At the 2012 Sustainable Operations Summit we hosted a panel on Sustainability in NYC that brought together leadership from city agencies, academia, NGOs and civic groups. Featured on the panel were: David Bragdon (Mayor’s Office), Steven Cohen (Earth Institute at Columbia University), Andy Darrell (Environmental Defense Fund), Milton Puryear (Brooklyn Greenway Initiative) and Janette Sadik-Khan (NYC DOT). The intent of the panel was to highlight the successes, as well as some of the challenges, faced in the first five years implementing Mayor Bloomberg’s bold vision.  While the panel provided wonderful insights into the accomplishments of PlaNYC, the real takeaway was that collaboration and communication amongst all stakeholders was key to realization.

Watch the full discussion here:

Enjoy this video of Don’s full speech. We encourage you to share it with colleagues, friends, family, etc!   

Our society currently sends huge volumes of waste to landfills. While the connection between waste and sustainability may not be apparent, the wastes we discard contain valuable materials.  When we discard these materials we have to produce new materials to meet demand.  Our growing consumption, coupled with our heavy reliance on new materials, has grave consequences for human health, the environment, economic competitiveness, and even national defense.  The good news is that there are many untapped opportunities to conserve resources and reduce waste.  At EPA we are working with businesses, universities and government agencies to encourage the adoption of sustainable materials management practices.  Through this approach we look for opportunities across the entire life cycle of materials that will allow us to use and reuse them most productively and sustainably, generally minimizing the amount of materials involved and the associated environmental impacts.  At the Sustainable Operations Summit we heard from a number of companies that are putting sustainable materials management practices into action, but they are still the exception.  How do you think companies can incorporate sustainable materials management thinking into the way they do business?  And what else can EPA do to help companies make this transition?

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below:

Last week I had the great fortune of joining actor and UN goodwill ambassador Don Cheadle as a guest on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss business and the environment. Hosts Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist posed some important questions and Don and I waxed poetic in our responses (or something like that).  There is only so much you can accomplish in a seven minute segment but I was pleased that Geist asked me to address Washington leaders directly. Willie stated that a lot of Washington leaders watch the show and then asked: “If you were to address them this morning what would you ask of them to help move this forward?” My response was simple: “Talk about it”.

These issues are not going away and we will pay dearly if we keep pretending that they do not exist. In an election year with the economy and US competitiveness the central issue, it is disappointing to see subjects like clean energy and smart infrastructure being ignored when addressing these issues could put so many Americans back to work. Cheadle drove this point home when he said “If we just contribute a small percentage of GDP toward this problem and try to find solutions for it, we can really jumpstart the economy.”

Joe Scarborough is an influential conservative voice in this country, and while he does not agree with a lot of the proposed solutions to deal with the environment, he is at least willing to talk about them. On the show he said he would like to have me back in the future to discuss further…I look forward to continuing the conversation.

You can watch the full Morning Joe segment here: 

So I spent the past month researching and visiting venues that embrace sustainability as a core value of their business. I thought that this could not only benefit attendees coming into town for the Sustainable Operations Summit, but for any environmentally conscious travelers visiting our great city. So a few thousands calories later (and one small hangover) I am happy to share my findings with you.

(Please note that is not a definitive list. I welcome any suggestions in the comments section as I plan on updating this periodically)

The Top Ten Green Destinations to Dine & Drink in NYC:

ABC Kitchen
One of New York City’s most celebrated restaurants is also one of its greenest. On paper it almost reads like a sketch from Portlandia; waiters wear biodegradable sneakers, utensils are made out of potatoes and the bar is mounted on a rescued altar from a Mexican Church. But ABC Kitchen is the real deal, serving some of the best meals and cocktails with the environment at the forefront of everything from the menu, to the decor and the operations.
35 East 18th Street New York, NY 10003
www.abckitchennyc.com

Bell Book and Candle
This quaint restaurant in the basement of a townhouse in the West Village is the country’s first “Rooftop-to-Table” dining establishment. Using a state-of-the-art hydroponic system, Chef John Mooney grows numerous greens and vegetables six stories above his restaurant and uses an old school pulley system to deliver his crops to the kitchen. When BBC needs to source outside their rooftop farm they always procure local and organic.
141 West 10th Street, New York, NY 10014
www.bbandcnyc.com

