Tag: 3BL

AEG’s Lee Zeidman, President of Crypto.com Arena, Peacock Theater and L.A. LIVE, received the Environmental Leadership Award from the Green Sports Alliance during the 14th annual Green Sports Alliance Summit on Monday, June 12, 2024.

The ceremony was hosted by award-winning sportscaster Sarah Spain and recognized individuals or organizations that have demonstrated extraordinary leadership towards sustainability, environmental stewardship, and community engagement. Former recipients of the award include renowned athlete Billie Jean King; Christina Lurie, Owner of Eagles; Gary Bettman, NHL Commissioner; and Bud Selig, former MLB Commissioner.

“I am deeply honored to receive the Environmental Leadership Award from the Green Sports Alliance,” said Lee Zeidman, President of Crypto.com Arena, Peacock Theater, and L.A. LIVE. “This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team, who strive every day to make our venues at L.A. LIVE a model for environmental stewardship in sports and live events. We are committed to continuing our efforts to create a greener, more sustainable future for our community and our world.”

Under Zeidman’s helm, Crypto.com Arena and the venues at L.A. LIVE have implemented several sustainability initiatives that have led the sports and live entertainment industry. In addition to achieving the International WELL Building Institute’s WELL Health-Safety Rating and being certified by the Global Biorisk Advisory Council for their Star Facility Accreditation, Crypto.com Arena was one of the first venues to install rooftop solar panels, Bloom Energy fuel cells, and LED sports lighting. During the Green Sports Alliance Summit, the arena and Peacock Theater announced that they will be implementing a full-time reusable r.Cup program throughout both venues in collaboration with r.World.

The 2024 Green Sports Alliance Summit: Faster, Further, Together, took place on June 11, 12 and 13 in Los Angeles, CA. The event brought together international partners, industry leaders, sustainability experts, athletes and entertainers, and organizations committed to advancing environmental and social responsibility in the sports and entertainment industries. To learn more about the event, click here.

June 17, 2024 /3BL/ – Upstate New York’s snowy winters don’t get to Dason Motayne, but the sweltering summers, which outcompete his mid-century apartment’s air conditioning, do.

“I think [my AC] is about to die,” he said. “It’s an old building, so it’s hard to regulate it in the summertime.”

That old building — the 418 Fabius senior public housing complex in Syracuse, New York — is far from unique. It was built in the 1950s, a time when the U.S. government authorized a huge influx of some 135,000 units of public housing per year. In 2018, inspectors found more than one in four public housing units were in a state of disrepair (PDF). Whether due to poor insulation or little to no air conditioning, these public housing buildings struggle with cooling, which means that the disproportionately older and chronically ill residents are more vulnerable to poor indoor air quality and worsening heat waves.

Unfortunately, these types of public housing buildings have seen fewer investments or innovations that could make them more comfortable — and more environmentally sustainable, said Bill Simmons, executive director of Syracuse Housing Authority, which owns 418 Fabius.

“Who’s there to speak for the little guy to say, ‘Let’s try it here in public housing,’ where we could benefit and our resources are very, very scarce?” Simmons said.

Enter David Goldstein. Together with Lisa Hart, a public health analyst and grants manager at Syracuse Housing Authority, Goldstein is hoping to use public housing as a place to demonstrate a new innovation that could enhance aging buildings around the globe.

“Heating and cooling are major factors deciding quality of life around the world,” Hart said. “It’s the marginalized, the lowest income population who’d be able to benefit first from this project.”

How can occupied buildings be retrofitted for a net-zero future?

In Queens, 250 miles from Syracuse, Goldstein looks out the window of his home office and sees our heating-cooling problem — and a potential solution.

“I have a nice view of Manhattan, and even in just New York City, there are literally hundreds of thousands of buildings that need to be retrofitted if we want to be net-zero by 2050,” he said. “We’re just not going to do open-heart surgery on all these buildings.”

In 2020, Goldstein, an experienced mechanical engineer, was pondering this view when it dawned on him: “Why not wrap buildings in a heated blanket?”

Goldstein invented prefabricated, modular panels with heating, cooling, and ventilation that are installed onto a building’s façade. They can work with a variety of energy-efficient HVAC systems, including heat pumps. With these panels, a retrofit — rather than a costly rebuild — can bolster insulation, replace leaky windows, and filter indoor air of mold, smoke, and other pollutants.

