Excellent educational sessions, inspirational speakers, and more exhibitors than ever marked last week’s Greenbuild conference in Phoenix. The Phoenix Convention Center is an outstanding facility, and rooms for the conference sessions were easy to find and accommodating – although there were still plenty of sessions that were standing room only. The number of exhibitors grows every year, which made it necessary to have two levels of exhibitors in Phoenix – the only possible negative to this year’s event. Still, there was good traffic in the exhibits, and the quality of the attendees was outstanding.

The Green Buildings movement continues to grow and to spread around the world, a point made clear by Rick Fedrizzi, the President of the US Green Building Council, during the opening plenary session on Wednesday night. His comments were brought home by the in-person comments from leaders of Green Building Council chapters from around the world. How quickly this movement has taken hold both here and abroad. For our own part, Johnson Controls has been pleased to be involved with the launch of several Green Building Council chapters in South America – and we now have nearly 800 LEED credentialed employees worldwide.

Al Gore’s talk during Wednesday’s plenary session was at times folksy, often inspirational and ultimately motivational. He called on the thousands in attendance at Chase Field to go beyond what they’ve already done – imploring them to get involved with pushing Congress to pass clean energy legislation in time for Copenhagen. He acknowledged that this would be getting involved with politics – but said this involvement should not be about politics. Rather, it was about doing the right thing for our children and our grandchildren and for generations far into the future.

To paraphrase the crux of his talk, Gore asked, “If you were writing a letter that would be read by your children and your grandchildren at some point in the future, would you rather write a letter about all the reasons why you didn’t get involved in this effort to combat global warming -- or would you like it to be a letter about why you did get involved and about what you did to play a part in making the world and our environment better for the generations to come?”

So which is it? Which letter are you writing?

(Go here to learn about how Johnson Controls is greening new and existing buildings worldwide, and here to read about Johnson Controls activities at Greenbuild.)

The theme of this year’s conference is "Main Street Green: Connect to the Conversation," and as a Green LEED-er sponsor, that’s precisely where Johnson Controls is as the 2009 conference opens. We’re as committed as ever to helping spread the word that green buildings help make communities – large and small, in the U.S. and around the world – more prosperous and sustainable.

And here are some of the highlights of what we’ll be conversing about at Greenbuild this year:

 · Feet on the street: We'll report on our goal (announced at last year's Greenbuild conference) of employing 500 Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED^®) Accredited Professionals.  These are our highly-trained people on the streets of communities everywhere who are helping building owners and facilities managers understand the importance and benefits of green buildings.

  · Growing our green portfolio: Johnson Controls now manages more than 11 million square feet of LEED certified facility space on Main Street and countless other roads, avenues and boulevards around the globe.

  · Making America’s best-known building a model: New York’s Fifth Avenue and West 34^th Street may not be what you think of when you hear the words “Main Street,” but the energy efficiency upgrades to the Empire State Building currently underway at that storied intersection will be a model for buildings everywhere.

  ·  Soaking up the sun: What could be more “Main Street” than your local city hall or neighborhood school? That’s where more and more municipal governments and school boards are adopting solar photovoltaic technologies to lower their energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions.

If you’re headed to Phoenix and Greenbuild, look us up at booth #3344. And check out our Greenbuild 2009 web page for more information.

Those are just some of the visions of the future that CEO Steve Roell shares in a recent article in Chief Executive magazine as he "drives a turnaround at Johnson Controls."

Click here to read the article.

Efficiency Now. It's never been more important.

If you missed the interesting and wide-ranging reports, click below to watch them.

Vice President and General Manager, North American Service and Global Workplace Solutions, Iain Campbell on the 2010 outlook, the Empire State Building project and other topics: http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/27016444/cost-savings-through-energy-efficiency.htm#q=johnson+controls

Chairman and CEO Steve Roell on our history of strong financial performances plus our projecton for getting "back on track" in the coming year:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/27018470/johnson-control-ceo-on-staying-profitable.htm#q=johonson+controls

Chairman and CEO Steve Roell leads a behind-the-scenese tour of our corporate headquarters control center:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/27018901/driving-out-of-recession.htm#q=johnson+control

Also last week, Green Magazine TV was at our corporate headquarters videotaping an interview with Don Albinger, Vice President for Renewable Energy Solutions. Look for that broadcast on Discovery Channel in December.

