Smeal Alumni Interests: Sustainability

Being in the higher education industry, but working with alumni in business, creates a need to be informed about their world. Thank you to all my connections for sharing valuable information on LinkedIn that helps me stay current. This post shares articles from The Smeal Network on sustainability.

See below for a new initiative from Penn State Executive Education!

New Program - Our Golden Award winning Executive Education Program launches a supply chain sustainability program in partnership with our #1 Supply Chain Department!

Smeal is launching a new Exec Ed program in supply chain sustainability. The first offering is December 13 - 15. It's perfect timing....you'll be fully sustainable by Christmas. Guaranteed! 

For alumni, Executive Programs can offer a discount. Register and they will hold a seat for you....and you can pay later. Or, give Erik Foley a call at 814-762-9208

For a sneak peak at the second program being offered in March 2017, "Strategic Leadership for Sustainability: 6 Steps for Moving Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility" register for the free Smeal Webinar on Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at noon which will be presented by Director Erik Foley. Visit this link for more details and to register!

If you are a Smeal alumni, please join Smeal’s official group and post any important articles on topics you are an expert on, concerned about or just following with interest. Remember, the LinkedIn group should say official in the title!

Sustainability - Who is now building high-end solar panels?

Taipei 101: The ‘Greenest’ of Skyscrapers shared by Angelo Annese (‘97 Accounting) Partner at Ernst & Young: “The Taipei 101 skyscraper, once the tallest structure in the world, recently added another notable distinction in its short-but-accomplished history: it’s now the world’s “greenest” tower.”

Midwest Startup Hubs and the Elephant in the Room shared by Brian Ardinger (‘94 MBA) Co-Founder of Econic: “The difference between San Francisco and Cincinnati is not a function of luck or even time - it’s intentional action. So if we want change, we’re going to have to do things differently.”

Articles shared by Daniel Bena (Webinar Presenter) Senior Director of Operations Development at PepsiCo

--New Flexible Solar Panels Could Be Put on Pretty Much Anything: “Researchers from Virginia Tech have developed a thin, flexible solar panel that rivals current solar technology. Their results will be published in the journal ACS Energy Letters.The new solar panels are less than half a millimeter thick, and are made using an efficient screen-printing technique to adhere a thin film of titanium oxide to the base material. The process can be completed in under 10 seconds.”

--Paris climate change agreement enters into force: “The Paris agreement on climate change enters into force on Friday, marking the first time that governments have agreed legally binding limits to global temperature rises. The passage of the accord – the fruit of more than two decades of often tortuous international negotiations on combating climate change – was hailed by nations and observers around the world.”

--Before The Flood: “Join Leonardo DiCaprio as he explores the topic of climate change, and discovers what must be done today to prevent catastrophic disruption of life on our planet.”

--5 Ways for Every Business to Address the 3 P’s:

1. People: Re-shift Your Focus
2. Ensure You’re Making a Positive Impact on our Planet
3. Invest in Your Team
4. Demonstrate Your Purpose
5. Work to Improve Those Around You

--Why Sustainable Business Leaders Must ‘Think Exponentially: “As corporations increasingly embed sustainability into their long-term plans and decision-making processes, new business models are emerging that promise to deliver financial and non-financial (such as environmental and societal) values while working toward a net-zero emissions economy.”

--Celebrating World Food Day: “Although we may not wear blue helmets or conduct peacekeeping missions, there's an easy way we can each do our part to stop a global crisis: eating more plant-based meals.”

--Podcast Episode #8: Naty Barak on How Drip Irrigation Can Change the World: “With the adoption of drip irrigation increasing around the world, farmers are able to preserve diminishing supplies of water.”

--Food Waste: We All Know the Stats, So Why Has Nothing Changed?: "We all know the statistics. Roughly a third of all food produced globally goes to waste. In the U.S., this figure is closer to 40 percent. If food waste were a country, it would be the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter.

--WASH and the Social Progress Index: “Water is the most basic of basic human needs. Without it humans can last barely three days. Yet too often we take it for granted. Approximately 884 million people worldwide still do not have regular access to safe drinking water and approximately 2.4 billion people live without improved sanitation facilities.”

--Yellowstone introduced Flexi-Plave 'thirsty' concrete: "Old Faithful spews thousands of gallons of water high into the air, but elsewhere at Yellowstone National Park, another wonder is quietly gulping water down."

How Penn State is turning green roofs into experimental science shared by Edwin Beyer (’85 Marketing) Regional Sales Manager, Enterprise Accounts at Splunk: “Green roofs are like your IT department: you know they’re important, but you’re not really sure what they do. Penn State may end up changing that – one mixed-plant community at a time. The university is home to the country’s first green roof technology class (started in 2005) and its Center for Green Roof Research works closely with the university’s Office of the Physical Plant to ensure each new building uses green technology and incorporates green roofs, where possible.”

Articles shared by Daniel Allen Crouse (‘09 Economics) Director of Business Development at BrightFarms

BrightFarms continues growth with $30.1 million financing deal: “In a move to expand operations for future growth, local greenhouse producer BrightFarms Inc. has secured $30.1 million in financing. The funds will aid BrightFarms with growth plans in production and marketing, enabling the company to respond to rising retail demand for its products.”

Green Street Solar Power Begins Construction on the Largest Single Rooftop Solar Installation in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts: “Green Street Solar Power, a solar sales, finance and installation company located in the Bronx, NY, has begun construction on a 4.1-megawatt high efficiency PV system in West Bridgewater – the largest single rooftop installation in Massachusetts.”

