Investing in Energy & Sustainability Software

Watch our free webinar replay about how to select and justify an investment in energy, carbon and sustainability software to top decision-makers in the company.

Speakers include Paul Baier of Groom Energy, share insights from his latest Enterprise Carbon Accounting (ECA) & Sustainability buyer’s guide.

Executives from Buckman and METTLER TOLEDO, two companies that have recently purchased software, talk about how they found the right solutions for their product requirements and business needs. Plus, our speakers offer tips for the vendor selection process.

>> Watch the webinar replay!

EeBGuide Project - New website launched

The EeB Guide Project is a project financed by the European Commission under the seventh framework program. This project will develop documents and instruments providing operational guidance for Life Cycle Assessment studies of the Energy Efficient Buildings (EEB) Initiative.

The project, which started on November 2011, is intended to last one year. Six partners are involved in the project: the Fraunhofer-Institut für Bauphysik (FhG-IBP), PE INTERNATIONAL, Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB), Escola Superior de Comerc International (ESCI), British Research Establishment (BRE) and Christer Sjöström Consultancy.

Development of a guidance document for energy efficient buildings

The overall goal of this project is to develop a specific guidance document for application to Energy Efficient Buildings and related training material with courses for practitioners in industry and research. This is to be based on and in line with the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook, co-developed by the European Commission’s JRC-IES. To ensure a high acceptance of the stakeholders, the ILCD requirements will be crossed with the new CEN/TC 350 standards like FprEN 15804 (Environmental Performance on product level) or FprEN 15978 (Environmental Performance at the building level).

The goal: high-quality Life Cycle Assessment studies

The concept for this guidance document will be based on two core elements: an extensive list of elements that need to be taken into account when dealing with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) within the Energy-efficient Buildings Initiative and the solution approaches how to address different issues and an extensive guidance including examples and operational instructions on how to conduct adequate, high-quality LCA studies.

New website launched

PE has set up the website that will serve as the platform to enable efficient expert and public consultation procedures.

More information: www.eebguide.eu 

Vestas ranked sustainability leader 2011 by Dow Jones

Vestas, a leader in wind power solutions and a PE client, is now considered the most sustainable company in the world in the area of Renewable Energy Equipment by the world’s leading stock market index, Dow Jones. “Looking at the figures behind our new position it is obvious, that our comprehensive work with LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) on the V112-3.0 MW turbine and targets for reducing our carbon footprint has paid off,” says Lilian Harbak, Reporting Specialist with Vestas’ Sustainability department.

PE congratulates Vestas and the other companies in the DJSI 2011 who improved or maintained their position on their achievements.

Read more about Vestas' LCA and sustainability efforts



For more information please contact Jan Poulsen

Dole has partnered with PE INTERNATIONAL

Dole Food Company, Inc. will rely on PE´s SoFi software to consolidate the Company’s sustainability data into one software system. The software will assist Dole to calculate key performance indicators and will enhance Dole’s ability to establish, manage and meet program objectives at locations worldwide.

“SoFi will not only contribute to improving our sustainability reporting,” said Roberto Vega, Director of Sustainability at Dole Food Company, Inc. “It will also increase the efficiency of managing the Company’s information related to sustainability and allow us to set and achieve global objectives, instead of focusing on each operation separately.”

PE INTERNATIONAL is working with Dole on the implementation of SoFi, a central sustainability platform that transforms data from corporate activities into meaningful performance information. Dole is in the process of refining its key sustainability indicators, including the company’s carbon footprint, which will then be consolidated into SoFi and reported on a regular basis.

“Dole’s sustainability program is well established,” said Michael Betz, CEO at PE INTERNATIONAL. “With PE’s experience in the food and beverage industry we will assist Dole in bringing all the elements together to integrate sustainability as a key component of their day-to-day business - from enhancing processes and products through to reporting. We look forward to working together to achieve Dole’s sustainability objectives including lowering energy consumption and carbon emissions, benchmarking operations, and mitigating risks.”

For more information please contact Jeff Slye

First Light house

Victoria University of Wellington, in New Zealand’s capital city, has been selected as one of 20 university teams to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 – the only entry, ever, from the southern hemisphere.

The First Light house is designed not only to operate as a sustainable, energy efficient and high performance building that minimises the environmental burdens and conserves resources but also focuses on recreation, socialisation, and outdoor living. However, the students realised that the operational environmental impact is only one part of the picture.

Although a Life Cycle Assessment is not one of the competition categories, the students were keen to use a LCA as part of their story around their house. PE INTERNATIONAL supported the students by undertaking a comprehensive analysis to quantify the environmental performance of the First Light house for construction, operation, maintenance and disposal. In addition to this we trained Victoria University students in the GaBi software and provided LCA seminars.

PE INTERNATIONAL wishes the First Light Team all the best for the completion of the project.

About the competition:
The US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon challenges 20 university teams, through a series of 10 contests, to demonstrate inventive clean-energy solutions by building solar-powered houses that feature cost-effective, energy-efficient construction and incorporate energy-saving appliances and renewable energy systems.

This year the Solar Decathlon will take place on the National Mall’s West Potomac Park, which is nestled amongst national landmarks and memorials, and is just a stone’s throw from the White House. The competition runs from September 23th to October 2nd.



more information: www.firstlighthouse.ac.nz

New report ranks PE as Enterprise Energy and Carbon Accounting Leader

On February 8, 2011, Groom Energy Solutions released its report entitled “The 2011 Enterprise Energy and Carbon Accounting (EECA) Software Market -- A Buyers Guide”. The report evaluates 75 vendors across several dimensions to determine the strength of the technology and of the company. The main focus was on customer deployments and quality of customer references, along with the solution capabilities for carbon management and energy management.


“We selected PE INTERNATIONAL as a 2011 EECA leader for the fourth time in our report because the capabilities of the SoFi Software solution reflect the 20 years of sustainability domain expertise and market insight of the company, “ said Paul Baier, Vice President Consulting at Groom Energy Solutions.  “The large number of new customer deployments in various sectors and regions confirms the ability of PE INTERNATIONAL to provide enterprise sustainability solutions that deliver superior business value for its clients.”

PE opens offices in India and China

Recently PE INTERNATIONAL opened two new offices focusing on the Indian and Chinese markets. PE offers the whole range of services through these new offices in both countries, with some focus on Energy Efficiency and CDM project development. Contracts with some of the largest companies in these countries are currently under discussion, involving sustainability consulting, Life Cycle Assessment, GaBi and SoFi solutions. PE can also directly support initiatives for capacity building on sustainability in each country.

Now online: Study on “environmental impacts of renewable feedstocks in material use”

Renewable raw materials hold a high potential for energy saving and for CO2 reduction. In particular, the material use of renewables is often underestimated because a lot of products cannot be directly identified as being produced from renewable resources. On behalf of the German Agency for Renewable Resources, a study was conducted to systematically evaluate the environmental performance of renewables in material use and to develop recommendations for a sustainable use of renewable raw materials in the near future.