As consultants specializing in utilities, we are often on the forefront of leading campaigns for energy to migrate to green. And in the next year, we will be taking our own additional steps to go green in our own company, in our own lives. Walk the walk!

Motive Power has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to environmental charities and causes such as NRDC, Oceans Conservancy, Union of Concerned Scientist and Charity: Water.

But we can and will do more. The risk of not changing is far too great—as demonstrated in the recent IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report distributed worldwide in October (BBC coverage).

We must act! Particularly inspirational was the 2018 Dreamforce Conference in San Francisco. Salesforce managed to throw a conference for 177,000 attendees with a keen eye and attention to detail around environmental impact—going so far as to have garbage can attendants at every garbage can for compost and plastics handling, feeding nearly 200,000 people in biodegradable containers, and even inviting Al Gore as a keynote speaker to update us on the current state of the environment.

While our company is currently less than 100 individuals, we can make a difference in our immediate surroundings. We are establishing a corporate plan to achieve this goal in 2019. This plan will be a governing document explaining our company’s environmental responsibilities: what we buy, where and how we travel and on what intervals, how we recycle and reuse, and how we contribute to the greater cause through opportunities to clean up our one and only planet. Once established, we will share this corporate plan with our clients and colleagues and be vocal about our corporate approach.

As we develop our corporate plan to go green, some of the initiatives that we already encourage all of our employees to embrace include:

• Grow your own fruits and vegetables when you can
• Compost whenever possible
• Use reusable glass instead of plastic, and support companies who minimize their plastic packaging
• Replace you or your children’s disposable lunch materials
• Buy local whenever possible
• Use a carbon calculator—we’ll be using one for the company impact soon!
• Watch your water usage—reuse water for irrigation and capture rain
• Consider solar energy for your home
• Drive electric vehicles or use electric public transportation

There are really so MANY ways to do this!  All it takes it thoughtfulness and initiative—and Motive Power as a company and as a team is committed to making it happen.