Google, Fox, 52 Others Among EDF Climate Corps Newcomers

Google, Pfizer and Fox Entertainment Group are among the 54 companies joining the Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps program for the first time this year.

The EDF Climate Corps fellowship places specially trained MBA and MPA students in companies, cities and universities to identify and assess cost-effective opportunities to save energy and reduce emissions.

Since 2008, EDF Climate Corps fellows have identified opportunities that could cut enough energy to power nearly 100,000 homes a year, avoid the annual carbon emissions of 200,000 cars, and save more than $1 billion in net operating costs over the project lifetimes, EDF says.

This summer, 98 fellows from graduate programs nationwide will work in 88 organizations, including companies such as Boeing, Caterpillar, and Verizon; public institutions including the Boston and Chicago Public Schools, UNICEF, and the cities of Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Newark and San Francisco; and the America’s Cup Event Authority, EDF said.

Some 34 companies including financial giant JP Morgan Chase, outdoors retailer REI and consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers are returning to the program this year. Projects initiated in last year’s program will save $650 million in net operational costs, cut 600 million kWh of electricity use and cut 27 million therms of natural gas a year over their lifetimes, according to EDF.

In 2011, McDonald’s worked with Pia Jean Kristiansen, an EDF Climate Corps fellow and MBA candidate from the University of Michigan to find ways to increase employee engagement in energy efficiency activities. Kristiansen’s work resulted in an educational video developed to educate employees on ways to reduce an average restaurant’s energy consumption up to 10 percent.

Also last year, Neal Tsay, an EDF Climate Corps fellow and MBA candidate from UCLA, on a fellowship at retailer Target, proposed initiatives that could eliminate 50,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

Neither McDonald’s nor Target is part of the program in 2012.

The full list of new participants for 2012 is as follows:

1.       America’s Cup Event
2.       Ascension Health
3.       Au Bon Pain Corporation
4.       Bloomberg BNA
5.       Boeing Company
6.       Boston Public Schools
7.       Boulder Housing Partners
8.       Caesar’s Entertainment, Inc.
9.       Carlyle Group, L.P.
10.   Caterpillar Inc.
11.   Charlotte Center City Partners
12.   Chicago Public Schools
13.   City of Cleveland
14.   City of Dallas
15.   City of Los Angeles
16.   City of New Haven
17.   City of New Orleans
18.   City of Newark
19.   City of San Francisco Department of the Environment
20.   City of Seattle
21.   Claflin University
22.   Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC
23.   College of Menominee Nation
24.   Commonwealth Financial Network
25.   Credit Suisse Group
26.   DIRECTV Group, Inc.
27.   Fidelity Investments FMR LLC
28.   Forest City Enterprises
29.   Fox Entertainment Group, Inc.
30.   Garysburg, Northampton County
31.   Google Inc.
32.   Hilex Poly
33.   Housing Authority of the City of El Paso
34.   Houston Independent School District
35.   Lane College
36.   LBA Realty
37.   Los Angeles Community College District
38.   Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
39.   Monmouth County
40.   National Geographic Society
41.   Nixon Peabody
42.   Oberlin College
43.   Pfizer Inc.
44.   Philadelphia Housing Authority
45.   Port of Oakland
46.   San Diego State University – Imperial Valley Campus
47.   San Francisco Department of Environment
48.   Smithsonian Institution
49.   Solo Cup
50.   Southern University and A&M College
51.   Syniverse Technologies
52.   Texas A&M University – Kingsville
53.   UNICEF
54.   Wakefern Food Corp.