Brooklyn Bowl
Green building is no longer a fringe movement when bowling alleys start getting LEED certified. The brainchild of former Wetlands Preserve owners Peter Shapiro and Charley Ryan, Brooklyn Bowl is more than just a neighborhood bowling center. BK Bowl is also a premier dining destination and entertainment venue, having featured concerts by Kanye West to fundraising events for President Clinton. The Bowl (as locals call it), has a long list of green credentials. A few notable efforts are being 100% powered by wind and not serving any bottles or cans as all of their beverages come from taps.
61 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211
www.brooklynbowl.com/

Crave Fish Bar
The owners of extremely popular, but short lived, Crave Ceviche are soon to reopen as Crave Fish Bar. Four years after being forced to close when a construction crane collapsed on their building, leaving seven people dead, the restaurant is being reborn with the environment as a first priority. I got a sneak peek of the interior, carefully designed using all reclaimed and energy efficient materials along with a sampling of the sustainable seafood menu designed by noted chef Todd Mitgang. When reopened, Crave will be a model for sustainability in the Midtown East community it serves. By summer they will also have installed a hydroponic green roof.
945 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10022
www.craveceviche.com

Dekalb Market
Dekalb Market opened in 2011 and is the brainchild of culture mavens Jennifer Lyon and Joann Kim-Nunez. An empty lot in Downtown Brooklyn transformed into a shopping, drinking and eating destination utilizing carefully stacked salvaged shipping containers. Coming this May is a permanent beer and wine garden and a Bike-In movie series. The market also includes an “incubator farm” run by local farmers that serves as an educational resource for the community.
138 Willoughby Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
www.dekalbmarket.com

Greenhouse NYC
Want to pump fists with the cast of Jersey Shore under a pulsing array of 2,500 energy efficient LED lights? Well than Greenhouse NYC is the place for you. This LEED certified nightclub was built with recycled and eco-friendly materials and delivers a high-tech yet inspired natural environment. For green minded party people this is the place to party at while in New York.
150 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013
www.greenhouseusa.com

Habana Outpost
Mix mojitos, solar panels, tacos, bike powered blenders and the greenest toilet in America and you get Habana Outpost. Often referred to as the greenest bar in the nation, Habana Outpost has become an institution in the Fort Greene neighborhood it calls home. Owner Sean Meenan drives a Cadillac powered by cooking oil from his restaurants and frequently uses the Outpost to host functions that educate the public about sustainability.
757 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
www.cafehabana.com

The High Line
Yes, I know it’s not a bar or restaurant but who needs a bar when you can pick up a beer from a local (locavore) bodega and brown bag it while strolling through New York’s “Park in the Sky.” I kid … that’s very illegal in our city so don’t even try it! But do take a walk along the High Line and drop into several of the bars and restaurants that have been carefully built “into” the park such as the Porch and the Biergarten at the Standard.
The High Line runs from Gansevoort St to West 34th St. between 10th & 11th Avenues.
www.thehighline.org

The Hornblower Hybrid
The Hornblower Hybrid is a ship that runs on renewable power generated by hydrogen fuel cells, solar panels and wind turbines and is constructed out of recycled materials. This ship, the greenest in the nation, is now docked at Pier 40 at Houston and West Street and is available for dinner cruises along New York Harbor as well as private events (Attendees at the 2012 Sustainable Operations Summit will get to party aboard the Hornblower!).
Pier 40
www.hornblower.com/hce/port/yacht/ny+33

New Leaf Restaurant & Bar
Housed in a restored cobblestone building in Fort Tryon Park, the New Leaf Restaurant & Bar is one of Manhattan’s most eco-friendly restaurants because all net proceeds support Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project (NYRP). NYRP is a non-profit organization dedicated to reclaiming and restoring New York City’s parks and runs the MillionTreesNYC program with the NYC Parks Department. MillionTreesNYC is a public-private initiative with a goal to plant and care for one million new trees across the city’s five boroughs by 2017.
1 Margaret Corbin Drive, New York, NY 10040
www.newleafrestaurant.com

