All eyes are on Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s new chief environmental strategist, as he tries to green up the company, its products, and the world. In an interview, he discusses energy alternatives, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Tool, and software’s green potential.

By Fred Albert

November 30, 2007

On November 1, Rob Bernard became Microsoft’s first chief environmental strategist, responsible for overseeing the company’s environmental policies as they relate to operations, products, and global leadership. A 10-year veteran of the company and a 42-year-old father of two, Bernard most recently served as general manager for ISV Relationships, a role he held for three years before assuming his current post. He spoke with Inside Track’s Fred Albert.

Inside Track: Why did you want this job?

Bernard: I think there’s a significant opportunity for Microsoft to show how software can help companies, consumers, and governments around the world address environmental challenges.

Inside Track: Do you think software’s potential in this regard is misunderstood?

Bernard: Not so much misunderstood as not obvious. We have [made] some great power management enhancements and improvements to Windows Vista and also to Windows Server. And so we have an opportunity and an obligation to help our customers really understand the great work that we’ve done and use these features to improve their power management or IT infrastructure. In addition, software can provide huge insight into inefficiencies in operations that often result in increased pollution and poor utilization of resources such as water and energy; so I can simultaneously drive down my operational costs and my pollution levels.

Inside Track: Former President Clinton addressed that point when he spoke in Redmond recently, saying that conservation can boost a company’s bottom line. Isn’t that just wishful thinking?

Bernard: Absolutely not. There are high levels of inefficiency in the way we use energy to run our business. If you increase your efficiency through some operational changes, and the cost of those changes is not significant, then your return on investment should be very high.

Inside Track: Can you cite some examples here at Microsoft?

Bernard: Our new buildings are built to silver LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] standards—or higher. Building in compliance with LEED reduces our energy bills. T he cost of construction isn’t significantly higher—studies show the marginal cost is under five percent. Gerry Gurtler and the whole RE&F team spend a lot of time [improving] not just energy efficiency but also looking at alternative materials, cleaner materials, and reducing [building] waste. In our data centers, like the one in San Antonio, we’re using gray water, which means we’re not having to purify water [for the] HVAC systems. We’ve put in an advanced irrigation system for watering in Redmond that we believe saves around 11 million gallons of water a year. In our data centers, we’re making significant progress in reducing our energy consumption … and we’re looking for cleaner sources of energy.Inside Track: Are there alternative energy sources that we’re exploring?

Bernard: In Mountain View, we have 2,000 solar panels covering 30,000 square feet of rooftop, generating … 12 to 15 percent of the campus’ energy needs.

Inside Track: Do you find yourself having to walk a fine line between conserving resources and acquiescing to shareholders, who want us to return as big a profit as possible?

Bernard: There’s a significant amount of inefficiency that we’re able to cut out of the system without significantly increasing our cost basis, so we haven’t actually—from what I’ve seen—run into a conflict between shareholder value and environmental-based decisions. I’m sure we will run into that at some point, but there’s much to be done before we face those kinds of tougher decisions.

Inside Track: Before you started this job, you helped broker a deal with the Clinton Foundation on the creation of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Tool. What’s that all about?

Bernard: The application … enables cities around the globe to measure, monitor, and track improvements to their greenhouse gas emissions. The tool set basically solves a huge unmet need for cities around the globe that have no way to actually benchmark and baseline their carbon emissions and other emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. The application will … also create some great opportunities for cities to collaborate through SharePoint. We’ve already been approached by the Conference of Mayors—more than 700 U.S. mayors who want access to this software.

Inside Track: With so many opportunities to explore, how do you decide what gets your attention first?

Bernard: We need to focus on striking a balance between our operations and our core software business. To do this, we need feedback from both employees and customers. It’s not just about, “Are we recycling enough materials on campus?”–which is very important–but also, “Are we being deliberate in our thinking about sustainability as we develop our products?” So we are working with a number of product groups to … drive more efficiency in our core products and help our customers take advantage of the great features we have already delivered. On the operations side, we are working closely with employees to find key areas of interest they would like us to explore. For example, my team and MSGreen, an alias with more than 500 Microsoft employees, have a very strong relationship where they will bubble up top priority issues and also help the company in addressing those by providing suggestions and, where appropriate, actual execution.

Inside Track: What can the average employee do to help this cause?

Bernard: If they have an active passion around the subject, I definitely encourage them to join MSGreen. If they have suggestions around products, they should not only discuss it with their management, they should feel free to send me an email: my alias is rbernard@microsoft.com. The number one thing is to voice your concerns and raise issues and be willing to also work with us on solutions.

Inside Track: You probably have a lot of people watching your every move. How does that feel?

Bernard: I think it’s wonderful, because Microsoft’s culture is one of constant improvement, and the best way to get constant improvement is to have huge feedback. I would be disappointed if I wasn’t receiving as much feedback as I already am.