Efficiency Now! It's never been more important.

The links between energy efficiency and water efficiency become clearer every day. To mention just a few:
·  Generating electricity requires a lot of water
·  Treating water and wastewater uses a lot of energy
·  As we reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency, we can lessen the impacts of climate change – which include droughts and flooding.

The connection is especially strong in commercial buildings, where more than 11% of all water used is hot water. A recent report from McGraw Hill Construction on Water Use in Buildings indicated that reducing water use by 15% with water efficient tools leads to 10-11% less energy used and 11-12% lower operations costs.

Last week, we got a hands-on demonstration here at Johnson Controls of how energy and water efficiency go hand-in-hand. We teamed up with Kohler Company – a global leader in plumbing fixtures – to present a “water efficiency fair” at our Building Efficiency business unit headquarters in Milwaukee.

We blocked off the street next to our building, making it convenient for hundreds of our employees to take part in the fair, which included:
·   Demonstrations of Automatic Meter Reading and leak detection technology offered by Johnson Controls -- wireless devices that make it easier for city water utilities to accurately measure residential and commercial water usage, as well as detect leaks in water pipes
·   Displays of Kohler highly-efficient plumbing fixtures such as low-flow shower heads, kitchen and bath faucets, and toilets
·   An entertaining talk by Ed Del Grande – a master plumber, comedian and Kohler spokesperson
·   Case studies illustrating how Johnson Controls Metasys^® building management systems are helping organizations save both water and energy
·    Information from the Milwaukee 7 Water Council – the public/private initiative seeking to establish the Milwaukee Region as the global capital for freshwater research, economic development and education.

Kohler generously offered Johnson Controls employees attending the water fair their employee discount on purchases of plumbing fixtures.

As a colleague pointed out to me recently, as we step up our efforts to use energy more efficiently, we can and are developing alternatives to fossil fuels – such as solar, wind and other renewable energy resources. But there’s no alternative to water. We must use the planet’s fresh water – which, by the way, is less than one percent of the total on earth – as efficiently as possible.

At Johnson Controls, this water fair will become an annual reminder of how each one of us can make a difference in water and energy efficiency, both at work and at home.

Former Vice President Al Gore was in Madison, Wisconsin last week to speak at the annual convention of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ). His main topic was the need for the US to pass a climate bill, and he implored the Senate to get it done before the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December. He asked attendees to get onboard to help drive the Senate to action, saying that to go into Copenhagen without a bill would hamper the ability of the US to help drive negotiations to a productive conclusion – significantly delaying action on global warming.

Gore said he believes we are at a tipping point, that we have reached a critical mass where many people, organizations and business leaders around the world agree that we need to have a successful agreement. As proof of a change of attitude among businesses, Gore cited the high-profile defections from the US Chamber of Commerce in the past few weeks. He also pointed out the full-page advertisements being run in USA Today, The New York Times and The Washington Post by large companies and NGOs calling on the Senate to pass a bill this year.

For the record, Johnson Controls is one of the companies supporting the advertising campaign calling for a clean energy bill this year. We do not belong to the US Chamber of Commerce. And we have signed the Prince of Wales Copenhagen Communique, along with more than 500 other global corporations, in support of an agreement at the UN climate negotiations. Finally, we will be in Copenhagen at the “Bright Green” expo being held in conjunction with the negotiations – and we will have people serving as observers in conjunction with several NGOs that we work with.

While others at the SEJ conference, including members of President Obama’s own staff, were not as optimistic as Gore, I hope that he is right and the others are shown to have been too pessimistic. Having watched this issue for many years, it really seems that there is more support and more urgency than ever before. If we don’t get it done now, when will we?

If I said the words “solar farm” to you, I bet I can guess what picture would pop into your mind’s eye: a football field-sized array of solar panels permanently attached to a patch of ground somewhere in the boondocks. Am I right?

I’ll wager that the last thing you would think of is those same solar panels mounted so they’re completely portable and all parked in the middle of an urban neighborhood. But hang onto that mental image for a few months – because that’s exactly what we’re about to start building in Milwaukee.

