Global warming, melting glaciers and holes in the ozone layer are causing concern and, whatever they and the pundits think is the cause, people want to do something positive to help.

You'd be shocked to be told that you're in a dirty business wouldn't you?

But it's probably true. The fundamental reality of almost every business sector is that it creates waste. Much as they might want to be environmentally sound, business owners generally think that you can't make the omelette called growth without cracking some ecological eggs.

You might say: “So what? It's only a tiny minority who really care and they’re all weird-beards.” You'd be very wrong. First, you probably wouldn’t say that because you, like the rest of the population, are environmentally conscious.We are all green now.

Second, you have to recognise that environmental issues are firmly mainstream. Government departments and most businesses, especially the bigger ones, have environmental policies to which they pay more than lip-service. They do this not because the board of directors wear sandals and hand-knits, but because it’s good business: they perceive that their customers expect them to be environmentally responsible or they’ll buy elsewhere.

Consider that the fastest growing sector in the unit trusts world is Ethical Funds, so John T Public is likewise not just paying lip-service but quite literally putting his money where his mouth is. (Note too that if a listed plc isn’t cleaning up its environmental act, it won't see a penny of share investment from those funds). Greening your business is therefore about something far more bankable than a warm feeling in the gut. Even if your strong suspicion is that your customers couldn't give a tinker’s cuss whether your business is ecologically sound, the issue demands attention because it has a direct impact on profits.

This indeed is the green good news for all businesses: doing your bit on energy savings will save you a lot of money, money that will go straight into the bottom line. The Carbon Trust says that 20% energy savings are easily achieved by most UK businesses, and are equivalent for many to a 5% increase in sales.

But where do you start? The Carbon Trust runs a helpline with experienced advisers who can deal with enquiries ranging from straightforward requests for information, to in-depth technical questions about specific technologies. Fact sheets with sectorspecific guidance and an action plan to help you create a tailored programme are also available on its website.

Energy Efficiency Loans ranging from £5,000 to £100,000, for replacing existing equipment with energy efficient versions are also available. They are interest free (yes, 0%) but eligibility requires that you save at least £1,000 per year on energy use.

You could also have an energy survey completed by a specialist consultant, who would produce a practical action plan to identify energy saving opportunities. Recommendations include many no or low cost actions that pay for themselves immediately or within a few months. Then there’s the Energy Technology List, managed by the Carbon Trust, which includes around 6,000 products that meet their energy saving criteria.

You might have concerns that adopting a green stance for your business will associate you with the nannying, hectoring tone of far too many environmental spokespeople. That’s a fair concern and it's also one shared by every individual I have spoken to in my research. However, these are people running businesses specialising in aspects of environmentalism and they sing a wholly different tune. They talk about opportunities not problems, about savings not costs, in short, positive not negative.

Small business owners are exactly the right people to drive the environmental issue, because they inherently believe success can be achieved by personal effort. Contrast that with a recent UK survey where 65% of respondants said that climate change could only be solved by international government action. Total manure! Only individuals can switch off lights, use cruise control and choose to buy environmentally-friendly products. At bottom, all that governments can do is pass laws forbidding us to do this or that, insisting we do the other, or apply tax to nanny’s idea of naughty behaviour.

Ah, but can being green help you pick up new customers? The evidence increasingly says yes. A British Gas survey last year showed 30% of us prefer to buy from environmentally responsible businesses. Marks and Spencer has committed some £200 million to becoming carbon neutral by 2012.

What can you learn from the experiences of others? Priority one is to treat energy as a significant business cost. Do you know what your energy bill is? In some businesses it can be 30% of total running costs, the second highest cost after staff. If 20% of your staff did no work you’d do something about it pretty fast, but that’s the effective waste of power in many businesses. Indeed, this is about staff because people waste power, at least as much as inefficient machinery. So involve staff in energy saving: it's everybody’s job. Put some or all of the savings into a staff incentive scheme. Set targets. Include energy costs in management assessment. Each of these has shown results for clients of the Carbon Trust.

There are plenty of low-cost/no-cost actions you can take (see box out) but above all, you must sell the benefits to staff so you avoid classic examples of waste. So, since you’re in the business, persuade them to put on a sweatshirt before turning up the thermostat (note that this is a genuine business opportunity, too). Set time switches so that heating is switched off up to an hour before everyone leaves. If you have air-conditioning, don't set it at maximum cooling – that can cool a space so much that the heating kicks in and you have both running at the same time.

Putting right obvious wrongs is good green practice. A case in point would be business gifts, since plenty of them get rapidly turned into landfill. There is a solution: Eco Incentives, www.ecoincentives.co.uk, whose wide range of business gifts are all made from recycled material, or are otherwise eco-friendly. Being intrinsically different and interesting they also do a highly effective job of keeping your name in front of customers.

Next up is the daily commute. Your staff wouldn’t generate the carbon if they didn’t need to come to work. Can you do anything about that? Yes. It's called Liftshare.com. As the name suggests, they offer a route for staff to cut their commuting costs, saving the employer the dead-money cost of parking spaces and saving the typical user £1,000 and a ton of carbon per year – that’s as good as a pay rise.

Would you pay more for a green option? Sounds like a daft question, doesn’t it? It may not be. Take buying your electricity from Good Energy, which supplies power only from renewable resources (eg wind farms). Typically it costs 10% more than standard sources. This would advance yourcompany’s ability to become carbon neutral, giving you a distinct point of difference in the market. If you are targeting commercial sectors where the environmental issue is significant (local authorities or the oil industry, for instance) that might prove a key selling benefit. If Marks and Spencer thinks it’s worth investing £200 million to achieve carbon neutral status, it obviously deserves attention.

For more information on the Carbon Trust, visit the website: www.carbontrust.co.uk

Alternatively, call their Energy Efficiency Helpline on 0800 085 2005.

Top ten tips for reducing energy consumption

1. Turn down the heating by just one degree. This can save 8-10% on the annual heating bill
2. Reduce heating in areas needing less warmth, like storerooms and heavy physical work areas, and during holidays, weekends or when the building is empty
3. Keep windows closed while heating or air conditioning is on
4. Most office equipment, including PCs, monitors, faxes and printers will have energy saving features. These sometimes need to be manually activated
5. Always switch monitors off when not in use. They account for almost half of a computer’s energy use
6. Make use of natural daylight where possible. It costs nothing and can reduce lighting bills by up to 19%
7. Energy saving light bulbs use 75% less electricity than standard light bulbs, provide the same amount of light, and last up to 10 times longer
8. Reduce lighting in areas that don’t need bright light, such as corridors
9. Encourage staff to turn off lights whenever and wherever they are not needed. Businesses can save up to 15% on bills by implementing this simple measure
10. Check your meters regularly to see how much electricity, gas and oil is being used, then check bills relate to what you actually use, rather than an estimate.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---