Discerning the Multiple Business Benefits of Energy Efficiency

Abstract

ABSTRACTBusiness 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 improvements must be prepared to demonstrate more than simply energy savings. Improvements to a company's energy performance can positively impact operational procedures, technology mixes, maintenance requirements and other agendas. Business managers who fail to recognize energy efficiency's multiple benefits will forfeit business earnings 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...