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EDF Climate Corps is on energy's front lines

Published: December 19, 2011

Former Capt. Greg Zielinski, pictured here with an Iraqi colleague, says sustainability is his new mission.

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Duty. Honor. Country. Those ideals have been ingrained in former U.S. Army Capt. Greg Zielinski’s mind ever since he was a cadet at West Point. He carried them with him to Iraq, where he served as a platoon leader and logistics officer in West Baghdad from 2007 to 2009.

Now an MBA student at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Zielinski was hired as a 2011 EDF Climate Corps fellow at Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha, NE—part of our innovative program to boost energy efficiency and train a new generation of green business leaders.

“I still feel I’m serving my country, but in a different way,” says Zielinski, one of four military vets in EDF Climate Corps this past summer.

In his 11-week stint at Union Pacific, Zielinski examined energy use at the railroad’s maintenance shops and rail yards around the nation. By fixing leaks in air compressor systems and switching to LED lighting, he discovered, the railroad could cut 10,000 tons of carbon pollution annually and save $1.1 million.

“Before Iraq, I took energy for granted,” Zielinski says. Now, sustainability has become his new career mission.

Zielinski was one of 96 MBA and MPA students EDF put through intensive training and deployed to 78 companies, cities and universities to find energy savings. Destinations ranged from AT&T to Target to the New York City Housing Authority.

All told, the 2011 fellows recommended changes to lighting, computing and ventilation practices that could cut as much pollution as taking 87,000 SUVs off the road.

Since EDF started Climate Corps in 2008, the students have uncovered efficiencies that could save more than $1 billion in net operational costs over project lifetimes. Companies are implementing projects accounting for 86% of the savings identified in the first three years, investing more than $50 million to do so.

“In this economy, everyone is looking for ways to save, and energy efficiency is a huge, largely untapped opportunity,” says Victoria Mills, our Corporate Partnerships managing director.

EDF Climate Corps began with companies and expanded to the public sector. North Carolina A&T University, for example, is acting on recommendations that could save $2.5 million over five years—and pay for themselves in just three months.

Now the program is poised to grow even further. And several EDF Climate Corps fellows, such as Elizabeth Turnbull, a 2010 fellow at Adidas, have been hired full time after graduation to work on environmental initiatives.

“We’re building a diverse movement to make energy efficiency a top priority for every organization that pays a utility bill,” says Michael Regan, EDF director of energy efficiency.