Energy Independence: The Business Case and Action Plan
by Mike Riley, Executive Director reSource
As one of the most important institutions in our nation, business has an important role to play in achieving energy independence. Here are some of the key reasons why.
Save money: Energy is a significant cost for almost every business and there are many low-cost opportunities to reduce energy use. Operating cost savings from conservation measures can be significant and are often immediate.
Build your brand: Many companies today are building customer brand loyalty and differentiating themselves from their competition by demonstrating their commitment to environmental responsibility. Brooks Resources, Dani Inc., and Strictly Organic Coffee are three Central Oregon businesses that have made energy conservation and/or renewable power centerpieces of their sustainable business practices. And they are all thriving.
Exploit a new business opportunity: Growing demand for sustainable energy technology presents a significant new business opportunity and those who get in early could benefit the most. Wind is the fastest growing sector in the global energy economy and renewable energy in the US alone is projected to grow to $180 billion by 2015. Right here in Central Oregon—the heart of our state’s burgeoning clean energy industry—PV Powered and IdaTech are already considered leaders in their field.
Ensure long-term economic stability: Our dependence on mostly foreign sources of oil, often in unstable regions of the world, coupled with the rapid approach of peak oil production, sets the stage for considerable instability and rises in oil prices, not to mention the human and financial costs of securing those sources of oil. Such instability is already having a direct impact on businesses bottom-lines. By investing in conservation and renewable energy today, businesses help shift our economy toward a more stable energy system over the long-term. They also support a growing renewable energy industry right here in Oregon, creating new jobs across the state and keeping more money in local communities.
Leave a positive legacy for our kids and our grand kids: Business is one of the most powerful institutions on our planet today. Its actions, individually and collectively, shape the legacy we leave future generations—ecologically, economically and socially. What sort of world do we want to leave them?
What, specifically, should a business do to get started on the path to energy independence?
Conserve Energy—Power Down
As it becomes painfully apparent that energy costs are on the rise, taking a hard look at how we use and waste energy is more important than ever. According to the Department of Energy, commercial users make up 18% of total energy consumption and office buildings are the largest users in this group.
Energy savings can have a tremendous impact on a business’s bottom-line. Those savings can be reinvested in your company in a variety of ways, including paying for green power and other steps towards energy independence. There are a number of factors that will influence your potential for conservation, including the nature of your business (office versus manufacturing, for example), the size of your building(s) and other facilities, and the number of full-time employees.
Small changes can mean big savings. For example, the Bend office of the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council saved $815 and 13,480 kilowatt hours in one year by removing lamps from fixtures in over lit offices, hallways, restrooms, classrooms and their break room.
The following lists no-cost and low-cost energy conservation tips that every business can implement.
CONSERVATION TIPS FOR BUSINESSES
- Turn off computers, monitors, printers and copiers at night.
- Remove light bulbs in bright, over lit areas.
- Replace low efficiency lighting with high efficiency lighting. Compact fluorescent bulbs provide the same amount of light as incandescent bulbs and last up to ten times longer.
- Set heating and cooling temperatures to energy conserving levels (66-68 degrees for heating, 76-78 degrees for cooling).
- Replace incandescent lights in exit signs with LED fixtures, which can reduce the cost of these signs by up to 95 percent.
- Install occupancy sensors. Lighting costs can be reduced by up to 40 percent by turning off lights in unoccupied areas.
- Turn down hot water heaters to 120 degrees.
- Buy energy efficient equipment when making new purchases for the office.
- Vehicle fleets: following a regular maintenance and tune-up schedule, and ensuring tires are checked regularly, will ensure your vehicles operate at maximum fuel efficiency.
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Promote
commute options in your workplace.
Once you have maximized conservation, the next step toward energy independence is to buy your electricity from renewable sources. Every central Oregon utility—Pacific Power, Central Electric Cooperative and Midstate Electric Cooperative—now offers at least one green power option to all its customers. These green power options will increase electricity bills minimally—use the savings from your conservation efforts to pay for it. The additional cost pays for building new green power facilities and associated transmission lines.
The average small business Pacific Power customer uses 1,379 kilowatt hours of electricity per month (16,548 kwh/yr). Switching to 100% renewable power would cost that customer approximately $11 more per month (or $132/yr). That step also has the same environmental benefits as not driving the average car 35,360 miles per year or displacing 33,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, the leading global warming gas. That’s a real difference.
Invest in conservation and renewable infrastructure
The next time your business remodels an existing building or builds a new one, buys new office equipment or a new vehicle, or retrofits or adds capacity to a manufacturing process, be sure to include energy conservation and renewable energy criteria in your decision-making. There are a host of options available, from energy conserving equipment and machines, to solar electricity and water heating systems, to hybrid and/or bio-fuel vehicles.
These criteria may add some additional cost up-front, but they also reduce operating and maintenance costs over the long-term. In addition, there are significant financial incentives to help you cover the additional costs of these investments, everything from cash to tax credits and at the state and federal level.
Share your concerns with elected officials
Finally, it is important to let your elected representatives know that your business thinks energy independence needs to be a policy priority. Tell them why you are concerned, what actions your company has taken to make a difference, and how you have benefited from incentive programs. Share your thoughts with all levels of government—local, state and federal. They all have a role to play, from local building codes that encourage solar power to state policies that push utilities to invest in renewable energy to federal support for basic technology research and development.
I believe firmly in the principle that “When the people lead the leaders will follow.” We have begun to bear the fruit of this approach over the last year, as more and more individuals and businesses and local and state governments begin to take action and the media reports on what’s happening. I encourage your business to be part of the solution.
