In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

CORPORATE AMERICA TAKES STEPS TO CURB GLOBAL WARMING

In Business, November-December, 2006, Vol. 28, No. 6, p. 25

Wells Fargo commits to “largest ever” corporate purchase of renewable energy in the United States.

LAST MONTH, Wells Fargo & Company announced that it would buy renewable energy certificates (RECs) to support generating 550 million kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable wind energy a year for three years. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, this makes the company the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy.
The RECs are supplied by 3 Phases Energy, a national clean power company based in San Francisco's Presidio that is also working with other purchasers such as Safeway, Starbucks and HSBC Bank. The nonprofit Center for Resource Solutions' Green-e program certifies the RECs. The three-year purchase agreement began October 1, 2006.
The purchase will offset 40 percent of Wells Fargo's electricity consumption with 100 percent Green-e® certified wind energy. It will help develop renewable energy and prevent the emission of 380,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, the equivalent of reducing the CO2 emissions of 75,000 cars annually or by reducing the equivalent CO2 emissions associated with 40,000,000 gallons of gasoline each year.
“Wells Fargo is a leading example of how corporate America can reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity use,” said Kathleen Hogan, Director of the Climate Protection Partnership Division for EPA. “Our commitment to this purchase is not just good for the environment, it's good business,” said Don Dana, head of the company's Corporate Properties Group, which has achieved energy savings of up to 20 percent at many Wells Fargo locations. “Energy conservation is one part of the equation. The second is supporting generation of cleaner, alternative sources of energy. Combined, these efforts will result in a healthier environment and a stronger economy.”
Wells Fargo recently invested in a Texas-based wind farm and has provided $720 million in financing to develop Leadership in Energy Efficiency and Design (LEED) certified buildings. Replacing cooling equipment at Wells Fargo Plaza in Phoenix with high-efficiency equipment reduced the building's energy consumption by nearly 30 percent. Two Wells Fargo buildings in San Francisco have been designated as Energy Star buildings (among the top 10 percent of energy-efficient buildings in the country.) In California, Wells Fargo has been recognized for its 20 percent reduction in energy use at its administrative buildings, a reduction it has sustained since 2001.
Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $500 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance to more than 23 million customers from more than 6,200 stores and the internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and elsewhere internationally.

INVESTORS, FARMERS AND ETHANOL
When ethanol prices rose to more than $4/gallon last summer, a farmer-invested plant in Malta Bend, Missouri became a “roaring success,” reports The New York Times. In the first seven months after opening in February 2005, the Mid-Missouri plant made a profit of $6.6 million on the farmers' original investment of $22 million. The 15-member board continues to debate whether to sell even a part of the plant, which would require a two-thirds vote for approval. From the start, local farmers saw Mid-Missouri as a way to raise the demand for their corn, “which until recently had been stuck at around $2 a bushel for the better part of four decades.” Meanwhile, outside investors are pestering farmers to sell out now so they can take part in the ethanol boom with existing plants. The board continues to meet about twice a month to discuss latest buyout offers.
Cautions one board member: “If Big Oil managed to get control of the ethanol industry, we are back to Square 1, and they can set prices wherever they want.” Counters another farmer: “I wish the industry weren't moving so fast. Farmers are cautious, conservative people. But if we stick our head in the sand and do nothing, that opportunity for harvest may be over.”