Last week, the body that governs technical colleges in Wisconsin gave the green light for Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) to work with Johnson Controls to build what will be the state’s biggest solar installation. The $6.9 million solar education farm will be located on 32 acres of MATC-owned land where the transmitter for the public television station the school operates is located.

The photovoltaic (PV) panels will generate 411 kilowatts of electricity – power that will be used to run the television transmitter, making it the first public television station transmitter in America to be removed from the traditional electricity grid.

When it’s completed, the solar farm may also be the first fully portable solar PV system in the nation. The solar panels themselves, as well as fences and solar trackers, will all be mounted on concrete pads. Nearly 2,500 solar panels will be arrayed in eight different configurations. This flexibility and portability will dramatically enhance one of the facility’s key functions: a training center for technicians, designers, site assessors, electricians, salespeople and other professionals building careers in the renewable energy industry.

The growing solar market promises to create demand for thousands and thousands of these jobs in the coming years – jobs that must be filled by trained and experienced workers if our communities, and our nation as a whole, are to reap the economic benefits of the growth in renewable energy. This project promises to expand educational partnerships between MATC and other Milwaukee-area institutions of higher learning – as well as K-12 schools that will be able to give students and teachers the opportunity to visit the site, either in person or virtually.

All this is certain to make the project a model for other colleges and universities around the country: solar facilities located not in the middle of nowhere, but on under-utilized pieces of land much closer to where the electricity they generate is needed.

Efficiency Now. It's never been more important.

Big news in Chicago at this week’s American Council on an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) National Conference on Energy Efficiency as a Resource: Exelon Chairman and CEO John Rowe announced that his company will join the growing number of companies dropping out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of that organization’s position on climate change regulation. The Chamber has opposed climate legislation approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and the EPA’s plan to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Rowe also expressed frustration with both the Chamber and Republicans in Congress for backing away from Cap and Trade, which he called a "rational, market-based solution." Regarding legislation in Congress, he added "we have got to have this bill to get an energy efficiency market and to get incentives for the lowest cost solutions first."

In a statement issued later, Rowe said, “The carbon-based free lunch is over,” as he called for the U.S. government to establish climate change policy sooner rather than later so companies can determine how much it will cost them to curb their emissions.

Recently, Pacific Gas & Electric (California’s largest utility) and PNM Resources (which operates New Mexico’s biggest power producer) also withdrew from the national chamber. Nike and Johnson & Johnson criticized the chamber’s positions, but opted to remain as members of the business lobbying group.

It is not known if these high-profile defections will have an impact on the Chamber’s position. What is clear, however, is that there are major disagreements in the business community over climate change and what to do about it. And those disagreements are almost certain to heat up in the face of mounting pressures for the U.S. government to do something about climate change as the summit in Copenhagen nears.

Thursday at the Clinton Global Initiative was the high point of a great week.  The opening plenary session included Jeff Immelt (GE CEO), John Chambers (Cisco CEO), Carlos Ghosn (Renault-Nissan CEO) and Kofi Annan (Former UN General Secretary).  It was a great discussion by some great leaders.  One interesting comment came from Jeff Immelt who noted that while companies compete on a 1-5 year timeframe, they should work together in the 10 year timeframe to help define and shape the future.  It is clear that solving the significant challenges we face will not only require the support of major corporations, but also their leadership.

My panel followed immediately after the plenary session and was focused on Infrastructure of Place – Sustainability and the Built Environment.  The session was moderated by Vijay Vaitheeswaran, global correspondent of The Economist and Co-Author of ZOOM.  The  diverse panel included Ritt Bjerregaard, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Nancy Kete, Program Director of the WRI Center for Sustainable Transport, Albina Ruiz, Execuitive Director of Ciudad Saludable in Peru and Ron Simms, Deputy Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as myself. 

Lord Mayor Bjerregaard’s talked about a Climate Summit for Mayors to run in parallel to the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen.  Mayors from Delhi, New York, Hong Kong, Moscow, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney and many others are participating.  Copenhagen has one of the largest and most successful district heating systems that supplies 97% of the city with clean, affordable heating recovered from waste heat from power plants and waste incineration.  Ron Simms was a great champion for the new inter-agency approach to promoting green communities and improving livability.  He described how green mortgages and other financial incentives are being bundled into larger grants to communities to seed programs that will be self-sustaining over time.

