Hara's comprehensive energy and resource management software will take U.S. Bank's sustainability efforts to the next level as it identifies further energy reduction opportunities in U.S. Bank properties, tracks and measures environmental initiatives and leverages best practices.

Hara EEM will create a central repository that accesses U.S. Bank's energy and environmental data on more than 2,200 of its owned and operated sites across 25 states. This will empower the bank with decision-support capabilities to determine the most effective strategies to further reduce its energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The solution will serve as a resource for both internal and external standardized reporting.

Greg Thorne, environmental manager for U.S. Bank's corporate real estate group, said, "U.S. Bank is committed to understanding the impact of effective resource use in our operations from both a financial and environmental perspective. While we have had a formal energy committee in place for a few years, Hara EEM will provide a powerful tool to support our strategic energy consumption reduction goals and our environmental stewardship efforts."

U.S. Bank formally introduced its Environmental Sustainability Policy in 2007. Since then, the bank has used LEED specifications for its new branch construction and has received LEED certification for nine branches. U.S. Bank has also instituted a wide array of energy efficiency upgrades at its facilities, such as lighting retrofits, installation of multi-function print devices, server virtualization and consolidation, and implementation of automated PC monitor power management practices.

In December, U.S. Bank was designated an ENERGY STAR® Partner by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its voluntary commitment to energy efficiency. As a founding member of PayItGreen, U.S. Bank is also committed to educating and providing employees and customers with solutions to help them minimize paper use through electronic banking options. Additional information on U.S. Bank's approach to environmental stewardship can be found at usbank.com/environment.

Amit Chatterjee, Hara CEO and founder, said, "We are excited to see one of the nation's largest financial institutions pave the way for both sustainability and energy management throughout their organization. U.S. Bank is an exemplary case of a business taking proactive steps to institute a comprehensive environmental and energy management strategy by identifying strategic opportunities from reporting to reduction and we are pleased to support them in this process with an end-to-end solution."

Hara has emerged as a leader through consistent product delivery, customer deployments and domain expertise. Deployed in over 97 countries, Hara EEM is a cloud-based solution that enables organizations to strategically manage and optimize their energy and natural resource usage and identify and execute efficiency strategies across the enterprise and value chain. Hara works with leading companies and government organizations to establish each client's environmental and energy record, identify and prioritize reduction projects, and implement best practices.