These first-of-their-kind panels may work especially well for large-scale housing projects where people already live. By installing the panels from the exterior, residents may be minimally disrupted.

Goldstein founded Hydronic Shell Technologies to test his idea on real buildings. Its potential is huge. Modernizing older, inefficient buildings helps to improve unhealthy indoor air quality, reduce energy use, and save residents money. It could also help to save lives and improve residents’ quality of life.

“I couldn’t just turn my back on these people that need help,” he said. “I really think I can help them.”

Funding and partnerships can make scalable decarbonization a reality

Goldstein needed help to get his system out into the real world. He turned to the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, a $20 million competition from the Wells Fargo Foundation and Enterprise Community Partners to scale innovative housing solutions. One of six winners in 2023, the startup received a $3 million grant, paving a way for Goldstein to develop a prototype.

Once the prototype passes a series of tests, the technology will be installed for the first time on a wing of 418 Fabius in Syracuse. The project is expected to begin in late 2025.

Among the project partners is BlocPower, another startup that received support from Wells Fargo to help more communities access the benefits of clean energy technologies. The Brooklyn, New York-based company participated in the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) program and is now overseeing community engagement and construction management for Hydronic Shell’s efforts in Syracuse.

“Support that’s coming from Wells Fargo is really helping to fund that [cleantech] ecosystem,” Goldstein said. “As an industry, we can develop those innovative, those outside the box, solutions that we need in order to solve these huge challenges.”

Dom Lempereur, chief engineer at BlocPower, says if the Syracuse project is successful, the company could plug Goldstein’s technology into affordable housing retrofits nationwide.

“From a construction perspective, it’s brilliant,” he said. “If we can demonstrate this [in Syracuse], we’ll be extremely interested to have this as part of our offering.”

What will success look like? Goldstein will be measuring energy use, indoor air quality, and heating and cooling after the retrofit. But one of the most important markers will be if residents love it.

“What I hope will happen is that people in other buildings start demanding it,” he said.

If they do, it could be the first step into making Syracuse, and then the country, more sustainable.

“This could be so much bigger than this one building,” Hart said. “This invention could really be a worldwide phenomenon. Everywhere in the world needs to decarbonize.”

KPMG professionals from the Financial Services Forensic Team at KPMG in the UK explore Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index, a global ranking which scores 180 countries and territories according to their perceived levels of corruption in the public sector.

Click Here to Listen to Episode 25 of ESG Voices

Eastman

MILAN, June 17, 2024 /3BL/ – Eastman is on a mission to make sustainable fashion more accessible through the availability of Naia™ Renew at scale, offering versatility for a broad range of fashion segments. Integrating Naia™ Renew into the denim segment brings Eastman one step closer to its mission of making sustainable style accessible to everyone.

The U.S.-based company is showcasing the potential of Naia™ Renew alongside several of its global brand partners, which are already using the innovative fibers in denim.

“The added value we provide brands is not only a fashionable but also a sustainable fiber,” said Carolina Sister Cohn, Eastman global marketing leader for textiles. “Naia™ has a strong and transparent sustainability story that brands can pass on to their customers and denim lovers all over the world, making them more aware of their choices. Third-party certifications play a key role in this scenario because what we promise is verified and proven.”

Denim Première Vision brings designers and manufacturers from around the world together every six months. Exhibitors like the Eastman Naia™ team share denim innovations and explore trends in the fashion segment to meet consumer needs.

Naia™ Renew fiber blends well with natural fibers, other man-made cellulose fibers (MMCFs), synthetic fibers and multiple content yarns. This makes it the perfect ingredient for denim as it produces a sustainable and stylish fabric with an authentic look and feel that denim fans around the world will love.

Additionally, Naia™ Renew is hypoallergenic and skin friendly for denim that’s soft to the touch (before and after washing1), manages odor and moisture effectively2 and delivers better spreading speed. This makes denim blended with Naia™ Renew comfortable in any season.

Naia™ Renew is a cellulosic acetate fiber made from 60% sustainably sourced wood pulp and 40% certified recycled content.3 Certified recycled content in Naia™ Renew is diverted from landfills and broken down to its molecular building blocks via Eastman’s patented molecular recycling technology. The molecules are combined with sustainably sourced wood pulp to produce Naia™ Renew fibers for new textiles. This process produces a circular, fully traceable and biodegradable cellulosic fiber with a reduced carbon footprint. The process also reduces reliance on virgin material resources.

