Industry Leader Interview: Energy Efficiency is a Smart Investment, Not a Cost, Says Ingersoll Rand’s W. Scott Tew
W. Scott Tew is the executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (CEES) at Ingersoll Rand. He leads a global group of experts dedicated to integrating best practices for the long-term use of energy and other resources. Tew has been with the Ingersoll Rand businesses for six years and throughout his tenure, Tew has led state and national programs to advocate for energy efficiency, green buildings and greenhouse gas emissions standards and policies.
Alliance: The CEES became a part of Ingersoll Rand in 2010. Can you explain what the company set out to accomplish with this new center?
Tew: The CEES was created by Ingersoll Rand as a stand-alone organization for both strategic and very practical reasons. Too often, sustainability initiatives within a company fail because they become an incremental component of a broader function, like HR, and therefore do not have the accountability, support or ability to reach across a large enterprise. By having a dedicated team completely focused on integrating energy efficiency and sustainability into how we conduct business, we will accelerate our progress and have a more consistent approach.
Ultimately, the mission of the CEES is to reach outside the company, identify best practices in energy efficiency and sustainability and integrate them into Ingersoll Rand’s business processes, which include product innovation, employee engagement and operations. Additionally, the CEES plays a critical role in raising awareness for the company’s efforts and becomes a central advocate for sustainability as a whole.
Alliance: You have been an executive at Ingersoll Rand for over six years, and even in roles outside of the CEES you have always been an advocate for energy efficiency in the company. What are some of the most notable green programs you’ve been a part of at Ingersoll Rand?
Tew: One great example was identifying an opportunity to develop green building certified professionals and putting a program in place that actually created more LEED APs than any other entity in the world.
Another example was when we worked with the Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps program to help identify millions of dollars in energy and cost savings. The program showed how energy efficiency can drive bottom line profitability AND enhance the sustainability of our operations.
Alliance: As a member of such a largely diversified company, there are most likely challenges bringing energy efficiency and sustainability to all of your company’s products and brands. What is one example of a brand or product that you originally thought would be difficult to make more energy efficient and/or sustainable and how did you overcome that challenge?
Tew: Certainly, driving a richer mix of energy-efficient residential air conditioning and heating systems is something all of us can consider an obvious area of success. What was not so obvious, though, was how to think about home energy efficiency in relation to security and locking systems.
Two years ago, our business organized our security and HVAC segments around the residential customer. The result was the creation of our Connected Home Solutions business, which not only delivers energy efficient HVAC systems, but can now look at the whole home and how we deliver energy efficiency, safety and comfort. We can provide not only information and control of energy use and safety within the home, but can also allow homeowners to both monitor AND make changes to temperature set points, lock or unlock doors, view activity inside and outside the home through their smart phone from anywhere in the world.
Alliance: A main area of focus for the CEES is building more energy-efficient homes. Why is building efficiently a priority for the center and the company?
Tew: Our customers are under increasing pressure from global regulatory bodies, stakeholders and employees to act more sustainably. Further, competitive pressure is forcing companies to manage their bottom line like never before. Because buildings represent over one third of all energy usage globally, they are a prime target for us to address energy usage and the associated greenhouse gases.
As a leader in providing safe, comfortable and efficient environments, building efficiency is built into our DNA. Energy efficiency is not a “cost,” but an investment that can bring significant returns in a short amount of time.
Lastly, it is certainly refreshing to focus on change that not only drives customer value and business profitability, but is also simply the right thing to do.
Alliance: It seems like Earth Day was a busy day for the employees at Ingersoll Rand. What are some of the activities that went on around the world and why do you believe they are important?
Tew: For Ingersoll Rand, Earth Day is an important annual rallying point that we use to engage our employees and broader community around the globe.
This year, we focused on how individual contributions can make a big impact, and many of our sites conducted creative, hands-on events. Among these were Dumpster Dives, where we actively go through our trash and waste streams and identify materials that can be reused or recycled.
We also planted Personal Sustainability Trees. Here, employees wrote down specific, individual actions on ways to be more sustainable in their daily lives. Some ideas included more recycling at home and commitments to car pooling and volunteering in communities for environmental activities.
It’s our goal to use Earth Day as an annual anniversary to celebrate our success, re-articulate the importance of sustainability, and figure out where we can focus ongoing engagement with our employees on a day-to-day basis.
Learn More About Ingersoll Rand
- Ingersoll Rand’s Alliance profile page
- CEES’ Alliance profile page
- Ingersoll Rand’s support for the 2011 Shaheen-Portman bill
- Ingersoll Rand’s participation in EE Global 2011 on buildings and business
