National retailers have increasingly become more energy efficient say the results of the second annual Energy Management & Sustainability Strategy survey conducted by energy services firm Prenova, Inc. As revealed by the survey, 63% of the retailers surveyed have implemented a proper energy management sustainability program. Among them, 45% have let sustainability play a major role in the overall business strategy. Around 5% of the respondents admitted they were least bothered about energy management/sustainability, while twice that amount doesn’t have specific programs to address these issues.

Dow Jones corporate offices in New Jersey are all set to get a high efficiency solar power system makeover. SunPower Corp. is the official company selected to carry out this work by the end of early next year.

UK based Intamac System Limited, one of the leading providers of internet accessed monitoring and control services, has received an equity funding of 4 million EUR from investors including Carbon Trust Investments, Chandos Capital Ventures and Seraphim Capital. As the web-based platform that supports the launch of broadband and home monitoring solutions is already up, the company will use this investment money for support of “international growth and deployment of new products and services for consumers in the smart energy space,” says Intamac.

Siemens Energy Inc. has teamed up with Coulomb Technologies Inc. for marketing an integrated electric vehicle (EV) product offering. The product portfolio will include electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Under this agreement, Siemens will offer the companies the ability to monitor, bill and clear financial transactions for electric vehicle charging. The agreement’s scope extends to utilities, municipalities, electric retailers and EV suppliers. Paul A. Camuti, Siemens Energy, Inc., president, USA Smart Grid Applications said, “Electric vehicle infrastructure, within the Smart Grid, is a critical enabling technology that will allow electrical vehicle technology to reach its full potential from both a societal and economic perspective."

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected 20 communities for more than $60 million in funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The funds will be used to implement renewable energy and local energy efficiency measures. The main emphasis was on granting funds to projects that will deliver energy efficient implements in residential and commercial buildings. Projects were evaluated for their energy saving potential. Programs with innovative approach towards overcoming institutional and/or market and regulatory barriers were given additional credence.

General Electric has teamed up with Japanese conglomerate Itochu to invest in wind and other renewable energy projects. Under this mutual agreement the two companies, along with Tyr Energy Inc, have begun discussing co-investment opportunities in renewable energy across the globe. To start, the three firms have joined together to work on the 152 MW Keenan II wind project in Oklahoma and on another project the name of which remains unnamed.

A new global survey conducted by workspace solution provider Regus has found that only 37% of companies worldwide keep track of their emissions, whereas only 19% monitor their carbon footprints. The U.S. companies fared especially bad with only 13% measuring their carbon emissions. Moreover, only 27% U.S. companies choose to watch their energy consumption. The survey also found out that the companies are willing to go ahead with environmentally friendly technologies, only if it does not increase their costs. The finding has been backed by 46% of companies globally and 37% of the U.S. companies.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has released a report entitled Smart Grid Growing Pains that talks about the ongoing Smart Grid pilot and demonstration programs in 33 states. The report stresses the rising demand for the proper management of utilities around the country so that “project costs are contained, cross-industry alliances are functional and customers are engaged.”

Intel has certainly been doing its part in helping the environment and reducing its carbon footprint.  The innovative company has also created joint initiatives to get others in the country on board.  But how do we know what the impact is of Intel's efforts?  Intel has just released its 2009 Corporate Responsibility Report and have proven that all of its efforts are making a real impact.

In addition to its new environmental logo, Kodak has also unveiled a new sustainability website to inform its consumers of Kodak's efforts in environmental and corporate sustainability.  The website is centered around three initiatives: Innovation, Stewardship, and Responsibility, and also gives us some insight into the history of the values and sustainability milestones.

Kodak announced yesterday that it has developed a new environmental symbol to "educate customers about the environmentally oriented benefits of KODAK Products and Services, and to promote the company's commitment to sustainability."  The symbol will be a green and yellow leaf and it will be used on Kodak products and marketing campaigns that are directly related to Kodak's environmental improvements and initiatives.  The environmental logo will also include the tagline "Kodak Cares" to tell customers just how important the environmental initiative is to the company.  Some of the products that will bear the logo are the KODAK Adaptive Picture Exchange, a very environmentally friendly photofinishing system, and the KODAK Printer's EnviroServices Program.

Four promising projects undertaken by the US Department of Energy (DOE) have bagged Berkeley Labs $8.6 million in Recovery Act Funding. DOE describes the projects as “ambitious research projects that could fundamentally change the way the country uses and produces energy." The four projects “will speed the development of materials that can absorb carbon dioxide emitted from power plants, another that will use a common soil bacterium to produce biofuels, and two that are aimed at developing new high-energy batteries for powering electric vehicles.”   

Back in February, Google received approval to buy and sell energy on the wholesale market in order to have the "flexibility to manage our power contracts, and in particular to be able to sign contracts that are useful to developers and that get more renewables on the grid," according to Bill Weihl of Google.  At Earth2Tech's GreenNet event, Weihl revealed that Google Energy could, in fact, be used to power Google's "massive data centers."

There are a great number of cleantech startups that are just waiting for the opportunity to have their ideas seen, heard, and possibly funded. To further encourage cleantech startups, Low Carbon South West (LCSW) announced an event called Low Carbon Start-Up Fest earlier today. LCSW is a newly formed network of universities and companies in the cleantech sector. The event, which will be held Friday, May 14th at the University of Bath (UK), promises to “showcase the leading innovator in this sector.”

Back in June, Yahoo confirmed that it would be building a $150 million data center in Western New York that is focused on energy efficiency.  Well, pictures have surfaced of the new facility almost complete and there's now questions as to why the new data center appears to resemble a group of chicken coops.  Yahoo has an answer, it's because they are.... well, in theory.