Enigin Update - Small Businesses Missing out on Energy Savings
SMALL businesses in the U.S. spend over $100 billion a year on energy costs yet know little about energy saving or the financial benefits it brings revealed a recent survey.
A survey by students of Bentley University in the U.S. of small-business owners across New England in the north east United States revealed large gaps in the ability and knowledge of business owners to take advantage of energy efficiency programmes and to plan for future energy use and price fluctuations.
The group students teamed up with the nonprofit Environmental and Energy Study Institute, that advocates for cleaner energy policies, to poll the business owners on energy consumption, energy efficiency, and long-term energy planning for their businesses and to come up with ways for policymakers to better serve their needs.
Amongst the findings:
• Business owners interviewed take primarily reactive approaches to energy efficiency; i.e. businesses will reduce their energy consumption after their energy costs rise rather than proactively increasing their energy efficiency.
• Immediate cost-savings is the primary motivator for small-business owners; if increased efficiency will lower costs, small businesses will become more energy efficient.
• Businesses feel it is difficult to receive relevant and accurate information about energy and energy efficiency; only 8 businesses out of the 20 interviewed were aware of programs that incentivize greater energy efficiency.
• Regarding tax incentives, businesses know more about what they do not qualify for than what they do qualify for.
• Businesses rely on their electricity and fuel providers to receive information about energy efficiency.
• Seventy percent of small businesses interviewed do not believe they need to portray themselves as “green” to attract more business. However, businesses are seeing increased customer interest in “green” products.
Enigin Distributors help many small businesses to reduce ever rising energy costs by becoming energy efficient through implementing energy saving technology from Enigin.
