One program that provides internships for college students has helped a group of large companies save millions of dollars.

The Environmental Defense Fund's Climate Corps is made up of students preparing for internships with Fortune 500 companies. The students in the program are responsible for finding solutions to make corporate operations more green, save money and lower carbon emissions.

This year's program, which was made up of 26 MBA students, worked to identify energy efficiency measures that will collectively save 22 companies and one university about $54 million.

The companies will see the millions of dollars in savings by avoiding the production of about 100,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases and saving about 160 million kilowatt hours each year.

The companies involved in the program include eBay, Dell, Sony Pictures Entertainment, TXU, Stop and Shop/Giant and the Houston Rockets.

According to an article by Grist, actual savings at the companies are yet to be seen, as many already have energy efficiency programs in place. If the measures can be implement, however, the companies will see a large return on investment, as they only spent about $260,000 on intern salaries during the 10-week program.

The long-term result of the program could be even more beneficial to society as a whole. In essence, the program is working to create a new corporate class of green financial engineers and future CEOs who view environmental performance as an important bottom-line concern.

"Many of these companies have people working on energy efficiency but it really helps to have another set of eyes on the ground," Millie Chu Baird, Climate Corps project director, said in the article. "Even if a company thinks it's doing everything it can, we found often it can be doing more."