Autodesk: Sustainability is in our Blood

"Sometimes I feel like giving up
 But I just can't
 It isn't in my blood"
— "In My Blood," Shawn Mendes

Autodesk is committed to helping designers and engineers create a future where we all live well and within the limits of our planet. We are excited to lead the way with sustainable, forward-thinking business practices. For example, our latest Sustainability Report notes that Autodesk gets 100% of its facility and data center electricity from renewable sources. We believe that together, we can design a sustainable future. In this spirit, my wife and I made some energy improvements to our home in Alameda, California that I chronicled the process in a series of blog posts:

• A Modest Proposal: Results of My Home Energy Audit
• A Modest Proposal: Improvements based on My Home Energy Audit
• A Modest Proposal: An Update of The Continuing Benefit of the Dollars and Cents of My Home Energy Audit

When we moved from California, continuing in this spirit, my wife and I went solar on our new home in Cypress, Texas, and I chronicled the process in another series of blog posts:

• A Bold Proposal: Solar Plans for My Home Energy in Cypress, Texas
• A Bold Proposal: Proposed Layout of Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas
• A Bold Proposal: Proposed Schedule for Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas
• A Bold Proposal: HOA Approval for Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas
• A Bold Proposal: Installation of Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas
• A Bold Proposal: Inspection and Activation of Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas
• A Bold Proposal: Cost Analysis of Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas

When titling these blog posts, I considered solar in Texas a bold proposal ($37,044) because the small improvements to our home in California were a modest proposal ($1,581) in comparison. The net result is that we recovered our California investment and eventually came out ahead. For Texas, it will take about eleven and a half years for us to break even, but eventually, it will happen. Monetary considerations aside, in the meantime, both of these moves were the right thing for a sustainable future.

To date, our solar system in Texas has avoided 6.4 tons of CO₂ emissions. That's the equivalent of:

• 14,228 miles not driven
• 655 gallons of gasoline not used
• 6,360 pounds of coal not burned
• 14 barrels of oil not extracted
• 97 trees grown to maturity
• 4,470 pounds of garbage recycled

Autodesk has always been an automation company. Today, more than ever, that means helping our customers automate their design and make processes. We help them embrace the future of making, where they can do more (e.g., efficiency, performance, quality), with less (e.g., energy, raw materials, timeframes, waste of human potential), and realize the opportunity for better (e.g., innovation, user experience, return on investment). Doing more with less for the opportunity for better also includes our employees' lifestyles as well as our software and business practices.

Sustainability is alive in the lab.