Naia™ Renew has received multiple sustainability certifications, including Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and OEKO-TEX class 1. Eastman partners with companies like Patagonia and Debrand to recycle pre- and post-consumer waste for its molecular recycling technology to create Naia™ Renew fiber.

1Based on ASTM D1388-18 test standard 
2Based on the SGS AATCC TM 195 test standard 
3Naia™ Renew recycled content is achieved by allocation of recycled waste material using a GRS-certified mass balance process.

About Eastman

Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company’s innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive and diverse company, Eastman employs approximately 14,000 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2023 revenue of approximately $9.2 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. For more information, visit www.eastman.com.

Media contact

Menabò Group 
pressoffice@menabo.com

Originally published on Saint-Gobain News

PARIS, June 17, 2024 /3BL/ – More than 224 universities from 29 countries participated in the 19th edition of the Architecture Student Contest. Students from all over the world imagined projects to transform a district of Helsinki in Finland. The winners have just been revealed during an event held by Saint-Gobain in the Finnish capital between June 10th and 12th, 2024.

This year’s competition, organized by Saint-Gobain in close collaboration with the University and City of Helsinki, Finland, asked the students to provide building ideas and solutions for 4 different zones in a plot located in Viikki, at the north-east of Helsinki, through a combination of temporary housing for students and researchers or permanent housing for residents, and nearby outdoor functions, focusing to both renovation and new construction.

“We at Saint-Gobain are convinced that architecture together with construction can bring strategic responses to the key challenges posed by climate change, resource scarcity and urbanization. Like the construction industry, architects are at the forefront of the transition towards developing sustainable living places to ensure a high quality of life as well as resource-efficient building solutions that respect the environment. They can make a real difference when, in 2050, 7 out of 10 people will live in cities and 80% of existing buildings will still exist. The jury and myself were happy to meet future architects so deeply committed to imagining projects that have a better impact for the people and a lower footprint on the planet.” Benoit Bazin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Saint-Gobain.

Every year, the projects have increased their focus on environmental aspects including for example Life Cycle Assessments, while responding to the functional and user needs. This edition of the Architecture Student Contest was special: launched in Serbia in 2004, this is its 20th year of existence. A whole generation of students have now participated in the Contest and is shaping the future of sustainable architecture to make the world a better home.

The winners of the 5 prizes

New in the 19th edition is the Teacher Prize that is awarded to the project which received the most votes from all participating teachers.

1st prize: Sieni Park, Portugal

Sieni Park is grounded in Finnish culture and our sense of community. The project brings a peaceful retreat to Viikki, linking nearby homes, workplaces, and the University Campus. It combines old and new structures in a coherent design that rests on three foundational building blocks: sustainability, innovation, and comfort. Thus, producing a futuristic, long lasting, low-energy project, that honours and builds upon the local tradition of eco-conscious construction practices.

2nd Prize, Rurban Habitat, Poland

Rurban Habitat offers a vision of circular architecture in the rurban part of Helsinki. Following the ‘research, reduce, reuse, produce and integrate’ approach, the concept respects the existing context and utilizes vernacular and passive solutions. The modular design of the core houses promotes adaptability, prefabrication, and green energy production. An allocentric design approach allowed for the creation of an inclusive habitat for everyone, complimented by an innovative research and creation space.

3rd Prize, From Boundary To Gateway, South Korea

From Boundary to Gateway provides both residents and visitors with nature-friendly experiences. It brings Finland’s natural light and environment indoors, shown in the medium space, ‘Barnacle’, to make nature and light a daily aspect. The renovated building respects the original topography, improving the connection. The project repurposes the old museum for outdoor exhibitions. All buildings and recreational spaces kindly lead people to nature and this project will work as a gateway to nature.

Student Prize, Eco-Habitat: Greenhouse Dorms and Urban micro climate, Lebanon

Greenhouse Dorms and Urban micro climate blends Helsinki’s farmhouse heritage with modern urban elements, incorporating traditional shapes and a central greenhouse courtyard for passive solar heating. It aims to create a cozy microclimate for residents as self-sustaining city model, with residential blocks, aquaponics, gardens, waste management, and more, forming a closed-loop system. It includes amenities like a library and birdwatch tower, offering a holistic blueprint for sustainable cities.

