Daily CSR

Pepco Wins 2024 ENERGY STAR® Sustained Excellence Award for Energy Efficiency

2024-04-04T15:44:00+02:00

Pepco's energy efficiency initiatives have garnered national acclaim for their significant contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and delivering substantial energy bill savings for customers in Maryland. Recognized with the prestigious 2024 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year: Sustained Excellence Award for Energy Efficiency Program Delivery by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Pepco has now received this accolade for the ninth consecutive year.

Valencia McClure, Pepco Region President, emphasized the pivotal role of energy efficiency programs in supporting Maryland's climate objectives while simultaneously enhancing affordability for customers. These initiatives equip customers with essential tools and resources to make informed decisions, thereby reducing energy consumption and lowering home or business energy costs.

The Sustained Excellence designation, bestowed upon Pepco, acknowledges the company's ongoing exceptional leadership in the ENERGY STAR program and its steadfast commitment to environmental stewardship through remarkable energy efficiency accomplishments.

EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan lauded the ENERGY STAR award winners, including Pepco, for their innovation and leadership in providing cost-effective energy-efficient solutions, which create jobs, address climate change, and foster a healthier environment.

Since its inception in 2009, Pepco's energy-saving endeavors have resulted in 4,284,536 megawatt-hours of energy savings and over $4.1 billion in savings on customer bills.

The ENERGY STAR program annually recognizes businesses and organizations that have made exemplary contributions to environmental preservation through superior energy achievements. Award winners like Pepco are at the forefront of producing, selling, and adopting energy-efficient products, services, and strategies, which are crucial in combating the climate crisis and safeguarding public health.

Pepco's energy efficiency initiatives have garnered national acclaim for their significant contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and delivering substantial energy bill savings for customers in Maryland. Recognized with the prestigious 2024 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year: Sustained Excellence Award for Energy Efficiency Program Delivery by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Pepco has now received this accolade for the ninth consecutive year.

Since its inception in 2009, Pepco's energy-saving endeavors have resulted in 4,284,536 megawatt-hours of energy savings and over $4.1 billion in savings on customer bills. Customers interested in learning more about these programs can click here. .

Click here to view the winners.

Pepco’s Angel Tree Initiative: Spreading Holiday Joy for Over a Decade

2023-12-18T10:12:00+01:00

For the past 14 years, Pepco’s Edison Place Gallery has been magically transformed into a bustling Santa’s Workshop, filled with an abundance of toys and presents. These gifts are part of the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree initiative, a program that connects sponsors with a deserving child, or “Angel”, who is in need. This initiative, which was started by the Salvation Army in 1979, aims to assist families who might struggle with the additional financial burden of buying toys and presents during the festive season.

Every year during the holiday season, our team members sponsor approximately 150 “Angels” from the District of Columbia and Maryland. All the presents are collected and brought back to our main facility, where our dedicated ‘elves’ begin the process of sorting, packing, and assembling the toys and gifts. Since 2009, this program has brought joy and happiness to over 2,000 children during the holiday season.

The Angel Tree initiative is a testament to our dedication to positively impacting the community and exemplifies our commitment as a responsible corporate entity in the regions we serve and where our employees reside and work.

Curiosity Cube sparks interest and engages students across the US

2022-09-15T11:33:00+02:00

MilliporeSigma created the Curiosity Cube to spark interest in STEM subjects for US and Canadian students.

The Curiosity Cube®, is a modified shipping container that has been designed for hands-on science experiments for students pursuing STEM subjects in the US and Canada, by life sciences company MilliporeSigma, a unit of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.

Towards the end of August the Curiosity Cube® visited 14 cities, hosted 58 of 117 scheduled events and engaged with 11,667 students through unique science experiments on the human microbiome.

The Curiosity Cube® Tour began in Pennsylvania in May, visiting Bellefonte Elementary School and four other schools. Scientists at MilliporeSigma's Bellefonte facility led 6 classes through all the experiments.