I was again asked about infrastructure support for electric vehicles (three for three) and then was finally asked to share experiences and best practices from the Empire State Building project.  This case study never fails to captivate and inspire an audience.  During a break-out, a challenge emerged of designing all new buildings to be carbon neutral and improving the efficiency of all existing buildings by 50%.  Projects such as our IDeAS project in San Jose, CA and the Empire State Building are cited as evidence that these goals may be achievable on a broader scale.

The final event that we participated in was a special session on infrastructure entitled “Building a Better Future.”  President Clinton participated along with Brad Pitt and Tom Darden of Make it Right, a non-profit focused on developing safe, green, energy efficient and affordable housing in New Orleans post Katrina.  This is a great story about building a community of 150 LEED Platinum homes in a devastated area of New Orleans seeing no redevelopment two years after Katrina.  Through thoughtful re-engineering of the entire design and construction process, these homes are being built at a cost of $150 per square foot which is competitive to conventional construction.  Monthly utility bills are in the $30-50 range due to the use of solar PV with some as low as $8 per month.  Bill McDonough later joined the panel made some provocative comments.  He asked that we not to start initiatives or projects with metrics as they naturally lead to benchmarking which drives to goals that are “less bad.”  He instead suggests starting with clear principles based on “good” outcomes like “no toxics”, “no waste”, “renewable energy” before defining strategies, actions and metrics.

Before the panel, Johnson Controls along with Jack Hidary, Jeff Tannenbaum and Bracken Hendricks were recognized by President Clinton for our commitment to PACENOW, an innovative energy efficiency financing model.  Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) was created to accelerate the retrofitting of America’s existing buildings through PACE bonds which allow commercial and residential property owners to finance energy efficiency measures and small renewable energy projects as a lien on their property tax bill.  The important role of companies like Johnson Controls in guaranteeing the energy savings was made by the President, who is a strong advocate for the approach.

This is my last update from a very busy and exciting week in New York.  (Check out my reports from earlier in the week in the Archives for this month.) There is much to be positive about including the role of energy efficiency in buildings and vehicles to help reduce carbon emissions and create a strong clean energy economy.   Onward to Copenhagen!

The big event on the second day of Climate Week was the United Nations summit on Climate Change.  During the session, President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao both made statements intended to move the climate treaty process forward in anticipation of the December meetings in Copenhagen.  President Hu Jintao committed to as yet undisclosed reductions in carbon intensity on a national basis.  President Obama committed in other discussions to help move the energy and climate bill through the U.S. Senate.  

Johnson Controls involvement in the UN proceedings was as a signatory to the Copenhagen Communique.  This set of guiding principles for the Copenhagen negotiations was signed by 630 companies from 50 countries.  Our Chairman and CEO, Steve Roell, signed on behalf of Johnson Controls.  At the global media release of the Communique, the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Energy and Climate shared his view that an agreement in Copenhagen would be good for the planet and good for the economy.  He cited the importance of energy efficiency and the fact that these investments can be made quickly with a positive financial return.

The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) kicked-off with a panel discussion including the CEOs of Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart and the heads of state from Chile and Australia.  The CGI is a very diverse group of global corporations, governments and civil society which come together once a year to make commitments, share progress and celebrate success.  The Clinton Climate Initiative, of which we are a charter signatory, was started as a result of discussions at an earlier Clinton Global Initiative meeting.

The discussion attempted to answer the question “can we reduce emissions without killing the economy?”  The panelists all believed the answer was “yes,” and President Clinton went so far as to say that climate policy was actually good for the economy.  He used energy efficiency and the recent McKinsey studies to make his point.  He also mentioned that there will soon be 100,000 electric vehicles on the road in Isreal which certainly isn’t going to tank their economy.
The highlight of the Clinton Global Initiative opening ceremony was an address by President Barack Obama.  President Obama praised President Clinton on the level of commitment that the CGI has been able to secure around the world.

Thursday’s schedule includes a panel discussion hosted by His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco on how to build on Copenhagen to ensure rapid mobilization of climate solutions?  In July our Building Efficiency business in Europe committed to working with the Prince Albert II Foundation to promote energy efficiency in Europe and the Mediterranean.  Both parties have agreed to explore a range of possible projects, events and other areas of collaboration to elevate awareness and action on the topic of energy efficiency and its positive impact on global climate change.

