Are You Throwing Money Away By Following the “2-Year Payback” Rule? C lose the Efficiency Gap: Use Profits to Drive the Capture of Value

Authors

  • John Bruce Wells Chemonics International Inc.
  • John S. Hoffman WorkSmart Energy Enterprises, Inc.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13052/dgaej2156-3306.1536

Abstract

This article suggests that profitable energy efficiency measures
are often foregone due to the internal structure of most American cor-
porations, in which energy functions are managed by cost centers
rather than profit centers. This limits access to capital and fosters use
of financial decision rules such as the “2-year payback” criterion that
lead to suboptimal investment. The authors propose that corporations
restructure their operations so that energy functions are managed by
profit centers that can implement energy efficiency measures in other
business units, realize a profit, and return it to their parent company.

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Author Biographies

John Bruce Wells, Chemonics International Inc.

John Bruce Wells is a senior analyst with Chemonics International
Inc., a management consulting firm. He can be reached at 1133 20th
Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036; 202-955-3467 (voice); 202-955-7530
(fax); jwells@chemonics.com. Prior to joining Chemonics he founded
and managed the Bruce Company, which served as EPA’s lead subcontractor for the Energy Star and Green Lights program.

John S. Hoffman, WorkSmart Energy Enterprises, Inc.

John S. Hoffman is president of WorkSmart Energy Enterprises,
Inc., a technology development and commercialization firm. He can be
reached at 2948 Macomb Street, NW, Washington, DC 20008; 202-237-
1491 (voice); 202-237-1493 (fax); hoffman@worksmartenterprises.com.
As director of the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Division, Hoffman
was the progenitor of EPA’s voluntary programs, including Energy Star,
Green lights and Golden Carrot.

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NPV is calculated for a hypothetical 1 million square feet facility that

can achieve a net savings of 20 cents per square foot per year,

which is the average for Green Lights participants. Savings are

measured over a 10-year period and discounted at 9 percent.

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A FASB operating lease must meet all of the following criteria; 1) the

lease cannot transfer ownership to the lessee at the end of the term;

the lease cannot contain a “bargain purchase option”; 3) the

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Published

2000-06-17

How to Cite

Wells, J. B. ., & Hoffman, J. S. . (2000). Are You Throwing Money Away By Following the “2-Year Payback” Rule? C lose the Efficiency Gap: Use Profits to Drive the Capture of Value. Distributed Generation &Amp; Alternative Energy Journal, 15(3), 42–52. https://doi.org/10.13052/dgaej2156-3306.1536

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