These are some of America’s cloudiest cities. And guess what: they’re producing tons of solar power. shared by Joseph Gandolfo (’12 Marketing) Retail Vendor Manager at Amazon: “Cloudiness and solar energy may seem incompatible, but the truth is that solar panels can provide tremendous value even in cloudy climates.”

The future belongs to clean energy shared by Melissa Gonzalez (‘99 Finance) CEO & Founder of The Lionesque Group: “As we close out a summer marked by uncertainty in news and events, one trend for which analysts voice increasing certainty is the accelerating pace of the clean-energy transformation reshaping how the world generates electricity.”

Eco Green Auto Clean-- Waterless Car Wash shared by Michelle Houser (‘01 Journalism) Senior Director of Development & Alumni Relations at Smeal College of Business: "Eco Green Auto Clean is aiming to save 2 billion gallons of water per year through its one cup, one car campaign."

Hedge fund proposes to replace SunEdison as TerraForm Power sponsor shared by Carl J. Jackson (‘01 Finance) Director, Project Finance & Origination: “D.E. Shaw and Co., one of the world's largest hedge fund managers, has proposed replacing Maryland Heights-based SunEdison Inc. as the operating sponsor of the bankrupt renewable energy developer's Terraform Power Inc. yieldco.”

Articles shared by Mark King (‘86 Business Logistics) Work Crew Leader at Good Works

--Solar Power On Brink Of Huge Boom, Social Research Indicates: “Rogers postulated that when 15% of people accept an innovation, it will quickly spread to 60% of the target population. McCraken says that in some markets — like Hawaii, California, and Arizona — residential solar power has already achieved that 15% level of acceptance. He thinks that means it is about to see explosive growth.”

--Kicking The North American Energy Habit: North American households consume almost 2x the amount of energy as typical European households, and 6x that of Latin America or Asia. Read that again. Canadian and U.S. households consume a whopping 12,000 kWh of energy per year. But why?

--Wal-Mart Leads the Nation in Corporate Solar Deployments. What Will It Do With Storage? "The company has deployed 17 energy storage projects, all in the state of California, including six 200-kilowatt/400-kilowatt-hour solar-tied batteries. These systems currently serve the company with time-of-use shifting and peak demand shaving”

--6 Charts that Will Make You Optimistic About America’s Clean Energy Future: "Over the last few years, we’ve been in the midst of a clean energy revolution. New technologies, once unthinkably expensive to install and use, have become increasingly cost-competitive at a staggeringly fast clip. Today, the Energy Department released a new report called “Revolution… Now,” which details five booming clean energy technologies -- plus a few other promising pieces of clean tech that will be key to solving major problems, like climate change."

--How The Electricity Grid Works: “In short, our electricity is delivered from suppliers to consumers through a complex electrical grid — from generation, to transmission, to distribution, to powering our homes and businesses. But it’s a little more complicated than that. The US actually has three grids (often called “interconnections”): The Eastern Grid, the Western Grid and the Texas (ERCOT) Grid, with the Eastern being the largest. They are all connected, though they operate independently.”

--Tesla & SolarCity Prepare For World Domination (Original Reporting): “Tesla unveiled the most promising facet of its impending merger with SolarCity — solar shingles as chic and efficient as their cars.”

--There will not be a better time to upgrade to LED lighting …BUT….: “Lighting is more COMPLICATED now, than ever before. Before you begin your search, your team/organization need to: (1) Determine your business objective (2) Choose the right LED provider to support your needs (3) Request multi-phased proposals.”

--US & China Fossil Fuel Subsidies Exceed $20 Billion Annually: “As an outcome of the G20 meeting held in China earlier this month, both China and the United States volunteered to publish peer reviews of their current fossil fuel subsidies, and the results show that, together, the two countries are annually providing over $20 billion in inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.”

Why Elon Musk’s new solar roof offering could be a master stroke on three levels shared by Uma Pattarkine (‘14 MAcc) Business Analyst at ExxonMobil: “Last week, Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s vision of new solar roof tiles that would eliminate the need for traditional solar panels. The strategy has the potential to take advantage of at least three key trends.”

Sustainable economic development: Let’s get it right shared by Denny Paul (‘74 Finance) VP Operations and Chief Consulting Scientist at DSD Laboratories: “The Appalachian Studies Association’s “Journal of Appalachian Studies” has initiated a two-year forum on sustainable economic development and the first of four issues has been published (Volume 22, No. 1). ”

Excellence in Action: Renewable Energy World Announces Finalists, Honorable Mentions for 2016 Project of the Year Awards shared by Fred Surr (‘82 Marketing) Principal, Executive Producer at Captains of Industry: “PennWell Corporation and Renewable Energy World are pleased to announce our 2016 Renewable Energy Project of the Year Finalists.”

This Stunning Graphic Shows Earth’s Temperature Over 22,000 Years shared by Michael D. Underhill (‘03 Economics) Chief Investment Officer at Capital Innovations, LLC: “However, as simple or as light-hearted as it appears at first glance, today’s infographic actually provides an invaluable amount of context on a subject that is often mired in the ugly details of mathematical models, multipliers, and policy implications.”

Trending on Pulse:

--Altus Power America Raises $205 Million for Solar Expansion: “Altus Power America Inc., a solar-energy investment firm, said it raised $205 million from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and others to fund solar-panel installations at companies and municipalities.”

--Elon Musk is using Apple’s playbook to make your roof a beautiful solar power plant: “The goal is to have solar roofs that look better than normal roofs, generate electricity, last longer, and have installation costs less than a normal roof plus the cost of electricity. Why would you buy anything else?”