REI – Joshua Yiangou – 2016

Goals

REI is an outdoor retail cooperative with a strong commitment to stewardship and corporate sustainability. The co-op has implemented many high impact energy projects, but was interested in extending their strategic energy plan for the future. EDF Climate Corps fellow Josh Yiangou was brought on to create a multi-year strategic energy roadmap to direct capital spend and craft a 2017 capital budget request. 

Solutions

Josh explored corporate energy projects and evaluated options based on conversations with experts, consultations with REI employees and findings in articles and white papers. Using a ranking system, crafted through a mix of quantitative and qualitative data, he determined the relevance of each project to REI and weighed the financial and sustainability implications. Josh recommended five energy projects in his report. Two were retrofits that could yield strong financial and environmental impacts, two were energy projects with the ability to broaden REI’s portfolio and the last was a Green Energy Revolving Fund.

Josh looked at trends in REI’s historical energy use, taking into account the change exhibited as more stores and facilities opened, and identified potential energy reductions. He then forecasted the company’s net energy use and bills, and provided an idea of the savings his project recommendations could yield.

Potential Impact

Based off Josh’s analysis, REI needs to reduce its energy use by 2,000,000 kWh a year in order to remain at 2014 baseline levels. By implementing his project recommendations, Josh could save the company roughly 6,500,000 million kWh per year. In addition, the Green Energy Revolving Fund would position REI to have a stronger energy strategy and give the company the ability to pilot an energy storage project.