Teacher Prize, Viikki – The Edu-Buoyancity Malaysia

Viikki – The Edu-Buoyancity addresses the growing concern of floods in Finland with ‘Urban Buoyancy,’ establishing housing for bioscience students above a lake that brings in wildlife to reinvigorate the lands and waters, around an architecture of buoyant foundations. The student community is likened to Buoyant Urban Nomads, with residences designed to promote movement around the community and nature, aiming to provide a unique educational experience and become a model of resilience for Finland.

About Saint Gobain

Worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, Saint Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial marketsIts integrated solutions for the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonization of construction and industry are developed through a continuous innovation process and provide sustainability and performance. The Group’s commitment is guided by its purpose, “MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME”.

€47.9 billion in sales in 2023
160,000 employees, locations in 76 countries
Committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050

For more information about Saint-Gobain, visit www.saint-gobain.com and follow us on X @saintgobain

MEDIA CONTACTS

Patricia Marie: (+33) 1 88 54 26 83
Laure Bencheikh: (+33) 1 88 54 26 38
Yanice Biyogo: (+33) 1 88 54 27 96

Originally published on about.bnef.com

• BloombergNEF’s Long-Term Electric Vehicle Outlook shows that as technology for electrification continues to improve, and battery prices fall, adoption moves from being policy-driven to being driven by consumer demand across all markets 
• Passenger EV sales are expected to exceed 30 million in 2027 in BNEF’s base case scenario and grow to 73 million per year in 2040 
• Strong and carefully structured policy support is still needed, however, on all vehicle segments but one to get on track for net-zero trajectory 
• According to BNEF’s Net Zero scenario, for the world to achieve a totally zero-emission vehicle fleet by 2050, sales of combustion vehicles will need to stop around 2038. In the Economic Transition Scenario, only the Nordic countries reach a full phase-out of combustion vehicles before 2038. 
• Currently, only one segment of road transport – three-wheeled vehicles – is fully on track to reach net zero by mid-century.

LONDON and NEW YORK, June 14, 2024 /3BL/ – BloombergNEF’s Long-Term Electric Vehicle Outlook (EVO) shows that EV adoption is still growing, despite the mixed near-term outlook. The new report indicates that rapidly falling battery prices, advancements in next-generation battery technology and improving relative economics of electric vehicles with internal-combustion engine counterparts continue to underpin long-term EV growth globally. However, the report indicates that the window to reach global net-zero transport ambitions is now narrower than ever.

The report presents two updated road transport scenarios: the base case Economic Transition Scenario (ETS) – in which EV adoption is shaped by current techno-economic trends and with no new policy intervention – and the Net Zero Scenario (NZS) – consistent with reaching a global zero-emission fleet by 2050.

In the base case ETS, electric-vehicle sales continue to rise globally, even though growth has slowed in the US and Europe as a result of regulatory and political changes, and some automakers pushing back their EV targets. In the US, a lack of lower-cost models and EV market jitters inflamed by the upcoming presidential elections helped slow down adoption this year, while block-wide fuel-economy targets in Europe do not become more stringent until 2025, releasing automakers active in the region from the pressure to substantially increase sales of EVs.

The report also shows that electric vehicles are no longer only a wealthy country phenomenon, and countries like Thailand, India and Brazil are all experiencing record sales as more low-cost electric models are launched targeting local buyers. China, the world leader on EVs, is not looking back, and despite early signs of saturation of some EV segments and a tougher economic outlook, the country is projected to maintain its lead as the biggest EV market globally.

The underlying technology for electrification continues to improve, battery prices continue to fall, and EV adoption moves from being policy-driven to being driven by consumer demand across all markets. Passenger EV sales are expected to exceed 30 million in 2027 in the ETS and grow to 73 million per year in 2040, contributing 33% and 73% to global car sales in those years, respectively.

BNEF also finds that electrification is now spreading quickly to all sectors of road transport, from rickshaws to heavy trucks. Two- and three-wheeled vehicle sales continue to rise in emerging economies and electric sales are expected to exceed 90% globally by 2040. The decarbonization of the commercial vehicle sector – including vans, trucks and buses – has already started and is set to accelerate. The rapid adoption of EVs across all vehicle segments creates an unprecedented market opportunity. The cumulative value of EV sales across all segments could hit $9 trillion dollars by 2030 and $63 trillion by 2050 in BNEF’s ETS. At least $35 billion needs to be invested in battery-cell and component plants by the end of the decade, though this is easily exceeded by the $155 billion already planned by companies.