Smörgås Chef
As devoted environmentalists, Smörgås Chef owners Morten Sohlberg and Min Ye, have been working for years to ensure that the food served in their three Scandinavian restaurants is sourced locally and ethically. So it came as no surprise to hear that after close to a decade in business they decided to buy a 150 acre farm, Blenheim Farm, in the Catskill Mountains. Located 150 miles outside the city, the husband and wife team are raising their own sheep and even growing lingonberries. The decision to buy the farm has allowed the owners to ensure that all of their produce and meats is truly sustainable.
Three locations including: Wall Street, West Village and Midtown
www.smorgas.com

{This blog post originally appeared on the Huffington Post here}

CC – Image Courtesy of flickr4jazz

For the past three years Douglas Gayeton and Laura Howard-Gayeton have crisscrossed the USA to learn this new language of sustainability from its foremost practitioners in food and farming.  Google is a primary funder of images for the Lexicon Project. In 2011, they have built three cafes on their campuses based on the Lexicon. 

To get a good understanding of the project we recommend watching this video. 

By Michael P. Owens

It’s not surprising that the Empire State Building has become an inspiration and model for energy efficiency retrofits around the world. With the iconic skyscraper achieving an energy reduction of 40 percent, which amounts to savings of $4.4 million a year, it’s easy to understand why.

I recently chatted with Anthony Malkin, President of Malkin Holdings (owner of the Empire State Building), and a speaker at the 2012 Sustainable Operations Summit, to learn a bit more about this groundbreaking project, and to get his take on the future scale of energy efficiency retrofits in the United States.

Owens: The Empire State Building retrofit is now a model for energy efficiency around the world. How did the project come about and did you ever anticipate energy savings at the level achieved?

Malkin: Originally we just sought to make the building green. Through the process of working with the Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls and the Rocky Mountain Institute, I learned that what is popularly defined as green is not really valid. Bike racks and showers are not going to change the world. Integrating energy efficiency into our plans unfolded the opportunity for greater savings with a three year payback.

Owens: One of the most notable elements of the ESB are the lights at the top. Have the lights been retrofitted to be more energy efficient?

Malkin: The lights at the top of the building will be replaced this year with LEDs. We have done nothing at the Empire State building for the sake of looks or press. Everything has been done on the basis of economic return. Going back to 2007 when we started looking at the initial pricing and efficiency, LEDs were such that they absolutely did not justify, so we focused on doing things which make economic sense. Putting a water feature in a lobby gets you LEED points, but it doesn’t save energy, doesn’t improve the environment and it doesn’t change the world. Replacing the incandescent lights before 2012 was simply not cost justified.

Owens: So you believe that LEDs are now cost-justified?

Malkin: That is correct.

Owens: Looking back on the project, were there any things that you would have done differently?

Malkin: As far as things which we have done, no. The reality is that we are state of the art, there’s really very little in the way of economically intelligent work that can be done and we are constantly looking. The biggest thing we are doing now is working with our tenants as they do their installation design to highlight for them the no-compromise ways that they can achieve a much lower energy consumption per square foot. As things become economically intelligent to do — the LED lights are an example — you know we will pursue them. Other than that, I think the most important thing is to use our practices that we have developed to inform policies and government, and to use these practices to motivate others through competition to follow us.

Owens: At the 2011 Sustainable Operations Summit, we hosted a panel discussion that featured executives from several of the partners on the retrofit such as Johnson Controls, Serious Energy, Jones Lang LaSalle and the Clinton Climate Initiative. The topic was collaboration. What did you look for in selecting these partners?

Malkin: We are always looking for people who, number one, are team players and number two, have a focus on the numbers. The numbers are the bottom line. I think too many people focus on the numbers, and by numbers I mean LEED points. We are not going to make the change with bike racks and showers; they are not going to save the world. You know green practices — recycled carpet content, green cleaning solutions, all of these other things like recycled paper products and recycling construction debris — these are all excellent things and part of a normal suite of green practices that every owner should deploy. But I’m looking for people that have done the hard work and have learned about energy efficiency, as opposed to people who are just looking to get LEED points. Unless LEED incorporates energy efficiency improvement as a requirement per LEED EBOM, it’s just simply not the standard by which people should be measuring in the future.

Owens: I recently read about international companies having mandates to only lease energy efficient space. Have you experienced this with any of your tenants and do you feel it will become more common in the future?

Malkin: The better credit tenants worldwide have mandates to reduce their environmental impact and increase their sustainability. The bottom line is that the most commonly used marker to date has been LEED, (of course Empire State Building is ranked LEED EBOM Gold), and the smarter tenants are now recognizing energy efficiency is critical. A building like the Empire State Building, which has a built-in set of systems to maximize energy efficiency into its tenants, can plug their installations. So our building and energy management system allows tenants to run their equipment in their spaces more efficiently and more effectively. You have both reductions in energy consumption in the building and in energy consumption in the tenant space, and tenants consume 60% of the power. This is a major draw for the highest quality tenants, and as they lead others will follow.

Owens: You touched upon policy earlier. From your experiences, could the government be doing more to encourage greater investment in energy efficiency projects?

Malkin: We are working with the U.S. Congress to alter the 179D tax deduction so that it can actually be used. The Empire State didn’t qualified for a penny of it. The reason it didn’t qualify is because the standard is set so high, that even though we’ve reduced our energy consumption by 40 percent, we still didn’t meet the requirements of the law. We are also looking to alter 179D so that tax deduction — it’s not a tax credit, it’s a tax deduction — can be applied throughout the value stream of people working on the project. A real estate investment trust doesn’t pay taxes, so if it does the work it doesn’t get a benefit. But many people who are involved in doing the work for the REIT do pay taxes, and being able to assign that tax benefit gets it into the value stream.

We are also working to get loan guarantees, which are unfortunately maligned due to some errors in work done by Solyndra and others. We are trying to get those loans done so that others can do retrofits that are saving energy, in effect creating carbon free, pollution free energy that is way less expensive than wind and solar. Doing energy efficiency retrofits creates local jobs, whereas 60 percent of wind turbines and solar panels are imported from overseas. So we are trying to get the U.S. government and government agencies and states to focus on the economic benefits: job creation, cost savings, capital cost avoidance and to include us in programs that heretofore have only focused on alternative energy.

Owens: That is the underlying theme for the 2012 Sustainable Operations Summit. Realizing the true economic benefits of energy efficiency and sustainability initiatives. We look forward to learning more during your presentation at the summit, which kicks off April 17th in NYC. 

From our Twitter contest John Costello from EcoMktg was selected as the winner.  The winning tweet was:

Look forward to attending @SustainableOS to hear Peter Malik@NRDC address the topic of sustainable capitalism in a global economy #SOSNYC 

John is Principal of EcoMktg. His firm provides mobile renewable energy solutions to the experiential marketing industry. John recently helped the National Hockey League reduce their carbon footprint at one of their annual marquis events, the 2012 NHL Winter Classic in Philadelphia. In an ongoing effort to showcase the league’s commitment to pursuing clean, alternative energy options, he worked closely with NHL Green and partner NRDC, to minimize the environmental impact of the game’s ‘Fan-Fest’ area by employing an innovative mobile solar technology that also provided a unique platform for stakeholder engagement and the promotion of environmental stewardship over the course of the 3-day event. 

From our Facebook contest, Cecil Scheib was selected as the winner.  Cecil is the Director of Energy and Sustainability, Facilities and Construction Management. 

John & Cecil will join us in learning from a great lineup of over 60 speakers to discuss the latest advancements in sustainability. 

Congratulations to both John & Cecil. We are excited to have you attend the 2012 Sustainable Operations Summit!

Michael Owens: Hi Jordan. We are very happy to have Hertz On Demand as a travel partner for the 2012 Sustainable Operations Summit. Can you tell me about HOD and how it fits into the sustainability mission at Hertz?

JR: Our goal is to make sustainable transport a convenient, viable reality for every traveler – whether they need to get out of the city for the day or just pick up supplies at the local Lowe’s. Hertz On Demand is an award winning sustainability program that provides worldwide access to green vehicles by the hour or the day. We’re working to show customers and communities the environmental and societal benefits of using a transport model that goes beyond individual car ownership. Hertz On Demand’s sustainability story includes green vehicles, but also larger (efficient) vehicles that provide a ‘right-sized’ option when needed vs. owning a large inefficient vehicle that’s rarely used to capacity.

