Today U.S. Energy Association and Johnson Controls held their 24th annual forum at the National Press Club. By 8 am, the ballroom was already full, and three members of Congress had spoken by 9:30. One of the highlights was a joint presentation by Congressmens Welch (D-VT) and Gardner (R-CO) about their bipartisan effort to encourage the federal government to embrace private sector financing of federal [...]

This blog was originally posted on the Official Google Blog. More than ever, people are using the Internet to shop, read, listen to music and learn. And businesses rely on Internet-based tools to operate and deliver their services efficiently. The Internet has created all kinds of new opportunities for society and the economy—but what does it mean for the environment? We’ve been working to answer that [...]

In his blog on Thursday, ITI’s Dean Garfield quoted comments made by Google’s Eric Schmidt at the “How Green Is the Internet?” summit that we attended that day.  Now, you can view Eric’s full comments as well as all the plenary remarks from the event.  They are here, along with a two-minute overview video that gives testimony to the energy and intelligence that permeated the event.    We also produced [...]

Technology is a transformative force for good, and must be harnessed toward the challenge of environmental sustainability.  That is the reality of the moment as well as the opportunity for the future that we focused on today at “How Green Is the Internet,” held at Google’s Mountain View campus. There are two things that jump out at me coming away from the session.  One is the unique power and ability [...]

How green is the Internet?  That’s a great question.   Not coincidentally, it’s also the name of a summit meeting today at Google headquarters.  (You can watch live at www.youtube.com/googlegreen.) Participants make up an intriguing mix of experts from industry, academia, government and NGOs.   For our part, ITI is helping to explore emerging questions around the environmental impacts and benefits [...]

This blog was originally posted on GreenBiz. Whew! Another EMC sustainability report out the door, much to our relief. If you haven't produced a sustainability report, you should know that it's hard. Harder than you can imagine. And totally worth it. You'd think it would get easier year after year. But I think I speak for everyone on my (extended) team when I say, "Not so." Yes, much of the content [...]

The 3,000-year old city of Xi’an was the capital of the first Chinese feudal dynasty. The city is world renowned as the home of the largest collection of ancient terracotta warriors.  Every visitor to Xi’an is amazed by the sophisticated culture preserved in these terracotta sculptures.  However, attendees at this year’s DESSC China Summit held in Xi’an May 18-19 were even more impressed with high [...]

With the slogan, “Where tech meets sustainability,” GreenBiz recently held its VERGE Boston conference. Standing at the crossroads of those two sectors is DESSC, and the conference proved both informative and invigorating.  In the past, I’ve joined VERGE conferences online, and my impression had always been that there is a lot of energy and enthusiasm in the room. This was certainly true of VERGE Boston. [...]

As we kick-off National Transportation Week, it’s important to recognize that in order to build a world-class economy that can compete globally, America must continue to invest in the use of real-time information to make our transportation infrastructure smarter, safer, and more efficient. In 2013 and beyond, it’s clear that infrastructure and technology are no longer separate.  Those who build roads [...]

Back in July 2011, as the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee marked up and approved S. 1000, the Shaheen/Portman bill on energy efficiency, I couldn't get excited.  Why?  It was abundantly clear that the bill had no chance of enactment.  With the 2012 election already looming, there was no momentum behind bipartisan energy legislation, even in the noncontroversial, low-hanging fruit area of [...]