Despite the progress, global road transport is still not on course for a net-zero trajectory. While BNEF’s NZS calls for 100% of the road-going car fleet to be electrified by 2050, the base case ETS only achieves 69% in the same year. This shows that current techno-economic trends alone are not enough to get the transport sector on track for global climate goals, and that continued strong regulatory support is still very much needed.

Currently, only one segment of road transport – three-wheeled vehicles – is fully on track to reach net zero by mid-century. Heavy- and medium-duty vehicles are the furthest off course for this goal: electric and hydrogen fuel-cell powertrains account for only 18% of global truck sales by 2030 and 43% by 2040 – and even this represents significant change for the industry.

“Truck manufacturers are about to undergo a rapid technological transformation on the back of strict environmental targets in Europe and the US. The speed of that change will be unprecedented for the industry, but meeting a Paris-aligned scenario requires even faster production of zero-emission vehicles,” said Nikolas Soulopoulos, head of commercial transport at BNEF.

According to the Net Zero scenario, for the world to achieve a zero-emission vehicle fleet by 2050, sales of combustion vehicles will need to stop around 2038, with leading markets needing to phase out combustion vehicles even sooner, in the early 2030s. In the Economic Transition Scenario, only the Nordic countries reach a full phase-out of combustion vehicles before 2038. As more countries implement industrial strategies to capture value from the transition, there is a risk that climate goals fall further out of reach. Governments will need to carefully weigh up competing priorities and avoid policies that reduce competition or access to affordable EVs.

“Governments trying to champion domestic manufacturing at the cost of faster decarbonization should consider very carefully what they are prioritizing, as reaching net-zero road transport emissions by 2050 is still possible, but much faster progress is needed,” said Aleksandra O’Donovan, head of electric vehicles at BNEF.

Other findings of the Long-Term Electric Vehicle Outlook include:

• Global passenger EV sales continue to grow, but the growth rate in the next few years is visibly slower than before. In the next four years, electric car sales grow at an average of 21% per year in the Economic Transition Scenario, compared to the average of 61% between 2020 and 2023. The EV share of global new passenger vehicle sales jumps to 33% in 2027, from 17.8% in 2023. Only China (60%) and Europe (41%) are above that global average by then. EV sales in Brazil quintuple by 2027 and triple in India. 
• The Net Zero Scenario requires a much faster transition. By 2035, there are 476 million EVs on the road, rising to 722 million by 2040, accounting for 45% of the fleet. In the Net Zero Scenario this is 679 million and 1.1 billion, respectively. 
• Internal combustion vehicle sales have peaked. Sales of internal combustion vehicles peaked in 2017 and by 2027 are 29% lower than their peak in our outlook. Our economic analysis indicates that electric vehicles are the primary method of decarbonizing road transport. Still, hybrids can play a meaningful role in the near-term, in particular in markets with increasingly stringent fuel-efficiency rules. Hybrid adoption reaches between 5% and 45% of sales by 2030 in our outlook, depending on the market. 
• Plug-in hybrids are making a comeback, but their full role in the transition is still unclear. Average PHEV range is rising quickly, hitting 80km in 2023 and making these vehicles more attractive, particularly in China, where sales are growing quickly. Still, there are big open questions on how often they are used in electric mode. If PHEVs displace BEV sales and are not utilizing their full electric potential, they can add to both oil consumption and emissions. 
• EVs are driven more than their combustion counterparts. Meta-analysis of EV driving patterns in different countries shows that fully electric vehicles are doing more annual kilometers than comparable gasoline powered vehicles. There is significant variation by country and the US is a notable outlier with fewer kilometers driven by EVs. 
• Electric heavy trucks become economically viable for most use cases by 2030. In heavier segments, battery electric trucks are mostly used in urban duty cycles initially. But their economics improve even for long-haul routes and around 2030 approach those of diesel powertrains. Fuel-cell trucks remain a viable option for some duty cycles and in some countries, but their outlook is far less certain. 
• Overcapacity is a big issue for battery makers. Planned lithium-ion cell manufacturing capacity by the end of 2025 is over five times the 1.5TWh global battery demand expected that year. Annual lithium-battery demand grows rapidly in our Economic Transition Scenario, approaching 5.9 terawatt-hours annually by 2035. 
• Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries (LFP) are taking over the EV market. Improvements in lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) technology are increasing its market share, particularly in China, where cell prices have fallen rapidly to $53/kWh so far this year. LFP crosses 50% share of the global passenger EV market within the next two years in this outlook. Nickel and manganese are set to feel the most pressure as a result. Due to the shift toward lower-cost chemistries, nickel, and manganese consumption by 2025 is 25% and 38% lower, respectively, this year than in the previous outlook. 
• Oil demand displacement from EVs starts to ramp up. With 83 million electric cars, trucks, and buses on the road next year, and over 340 million electric two-and three-wheelers, in the next three years oil demand displaced by electric and fuel-cell vehicles of all types more than doubles from today, to almost 4 million barrels per day by 2027. This is slightly more than the volume Japan consumed in 2022. 
• A fully electric global fleet could consume twice the amount of electricity as the US did in 2023. By 2050, in the Net Zero Scenario, some 8,313TWh of electricity is needed to power an all-electric vehicle fleet, double the amount of electricity consumed in the US in 2023. Despite the large growth in electricity demand, electric vehicles can aid the electrification of the energy system through smart charging, as grid operators apply variable pricing and other mechanisms to incentivize flexibility. 
• To meet the growing EV electricity demand, the charging industry will need to mature rapidly over the next decade. Between $1.6 trillion and $2.5 trillion in cumulative investment is required in charging infrastructure, installation, and maintenance by 2050, depending on the scenario.

