ServiceMaster – Dylan Hedrick – 2010

Goals

Dylan Hedrick spent the summer in Memphis with ServiceMaster, a leading provider of home and business services focused on lawn care, pest control, home service contracts, landscaping, home cleaning, and disaster restoration. Hedrick, an MBA student at Rice University in Houston, worked closely with ServiceMaster’s Vice President of Environmental Stewardship, Director of Fleet Engineering & Technical Support, and facility managers to develop strategies and recommendations to reduce both energy usage within facilities and fuel usage of ServiceMaster’s 16,000-vehicle fleet.

Solutions

Hedrick identified several energy efficiency opportunities including retrofitting fluorescent lighting, installing computer power management software, and applying window tint to building windows. He also developed a business case for purchasing 10 hybrid-electric vehicles through California’s Hybrid Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP).

Potential Impact

Hedrick concluded that if all recommendations were implemented, ServiceMaster could achieve an estimated annual savings of $495,000 in utility expenses, reduce electricity use by 7.8 million kilowatt hours, and avoid 4,800 metric tons of CO2 emissions.