MO: Excellent. It’s so true that most vehicles are rarely used to capacity and I’m surprised it took this long for this model to become mainstream. I believe that I read that you are cleaning your vehicles without using water. Is this true?

JR: Yes it is. We’ve structured Hertz On Demand to be as sustainable as possible from both a fleet and operations perspective. This includes using a waterless carwash system that employs locally and uses non-toxic cleaners.

MO: Aside from no enrollment and annual membership fees, the one thing that truly makes HOD stand out against Zipcar is the availability and variety of low-emission vehicles. What prompted the decision to include cars like the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt and the Smart EV in HOD’s fleet?

JR: Investment in alternative fuel vehicles, such as EVs, CNG and hybrids is a top priority for Hertz On Demand. Market uptake for these low-emissions vehicles can be slow, whether from higher sticker prices, infrastructure issues or customer hesitance to try something new. By providing extremely easy and inexpensive access to these cars across colleges, large cities and businesses, we’re hoping to breakdown these barriers, demystify clean technology and see mainstream use increase significantly.

MO: Joy. Prior to the launch of HOD I was not too familiar with Hertz’s commitments to sustainability. Can you give me some background on Hertz’s environmental initiatives.

Joy Lehman: Hertz has been working on sustainability for quite a while, but over the last 12 months we’ve really ramped up our efforts, including the launch of Living Journey, our sustainability strategy. Our goal is to integrate sustainability across our global operations to reduce our environmental footprint and costs, as well as have a positive impact on the communities we serve.

MO: Besides greening your massive fleet, what other areas are you focusing on to reduce your footprint?

JL: We have a lot going on, but energy efficiency and recycling are our key focuses at the moment. We’re just finishing installation of our 10th  solar panel system (of 16), as well as performing energy audits and upgrades across Hertz locations. The success of our energy program has been very positive to date. For example, we were able to reduce energy consumption at our world headquarters in NJ by 20% in only 6 months through HVAC upgrades.

Resource management through recycling and moving to e-based systems are also big wins for us. For example we recycled over 680,000 gallons of used oil in 2011, 50,000 IT units since 2005 (diverting over 2 million tons of e-waste from landfills) and have reduced paper use by over 2.8 million pounds since 2006. We’re looking forward to similar success through the expansion of our location recycling program to include a commingle system for plastic, glass and metals.

MO: Well thanks for taking the time to share this with me. I look forward to reconnecting soon to hear how things are progressing!

U.S. Competitiveness Project – A Need for Systems Thinking

by Andrew McKeon- Principal- BusinessClimate

The current state of U.S. competitiveness is in a sense not the problem. It is a symptom of a larger systemic problem. In their January 2012 report “Prosperity at Risk” detailing findings from the recent HBS Survey on U.S. Competiveness, Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin describe how the threats to U.S. competitiveness are multi-faceted, interrelated, and long term and how the strategies to address them must be multidimensional, holistic, and sustained. As they press business leaders to stop actions that simply benefit their own firms while collectively weakening America’s business environment, Porter and Rivkin are describing the real problem. Fixing U.S. competitiveness will require a broader systems perspective – much broader and more holistic than American management has practiced in the last 40 years.

For decades U.S. management has had very little appreciation for seeing businesses from a systems perspective. Hugely popular management approaches like MBO (management by objective) created “the whole is equal to the sum of the parts” and “manage what you measure and measure what you manage” mind-sets. Consequently there was little attention paid to the interconnections and interdependencies within a business operation or between businesses – these weren’t seen as important in building great enterprises or fostering strong economies. Harvard’s U.S. Competitiveness Project needs to change that thinking and hopefully will.

Yet, if we are to really address U.S. competitiveness we must stop looking at issues, businesses and markets as isolated, and instead understand that the future of U.S. competitiveness lies in how well we address the systems issues facing the global economy and the planet over the next 20-40 years.

The risks are clear. Huge increases in global demand for raw materials, industrial and agricultural commodities, energy and water, will put greater claims on resources, stress supply chains, apply enormous pressure to profit margins and deepen the planet’s most serious environmental challenges. Yet, these same risks point to tremendous opportunities. An estimated three billion new additions to the world’s middle-class before mid-century will improve more people’s lives than ever in history and triple the size of the global economy. For companies to turn these risks into opportunities they must take advantage of growth while mitigating resource disruptions and global environmental degradation. Clearly, business as usual will not get the job done. The fate of U.S. competiveness in the years and decades ahead will be determined by how effectively we mitigate the most urgent risks and develop the greatest opportunities that will drive the global economy and the planet. Sustainability must be the organizing principle of U.S. competitiveness if we are to lead in the 21st century.