Also during this historic week, we will meet with the President of Mexico at a reception sponsored by the Alliance to Save Energy.

It’s Climate Week in New York City, and a number of high-profile events are attracting more than 100 attending world leaders to come to agreement on a climate change treaty in Copenhagen this coming December.  Johnson Controls is participating in a number of these events sponsored by the Climate Group (of which we are now a corporate member), throughout the week, and I will be summarizing some of the highlights.

Monday morning started with a presentation of the Carbon Disclosure Project results for S&P 500 and Global 500 companies.  We have been reporting our greenhouse gas emissions, policies and plans for many years.  It was great to see that the overall response rate by the Global 500 to the CDP questionnaire was 82% this year, up from 77% last year.

The big opening event featured UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon, Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Copenhagen conference chair Connie Hedegaard and the leading climate negotiators from the US, China, India.  There was also an appearance by actor Hugh Jackman.

Tony Blair did a great job framing the challenge.  He said, “the will is there, can we find the way?”  He asked that we not let “the best be the enemy of the good” and that any agreement that starts the world on a path to meaningful carbon reduction would be a good outcome.

The chief negotiators from China and India showed a renewed interest in supporting a compromise agreement that would reflect differentiated responses and actions based on differentiated responsibilities for climate change.

Later in the day, at a panel session focused on US-China clean energy cooperation, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) gave a sobering assessment of the importance of climate change and the opportunity for businesses to profit from climate change solutions.  He mentioned that only five of the 30 largest clean energy companies are located in the US.  He said that the US is the worst of any country in the world with respect to energy efficiency and that energy efficiency is not being factored into the economic analysis of climate change.  Sen. Kerry also said that energy efficiency pays for itself and that smart companies are investing today.  He closed by asking, “What’s the worst that could happen if we get a global climate deal?  More jobs, cleaner air, less imported energy, more national security.”

At the last event of the day, I participated on behalf of Johnson Controls Power Solutions, our division that makes batteries, in a Climate Group-sponsored panel discussion on electric vehicles that included global technology companies, clean tech investors and government officials.  The consensus was that dramatic growth in electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles was inevitable over time but that a coordinated approach to technology development, infrastructure deployment and public policy was needed to reach the tipping point of widespread adoption.

Upcoming summaries will include highlights from a media event for the Copenhagen Communique and an address by President Barack Obama at the Clinton Global Initiative.

It was great to look online today and see Newsweek’s first annual ranking of The Greenest Big Companies in America.  Johnson Controls is ranked No. 2 in our category of Consumers and Cars, and we rank No. 11 overall.  We’re ranked 12th in Reputation, 18th in Green Policies and Performance, and 329th in Environmental Impact.

According to the magazine, for more than a year, reporters and researchers worked with KLD Research & Analytics, Trucost, and CorporateRegister.com to rank the 500 largest U.S. companies based on their actual environmental performance, policies, and reputation.

We’re thrilled to see what they said about us:

“Industry leader in addressing climate change risks; has committed to reducing energy usage by as much as 50%. Designs products to improve the fuel efficiency of automobiles and jointly opened the world's first plant dedicated to manufacturing lithium-ion batteries. Selected by Ford as the battery supplier for a plug-in vehicle it planned to release in 2010.”

Interesting, however, that they missed the work we do with thousands of businesses, government offices, schools, hospitals, industrial plants, stores and homes to help reduce energy and water use, as well as operate more efficiently overall.

Analysts will be looking at the numbers for weeks to come.  We’re just pleased that the magazine has taken the time to consider the tremendously positive impact businesses – ours included – can have on the environment and the economy.

• save American consumers an average of $486 per household
• create over 600,000 jobs
• reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 500 million metric tons
• avoid the need for 419 medium-sized coal-fired power plants

• Installing a large-scale solar photovoltaic system that will provide about 3 percent of the base’s power needs
• Installing energy efficient air conditioning systems – very important in a place where the daily temperature averages 86 degrees year round!
• Upgrading the efficiency of more than 9,000 lighting fixtures
• Installing our Metasys® building management system to serve 49 of the buildings on the base