It remained on the East Coast and then moved to Rockville, Maryland, where students learned about human microbes at Wheaton Woods Elementary School and Parkland Middle School. Montgomery Community Media also participated in the Curiosity Cube® thanks to Danielle Chavis, a coordinator for the project.

After a short break over Memorial Day, the Curiosity Cube® moved to Cincinnati. It stopped by at the Krone Conservatory for a summer launch event where it was visited by a local meteorologist.

It then moved north to Laramie, Virginia to host community events throughout the city, including at the Albany County Public Library. During this event, Laramie Boomerang spoke with curator Audra DeMariano about what piques the curiosity of the next generation of scientists.

The team then moved from Wyoming to Washington state and then along the west coast to San Diego where it stopped by the Salvation Army's Camp Kroc a few times before sharing STEM programs with the campers.

The Curiosity Cube® will continue till at least the end of the year, with more than 200 events in North America and Europe. It will see the participation of 1,600 volunteers and reach around 50,000 students.

To know more about upcoming stops and to request a stop in your city, do visit www.TheCuriosityCube.com.

PNC Bank surges ahead in its drive towards low-carbon economy

2022-07-15T08:50:00+02:00

PNC Bank has consistently focused on supporting a transition to a low-carbon economy by managing its internal operations in a sustainable manner, keeping a tab on risk management controls that incorporates climate change considerations, managing capital for clients in responsible ways and helping clients finance their sustainability goals.

In a statement PNC Bank announced a longterm renewable supply agreement with Constellation with the aim to power nearly 50% of its legacy operations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia, and parts of Illinois.

“At PNC, we strive to be good stewards of the environment, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it is essential to supporting a high quality of life for our employees, customers and communities,” said Kate Zettl, VP and Energy Manager with PNC Bank’s Realty Services. “This collaboration with Constellation is an exciting next step toward meeting our environmental goals of reaching 100% renewable purchased electricity by 2025 and reducing carbon emissions and energy use 75% by 2035.”

Through this retail agreement with Constellation, PNC Bank will receive around 148 million kilowatt hours of energy per year.

Further, with the backing of PNC Bank’s 15-year commitment, Constellation has entered into a separate longterm power purchase agreement (PPA) to procure 78MW of energy from Mammoth Central, the third and final phase of Doral Renewables LLC’s Mammoth Solar project in Indiana.

This agreement will help PNC Bank reduce its carbon footprint by more than 55,000 metric tons annually, equivalent to nearly 12,000 passenger vehicles emissions, according to comparative data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“We’re proud to offer a clean energy solution that will enable PNC Bank to reduce its carbon footprint while supporting the development of a significant renewable energy asset in Mammoth Solar,” said Jim McHugh, chief commercial officer, Constellation. “Adding more zero-emissions energy to the grid is an important step in the journey toward a clean, carbon-free energy future.”

PNC Bank will use the Constellation Offsite Renewables (CORe) retail power product to connect customers to the economic and sustainability benefits of large-scale, offsite renewable energy projects.

CORe is among Constellation’s suite of products that enables customers to achieve their carbon reduction goals.

In 2021, PNC Bank purchased around 150 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, equivalent for meeting 46% of its electricity usage; further. PNC has also been working towards aggressive, science-informed environmental targets for reducing carbon emissions, energy and water use that were set way back in 2017.

The bank has also slashed its carbon emissions by 66%, reduced its energy consumption by 50% and water consumption by 55%, as it strides towards its targets. These have been achieved by using a whole range of strategies, including using renewable energy, increasing sustainability across its operations, and optimizing its real estate plans.

Since 2000, PNC Bank has prioritized the environmental performance of its buildings, by leveraging the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and ENERGY STAR certification programs.

To date, PNC has a total of 324 LEED Certifications and 261 ENERGY STAR certifications, making 45% of the legacy footprint certified.

“The climate crisis requires all institutions – from governments to corporations to NGOs and beyond – to work together to apply their expertise and resources in ways that can truly move the needle,” said Lora Phillips, SVP and director of PNC's Environmental, Social and Governance practice. “As PNC continues to execute on our Climate Action Strategy, we’re committed to taking action right now on those areas we can control, and to laying a solid foundation for the work that is still to come.”

Transforming A Neighbourhood Through A ‘Field Of Dreams’

2017-12-21T04:07:00+01:00

CSX Foundation’s support in building a sports complex for Ben Franklin, means more than the creation of just a football field. It upgrades the community, provides an opportunity to train in athletics, children get recreation space, the community to celebrate their children’s graduation ceremony while putting an end to crimes that could take place in abandon fields.

Dailycsr.com – 21 December 2017 – Located in “Masonville Cove” of “Baltimore, Maryland” based Benjamin Franklin High School’s principal Chris Battaglia sees an under construction site of new urban “athletic facility” is a dream field of “safe” and “clean gathering space” for students and the people in the neighbourhood which in reality is “plagued by crime” and does not accommodate some “basics”.

In Battaglia’s words:
“We don’t have any home fields. We play our football games away. Our soccer team plays at a field about a mile up the street and has to walk through the projects to get there — and there’s a manhole cover in the middle of the field.”

Therefore, the Sr. Foundation will building a new sports’ facility in the same area, whereby marking the latest addition in the “long line of Youth Development Parks” which enters in a partnership with communities, especially the ones “at-risk”, and designs the park area for facilitating “the creation of multipurpose, synthetic-turf, low-maintenance facilities” that enables “cohesive recreational and educational experience for kids”.

The recent project will also feature “lights, a field house and a walking path” incorporated in the facility area which will be a transforming agent for Ben Franklin, whereby the latter will be transformed into “an award-winning institution with a waiting list for enrolment” which was “one of the lowest-performing schools in the area”, once called as “Dirty Ben”.

Giving a monitory helping hand, the CSX Foundation made a donation of “$2.5 million” to the above mentioned project. One of the main parts of the project plan is to provide after support to the athletes using the field as well as the facilities available in the ground. The planning of said initiative was started in the year of 2011 when the Ben Franklin was “forced” to shut itself for a new start over. While, Battaglia added that:
“Instead of closing he school they put it in turnaround status”.

In order to undertake a new beginning, the school needs to adopt a “community school model” funded by “local organizations and businesses”, as Battaglia explained that:
“A community school is the hub of the community”.

As a result, Ben Franklin incorporated childcare facilities, “a mental health clinic and a United Way Family Center” within its premise for supporting the community with “essential services”, “providing resources” and revitalising the area.

Crediting, the role of CSX for supporting the field project, Battaglia stated:
“CSX came to us and it was a little like Christmas Day in the sense that they said they would like to help with a home field. I was thinking maybe they want to buy us goals or something. Here we are five years later and we’re talking about a full-fledged athletic complex.”

Moreover, recounting the history of CSX giving “back to a community”, its Vice President of State Relations in Maryland, Brian Hammock said:
“CSX’s story is rooted in Baltimore — we’ve been operating here for more than 100 years. We’re proud to be involved in a project that will impact current students and future generations of students and families alike who will finally have a place to play and exercise in this community.”

The field is likely to be gifted to “Baltimore City Parks and Recreation department” after its completion in the year of 2018, whereby providing an address to “organized sports leagues”, recess activities, physical education training and other celebration moments like graduation, as the nearby area harbours shipping ports, oil tanks and rail yards. Talking about the new sport facility, Battaglia added:
“It breathes life into an area that is very industrialized. It kind of brings ‘community’ back into the community. It gives people a place to gather around and do positive things.”
“I don’t know how soon we get there, but I know that we won’t ever find out if we don’t build it.”

References:
ethicalperformance.com