Developing an energy plan for a business generally just includes setting up an energy account with the utility company and letting the energy flow, but with a conscious effort to include sustainability in a business’ mission, creating a clean energy plan can change the way your company sources its energy from renewables and also save the business money in the short and long term.
An energy plan can include efficiency measures, energy sourcing, and even carbon footprint commitments and incorporating an energy plan into the structure of a business sets companies apart to their client and customer base, but also their stakeholders, and within the industry changing the standard of CSR, or corporate social responsibility. While it’s always great to start with a plan, having an energy audit at any point can help to incorporate small steps that can lead to a large impact in your energy usage and sustainability report.
Energy efficiency has become the main component of an energy plan since it’s easy to recognize opportunities for improvement in current appliances, practices, and equipment that offer a high ROI. Turning to the EPA’s website to find energy star equipment is a great place to find replacement equipment. Taking care of energy usage is important, but energy loss is sometimes an easier problem to solve with an even higher return. Energy loss can come in the form of poor insulation, poorly calibrated or broken equipment, or just practices that leave equipment unnecessarily running or doors open. Having an energy audit can help you assess your opportunities in efficiency and the realization of a return on investment is much easier to calculate these days with online resources.
Adding sustainability to the plan will assess your baseline carbon footprint and find ways to offset your carbon through clean energy purchasing. Choosing a renewable energy source as your energy supplier will reduce your reliance on your state’s general energy portfolio which contributes to non-renewable energy purchasing. A clean energy plan might help you select what renewable energy source you’d like to support and even the geographic region you’d like to purchase from. 100% renewable energy suppliers have a portfolio that offsets your entire carbon footprint and can help you apply to national programs for awards sustainability grants.
Clean energy plans are not only important for a business to establish themselves as a sustainable brand, but also to help draw in customers and clients that make their purchasing decisions based on the CSR mission of a business. Standing out with a clean energy plan and promoting your initiatives will not only impact your bottom line from the utility perspective, but also in drawing attention to how the industry is improving with the times for the betterment of the planet and consumer behavior. Reaching out is the first step- let us help you implement the first steps to reducing your carbon footprint