Whether large or small, public or private, companies are feeling the heat from their stakeholders to “air their dirty laundry” regarding their sustainability performance data. A recent Ernst & Young study notes that companies are asked to complete a multitude of surveys and questionnaires every year from customers, NGOs, investor groups, analysts and the media about their sustainability activities. The results from these surveys and questionnaires frequently serve as the data for public rankings, ratings or entry into prestigious sustainability-focused stock indices.  To meet this demand for greater transparency and sustainability performance data, the landscape of public disclosure reporting outlets has been growing. In the comprehensive reporting space is the internationally popular and well-respected Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The new GRI G4 builds on previous editions which outline standards designed to highlight material topics to a company’s variety of stakeholders related to economic, environmental and social sustainability in their…

Marc Gunther, an author for GreenBiz.com, asked himself this very same question in an article titled "What the Heck Happened in Durban?". Depending on whether you see the glass half full or half empty, the outcomes at the UNFCCC's Conference of the Parties 17 in Durban, South Africa will give you a sigh of relief or make your blood boil at the lack of dedication to the climate issue on the global stage. Either way, Marc Gunther provides an excellent summary for you to help come to your own conclusions about what the negotiations in Durban will mean for our future in the face of climate change. In brief, Gunther says: "I see two takeaways here for business. First, those companies that worry about climate change need to bring their voices more forcefully to the policy arena; they can't assume that governments are on the right track. Second, companies ought to prepare…

Some images of our booth in the EXPO Green Pavilion.

Coppervale's Paul Shmotolokha was recently interviewed by Communications Technology journal for the article, Going Green Makes a Good Investment. Facing a perfect storm of rising power costs, increasing demand for bandwidth and the resultant strain on existing facilities, the cable industry is looking for ways to reduce energy consumption and to increase access to alternative sources. Specifically, according to Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) statistics, in 2010, the cable industry paid some $1 billion for electricity. Should network growth be 50 percent by 2017, estimates show the power bill increasing to $2.5 billion annually. Bump growth to 100 percent, and the bill jumps to $3.5 billion. Says Paul Shmotolokha, president and co-founder at Coppervale Enterprises, "Those who prepare their networks and optimize for efficiency will be in the best competitive position going forward. If you don't pay attention now, when energy costs go through their next cycle, it will…

Part 1 of this blog series set up the burgeoning problem of the effect of set-top boxes (STB’s) on home energy use as highlighted by a recent NRDC study. In part 2, the actors responsible for implementing solutions to this growing problem are examined to determine what has been done so far to address the need for more efficient STB’s. While most U.S. providers are aware of the STB issue, few have taken the steps to implement effective solutions. U.S. operators Verizon Communications and AT&T Inc. are the few cited as having mandated EPA’s Energy Star compliance for its STB’s going forward, taking the first step in ensuring that at least the boxes deployed meet Energy Star requirements. European pay-tv providers, on the other hand, have been pressured by the European Union to recognize the impact STB’s have on the consumer and the environment. For “simple STB’s” (i.e. no “Conditional Access” (CA), no “Digital Video…

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently published a study revealing that the electricity required to operate all U.S. set-top boxes (STBs) is equal to the annual household electricity consumption of the entire state of Maryland, results in 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and costs American households more than $3 billion each year. The study identified that more than 80% of U.S. homes subscribe to some form of pay television service, which explains how these energy-hungry devices could consume approximately 27 billion kilowatt hours of electricity equal to the output of nine average (500 megawatt) coal fired power plants in 2010. In the current business model, broadband and digital television providers specify, purchase, and supply these boxes to customers. As the spread of broadband and digital television services increases, the number of these devices is likely to increase, and subsequently, the customer’s household electricity use is likely to increase. Unfortunately, service providers supplying STB’s and other…