A comprehensive executive summary with key findings and more information on the Long-Term Electric Vehicle Outlook can be found at this link.

Contact 
Oktavia Catsaros 
BloombergNEF 
ocatsaros@bloomberg.net

About Bloomberg 
Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company’s strength – delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately – is at the core of the Bloomberg Terminal. Bloomberg’s enterprise solutions build on the company’s core strength: leveraging technology to allow customers to access, integrate, distribute and manage data and information across organizations more efficiently and effectively. For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.

About BloombergNEF

BloombergNEF (BNEF) is a strategic research provider covering global commodity markets and the disruptive technologies driving the transition to a low-carbon economy. Our expert coverage assesses pathways for the power, transport, industry, buildings and agriculture sectors to adapt to the energy transition. We help commodity trading, corporate strategy, finance and policy professionals navigate change and generate opportunities.

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Southwire is proud to announce its recognition as one of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Mental Wellbeing 2024 by Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group. The designation is awarded to companies that promote behaviors and policies protecting mental wellbeing in the workplace through programs and initiative. The recognition is awarded based on survey results from more than 250,000 young professionals with more than 1.5 million company reviews.

“At Southwire, we know our team members are The People Behind the Power™, and we aim to support each person through building a workplace that is inclusive, supportive and engaging,” said Fernando Esquivel, Southwire’s executive vice president and chief People and Culture officer. “Safety and health are two of our top priorities, and we are proud of the industry-leading mental health and well-being initiatives we have in place.”

Southwire partners with multiple industry-leading organizations to provide the best work-life benefits possible. The company offers Spring Health to team members and their household family members, which gives them access to therapy visits, coaching, work-life services, and an on-demand library of self-guided exercises to improve mental wellbeing — all to help team members manage things like stress, anxiety, sadness and more.

Companies included on Newsweek’s America’s Greatest Workplaces 2024 for Mental Health were evaluated on four mental health topics, including:

Recognition of importance of mental healthEmpathetic managers who care about mental healthWorking conditions taking physical and mental health into accountEmployer providing mental health and well-being programs

Southwire prioritizes Living Well for its team members by investing in programs that foster a safe and inclusive environment including initiatives like standardizing nursing mothers’ rooms in all its facilities, increasing workplace flexibility and shift predictability and growing partnerships with organizations and nonprofit groups that reflect the interests of Southwire’s workforce.

In 2023, the company established new family-focused benefits, including increased maternity leave and paid parental leave as well as a partnership with Progyny, the nation’s leading fertility specialists. This partnership brings Southwire team members and their spouses more support on the path to parenthood, providing access to better care with more successful outcomes and better treatment options. Southwire also has an adoption reimbursement assistance program for team members going through the adoption process to build their family.

