announced; Walgreens, Kohl’s, Nissan Commit to Upgrades

3M, Alcoa, GE, Kohl’s, Nissan, Supervalu, Walgreens and dozens of other organizations joined President Obama and former president Bill Clinton in announcing almost $4 billion in federal and private sector energy upgrades to buildings over the next two years, and committed to upgrade energy performance by at least 20 percent by 2020 in 1.6 billion square feet of space…

8: Microsoft Eyeing Commercial Energy Management Market

Microsoft is moving in on the market for energy management in commercial buildings, according to the company’s chief environmental strategist…

7: Compliance & Standards Briefing: ISO 50001 to Launch in June

The ISO announced that June 15, 2011 would be the launch date for ISO 50001, the new international standard for energy management. The standard had been scheduled to debut earlier in the autumn, and the early release appeared to take many by surprise…

6: U.S. Energy Efficient HVAC Market to Top $8 Billion by 2015

The U.S. energy efficient residential heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) market was projected to grow from $5.38 billion in 2010 to $8.15 billion in 2015, according to EL Insights Issue 16 …

5: Sustainability Culture Saves DuPont Billions

A white paper from DuPont said that 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…

4: DOE Building Guides ‘Can Halve Energy Costs’

The U.S. Department of Energy released the first in a series of design guide aiming to cut the energy consumption of commercial buildings in half. The first of the 50% Advanced Energy Design Guides focused on small and medium-sized office buildings…

3: Market for Carbon and Energy Management Software to Quadruple, Report Says

Large U.S. firms’ spending on carbon and energy management software will grow to $558 million in 2014, more than four times the sector’s value in 2010, according to a report by analyst firm Verdantix…

2: Data Revealed: Google Uses More Power than Salt Lake City

Google broke its silence on energy consumption, announcing that it consumed 2,259,998 MWh in 2010. In a new section on the Google Green site, called “The Big Picture,” Google also said that it generated 1.46 million metric tons of carbon dioxide last year…

1: ISO 50001 Energy Management Standard Published

The International Organization for Standardization released ISO 50001, a standard for energy management systems. The standard aims to help organizations establish the systems and processes to improve their energy performance, including efficiency and consumption. It specifies requirements for measurement, documentation and reporting, and for equipment design and procurement processes…