Discerning the Multiple Business Benefits of Energy Efficiency

Abstract

Business decision-makers are more likely to implement energy
efficiency improvements if proposals demonstrate a wider range of
benefits than those initially apparent. Proponents of energy savings im-
provements must be prepared to demonstrate more than simply energy
savings. Improvements to a company’s energy performance can posi-
tively impact operational procedures, technology mixes, maintenance
requirements and other agendas. Business managers who fail to rec-
ognize energy efficiency’s multiple benefits will forfeit business earn-
ings and diminish stakeholder value. Such forfeiture retards economic
development and efforts to reduce environmental pollutants.
This article describes a study that sought several outcomes: 1) to
make the wider consequences of energy-efficiency more transparent
to business investment decision makers; 2) to stimulate the market for
energy efficiency solutions by improving business sector understanding
of—and thus demand for—energy efficiency and its coincident benefits;
and 3) to expand the body of knowledge that can be used to promote
energy efficiency to business facilities.