“Mental well-being is an increasingly important concern for U.S. workers—which means it’s increasingly important for U.S. employers as well,” said Newsweek Global Editor in Chief Nancy Cooper. “To spotlight the organizations prioritizing the mental well-being of their employees, Newsweek has partnered with data researcher Plant-A for the inaugural ranking of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Mental Well-Being, highlighting companies making a positive difference in the mental wellness of their workers.”

Southwire is poised for sustainable growth, not only in the industry-leading solutions it offers to its customers, but in its commitment to supporting team members in an ever-changing and quickly evolving world.

“It is our ambition to keep making Southwire a great place to work for generations to come,” said Deb Graham, Southwire’s vice president of total rewards. “From investing in meaningful development programs to maintaining a safe and inclusive environment, we’re building a workplace where all of our people can thrive.”

For more Southwire news, visit www.southwire.com/newsroom.

By Dennis Lockard | illumination Staff Writer

Thomas Doan is on a team that’s expanding Duke Energy’s smart-thinking grid, automated technology that helped avoid more than 1.5 million customer outages across six states in 2023.

He and other grid technicians also maintain devices that enable Duke Energy to restore power faster. By providing and maintaining remote connectivity to both substations and line equipment, they are able to reroute electricity from areas needing repairs or maintenance so line crews can work safely.

This is done from Duke Energy’s Distribution Control Center (DCC) in Charlotte, N.C., not far from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where Doan earned his degree in electrical engineering in 2016.

Doan credits his family’s experiences and influence as Vietnamese refugees for his success at Duke Energy – and in life.

“I wouldn’t be here,” Doan said, “without the difficult journey my family endured, let alone working for a company as great as Duke Energy.”

His family’s story begins after the fall of Saigon in April 1975, when North Vietnam captured the capital of South Vietnam. Fearing reprisal from the new communist government, millions of Vietnamese fled their country in the years that followed. Most refugees – the Doan’s included – escaped by boat.

Their incredible story represents a generation of people who overcame a perilous journey at sea in search of peace, freedom and safety.

A celebration of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

We recognize these individuals as both enriching U.S. culture and being instrumental to its future success. It’s why Duke Energy joins organizations and communities across the country in May, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, to mark the contributions and influence of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

“An inclusive workplace makes us a stronger company, ” said Sharene Pierce, vice president and chief diversity & inclusion officer at Duke Energy. “A diverse workforce offers various backgrounds and perspectives, and allows us to be more innovative and mindful in how we create strategies and solutions to better serve our customers and communities.”

AAPI communities consist of approximately 50 distinct ethnic groups speaking over 100 languages, with connections to Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Hawaiian, and other Asian and Pacific Islander ancestries.

Journey of hope

Four years after the fall of Saigon, Doan’s parents, Lai Doan and Phuong Nguyen, saved enough money to leave Vietnam with his brother Thanh – then just a toddler. It was an arduous experience to say the least.

They attempted to leave by boat, but twice it never showed. Expenses from these multiple failed attempts kept the family in Vietnam for another year or so. By then, sister Nhu Hien had joined the family.

The Doan’s made the tough decision that there was only enough money for his father and brother to make the journey. This time, the boat arrived. After a treacherous nine-day trip to Thailand that included a pirate raid, they arrived at a refugee camp where they stayed for six months. This was followed by another six-month trip to Indonesia to learn English, with assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Doan’s brother and father finally made it to the United States in 1982, settling in Raleigh, N.C. It wasn’t until 1987, however, that Doan’s mother and sister were successful in leaving Vietnam; a boat took them to a Malaysian refugee camp. Finally, in 1989, the family was reunited in Raleigh.

Thomas Doan was born three years later.

“Being the American born in the family, I’ll never know firsthand what my parents went through,” he said. “My siblings tell me that they have no memory of it and frankly are probably better off that way.”

A ‘need to connect’

What Doan is certain of: his family’s story of endurance and determination serves him well in his current role as a grid technician at Duke Energy. Their perseverance also inspired him to “step out of his comfort zone” in 2020.

“I had this need to connect with others who may have been going through the same thing I was,” Doan said. “I wanted to learn more about my culture and traditions.

He knew Duke Energy had an Asian Inclusion Network (AIN) Employee Resource Group (ERG) in its Ohio/Kentucky region, where the company provides electricity to 910,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers. Doan joined AIN’s Cincinnati, Ohio, chapter but was disappointed that he couldn’t attend in-person events in his geographical location.

