Corporate Partner Profiles: CustomerFirst Renewables
(This post is part of a series about Second Nature Corporate Partners and what we do together)
Creative partnerships allow Second Nature to introduce and disseminate solutions to the Network widely and effectively. To support and advance the work of the institutions in the Climate Leadership Network, Second Nature works with organizations and firms at the leading edge of solutions. We base our corporate partnerships on transparency and mutual benefit, with the best interests of our community in mind to ensure our partnerships are transformational and successful, not merely transactional.
CustomerFirst Renewables (CFR)
Name of Company: CustomerFirst Renewables
Website: http://www.customerfirstrenewables.com
Company Description and Sustainability Profile:
CustomerFirst Renewables (CFR) is a trusted energy advisor that partners with impact-oriented organizations to develop actionable energy strategies, implement tailored solutions, and optimize performance over time. CFR was founded in 2010 as the first renewable energy advisory services firm focused solely on end- users. A value-driven organization, our central mission is to double renewable electricity use in the U.S. (and beyond) by 2025. We serve a range of corporate and institutional clients, including several leading universities and colleges.
Partnership Focus:
The CFR and Second Nature partnership centers on providing Second Nature network schools with the information they need to make informed decisions about large-scale renewable energy (RE) procurement. Whether your institution is just beginning its RE journey or just needs expert advice before engaging in RE, CFR and Second Nature are an open and unbiased resource, together providing the support and guidance needed to understand RE procurement in depth. We supply relevant stakeholders – from sustainability directors and facility/ energy managers to finance and administrative leads – with informative materials, webinars and in-person workshops, and customized advice to help them fully understand the environmental, strategic and financial implications of decarbonizing their school’s energy supply. While Second Nature provides framing and upfront information, CFR offers strategic, financial and technical expertise from choosing the best technology and contract structure to financial and risk assessment, counterparty due diligence and negotiations, and much more.
Partner Voices:
Higher education is one of the largest and most energy intensive parts of the U.S. economy – with electricity often representing over half of an institution’s carbon footprint. Colleges and universities, as centers of learning and incubators of the next generation’s climate leaders, are typically aware of their responsibility to act in the face of a climate in crisis. CFR’s partnership with Second Nature has given us the platform to connect with many such institutions, ultimately producing some of the most creative and boundary-pushing energy solutions ever implemented in the U.S. Our relationship with Second Nature has also allowed us to connect with small institutions, which often incorrectly assume that large-scale RE is only economically feasible for their large or mid-sized counterparts. The Second Nature – CFR partnership exists to counteract this notion, acting as a collective to convene sub-scale institutions interested in implementing RE and work alongside them as they aggregate their resources and electric demand to procure large-scale RE as a collective, while still addressing each member’s individual goals.
Additional Information: