Thanks to the green movement, more companies than ever are making energy efficiency a present goal. In the media, we often hear about the benefits of energy efficiency in general terms of reduced carbon emissions and lower annual utility bills. But it’s usually the specifics that sell a company on energy efficient design. Below, we list and discuss six reasons to hire energy efficiency consultants and make efficiency retrofits a part of your company’s future today.
Reasons to Make Efficiency Retrofits a Part of Your Company’s Future
1. Significantly Reduced Electric Bills
Most companies don’t know that a traditional interior lighting system accounts for 60 percent of a building’s electrical usage. That’s why interior lighting retrofits remain the most popular of efficiency retrofits. By switching your old lamps and ballasts with more efficient ones and implementing an automatic lighting control system, you could easily cut your annual electricity bill in half.
2. Significantly Reduced Gas Bill
If your building’s boilers are gas powered, how much gas they use depends largely on how well they convert gas into heat. On average, boilers have a 70 percent gas to heat conversion ratio, meaning that 30 percent of the gas usage isn’t benefiting anyone but the utility company. By implementing efficient boilers, the conversion ratio can raise to 90 percent.
3. Less Lighting Maintenance Expense
In addition to incurring unnecessary electrical expense, traditional lighting can bring unnecessary maintenance expense in the amount of tens of thousands of dollars a year. By implementing more efficient, longer burning lamps and controlling them with an automatic light dimmer, you’ll be able to extend your savings on lighting beyond your electric bill.
4. Energy Efficiency Consultants Offer Attractive Financing
Until recently, only companies that could pay for efficiency projects out of pocket could implement large scale efficient design. But today, some efficiency consultants offer long-term, interest-free, in house financing to small businesses that qualify. With a first-year ROI of 50 percent or more being common, many companies are able to pay for a project within two years using only the energy savings created by the project.
5. Utility Providers Offer Significant Incentives
Under state sponsored programs, utility providers offer significant incentives to businesses via an efficiency provider, meaning that the efficiency provider secures the incentives and all you have to do is relax and pay less money.
6. Positive Impact on the Environment
The more power you consume, the more responsible you are for the bad things that carbon pollution does to air, water, and soil. Understandably, most companies’ primary interest in efficient technology is financial. But in an age where knowledge about pollution is increasing, being a good steward to the environment brings its own rewards.
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