Eventually, he connected with Brad Platt on Duke Energy’s Diversity & Inclusion team to ask if there would ever be a Charlotte AIN chapter. Platt encouraged him to get one off the ground.

Doan accepted Platt’s challenge and began recruiting members. And he’s quick to point out the benefits he’s received from his work with the ERG.

“There’s opportunity for everyone to learn about challenges that specific groups face, as well as helping to understand the perspectives of others with our ERGs,” Doan said. “Specifically, I experienced firsthand AIN’s objective to provide educational and recruitment support to attract, retain, and engage Asian talent.

“I see diversity everywhere at Duke Energy. Here I know the only thing I’m being ‘judged’ for is my work ethic and contributions.”

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World class equipment and services company, CNH and Intelsat, have joined up to be the first to provide farmers with access from wherever they are to the internet via a ruggedized satellite communications (SATCOM) service.

Intelsat, operator of one of the world’s largest integrated satellite and terrestrial communication networks, will provide multi-orbit internet access to connect CNH equipment working in remote locations and easy-to-use satellite terminals ready to handle the challenging environment on a farm.

With 60 years’ experience in SATCOM, Intelsat’s capabilities span geosynchronous and low-Earth orbits, offering CNH brands Case IH, STEYR and New Holland customers SATCOM coverage that is unparalleled in the market. Intelsat’s rugged, industrial-grade terminals already serve critical industrial applications, including for the military and airlines. Case IH, STEYR and New Holland customers will use a rigorously tested terminal that connects easily and is proven to withstand extreme weather conditions and the vibration and shock produced by farming equipment and activity.

This offering will be first available in the second half of 2024 to farmers in Brazil, where ConectarAgro’s Rural Connectivity Indicator found only 19% of the area available for agricultural use has high-speed internet access. Customers will be able to rely on their Case IH and New Holland dealers to install and support Intelsat’s hardware and service activation. Subsequently, the companies plan to expand their collaboration to the U.S., Australia, and other regions.

Internet connectivity is central to realizing gains in productivity and yield through precision agriculture, as Case IH, STEYR and New Holland farmers’ intelligent machines connect and coordinate with one another while they work. They also communicate with the farmer via the cloud, exchanging data securely and receiving the farmer’s highly specified directions for the jobs they execute. While many customers fulfill this need for internet connectivity with CNH’s market-leading global mobile virtual network, existing cellular towers do not enable pervasive connection. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, less than 33% of the world’s surface has mobile network coverage.

“Satellite technology helps solve complex connectivity challenges for hard-to-reach farms, but not all providers are equal. Intelsat stands out for their depth of experience as well as the quality and reliability of their service and industrial terminal offerings. They get what it means to be rugged. We look forward to serving customers around the world with their solution,” said Marc Kermisch, Chief Digital and Information Officer at CNH.

“As the first satellite communications company to provide multi-orbit connectivity to farmers around the world, Intelsat’s collaboration with CNH will unlock new capabilities in the most remote locations through our global communications platform,” said Dave Wajsgras, CEO of Intelsat. “We’ve proven that ruggedized, built-for-purpose terminals that can access multiple satellite orbits from anywhere on Earth offer the highest network reliability, greater throughput and the best user experience.”

Marathon Petroleum received the 2024 CCO Gold Employer Award for its commitment to having employees CCO-certified. CCO is a non-profit organization that provides certification to load handling equipment operators who have been trained to safely operate heavy equipment. Marathon Petroleum was within the top 24 companies out of thousands of unique employers identified.

For the second year in a row, Marathon Petroleum has been honored by the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (CCO) with the Gold Employer Award for unwavering commitment to safety through the certification of its employees. The award underscores the company’s dedication to excellence in recruitment, training and safety standards within the industry.

“This crane training has reinforced how safety ties to operating the crane,” said Marathon Petroleum Senior Training Specialist Richard Silva. “As an operator of the crane, it is your responsibility to be aware of the job, loads, locations and those who are around you.”

The award is based on testing volume in 2023, with Marathon Petroleum ranking among the top 24 companies out of thousands of unique employers identified for sending the highest number of candidates through CCO testing.

“By ensuring their personnel attain the highest CCO certification standard, Marathon Petroleum elevates safety awareness across the organization and industry as a whole,” said CCO CEO Thom Sicklesteel.

CCO was formed as an independent, non-profit organization by industry to develop and administer a nationwide program for the certification of load handling equipment operators and related personnel.