Many ask about the meaning of the term sustainability. Here sustainability refers to a process and a way of thinking which begins with an appreciation for businesses as systems, embedded in larger systems such as markets, and all part of even larger systems of economies. Ultimately, the earth itself is a system made up of highly interconnected and interdependent groupings of natural and man-made systems, one of the most powerful being the global economy. In a well-organized system, every subsystem supports and aligns with the aim, operations and workings of the overall system. Lack of alignment leads to sub-optimization, decay and the potential destruction of the system. Simply put, sustainability is about getting the alignment right between how the global economy works and how the planet works. To the extent business operations support that alignment, business is sustainable and will prosper; to the extent business operations are out of alignment, business is unsustainable and will deteriorate. The key to U.S. competiveness lies in how well we plan and organize for that alignment.

Next month in New York City there will be a major gathering of C-level business leaders, entrepreneurs, NGO activists, and at least two former Heads-of-State (Costa Rica’s Jose Maria Figueres and U.S. President Bill Clinton) to discuss U.S. competitiveness in the context of the risks and opportunities of the 21st century. The event – The Sustainable Operations Summit – is not unique – it takes place the very same week as Fortune Brainstorm Green, a CEO-level event in San Diego focused on the newest ideas shaping the future of business. Both events and others like them signal an important trend in the business community – putting sustainability at the center of the discussion around risk, opportunity and U.S. competitiveness in the coming years.

At The Sustainable Operations Summit, I will be moderating a panel that was originally entitled “Environmental Strategy and Business Strategy.” I spoke with the conference organizer about changing the name – replacing “and” with “as” – and he agreed. The “Environmental Strategy as Business Strategy” panel will discuss how new business strategies for American competitiveness in the 21st century must not make environmental strategy vestigial, or incorporate it because it is noble or even socially responsible. Instead environmental strategy must be seen as the key to global competitiveness. Understanding natural systems is much more than simply showing us what we’re doing wrong to the planet – it can provide unique insights into how to build efficient and resilient businesses systems. As detailed in the book Profit Beyond Measure by H. Thomas Johnson and Andres Bröms, natural system characteristics such as self-organization, interdependence and diversity have been used to build some of the most efficient and robust manufacturing systems of the 20th century. In the 21st century only by understanding these principles will companies be able to address the daunting challenges and unprecedented opportunities that are unfolding.

One of the panelists on “Environmental Strategy as Business Strategy” will be Col. Mark Mykleby (U.S.M.C. Ret.). After serving in combat in Iraq and developing strategy for U.S. Special Ops Command, Colonel Mykleby served as special assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he developed a new National Strategic Narrative for the United States in the 21st Century. The U.S. has been without a national strategy since the end of the Cold War when the strategy of “containment” of global communism became obsolete. Col. Mykleby’s narrative replaces “containment” with “sustainment”, making sustainability a core principle for America’s next 50 years. The narrative is not just about green energy and resource efficiency, although these are important components. It is about something larger – a view of America’s challenges and opportunities from a systems perspective. There are powerful and influential people both inside and outside Washington who are quietly working to see this strategy transformed into policy in the next administration, which would go far to mainstream the idea that U.S. competitiveness in this century as a matter of national policy must and will be driven by sustainability and systems thinking.

Andrew McKeon is founder of BusinessClimate, a provider of consulting services that help clients increase their global competitiveness and profitability through sustainable business strategies, and the host of the annual conference on sustainability and global competitiveness.  Clients include PwC, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Intel, and Johnson Controls.  Andrew holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA, both from Columbia University.  His writings have appeared in such publications as GreenBiz, Reuters and strategy+business magazine.  He has been invited to speak at NASA, the United Nations, the Deming Biennial, PICMET, and the Agrion Energy Conference.  He is an advisor to the UN-GAID and is a member of the Board of Directors of TransitCenter. Andrew maintains a blog at www.businessclimate2012.blogspot.com.