Increasing energy costs are impacting all aspects of our daily lives and seem to be here to stay. In response, many organizations are focusing on cost savings that can be achieved through more efficient use of energy.

Unnecessary energy use may be costing corporations millions of dollars. A study conducted in the U.K – referenced by Sustainable Life Media – estimates “the average office worker wastes about $12,000 a year and 3.36 tons of CO2.”

Examples of corporate efforts to reduce energy consumption are numerous, and I have included a few here;

-Sun Microsystems, through its “open work” platform, is saving individual employees $870 or more a year in gasoline and through the use of efficient technology is reducing home energy costs for workers who make use of the platform.

-Using employee incentives, such as “charging business units based on the amount of energy consumed by the servers that host their services” and linking manager bonuses to energy reduction, Microsoft improved the energy efficiency of its data centers by 22%.

-Knowledge@Wharton highlights a Wal Mart initiative that reduced toy packaging resulting “in a savings of $2.4 million a year -- and a savings of more than 1,000 barrels of oil, according to the company's own assessment.”

-Major food and drink manufacturers in the UK are sharing transportation. This initiative “will result in the removal of 800 trucks from UK roads this year, which will result in savings of about 23 million litres of diesel fuel per year, claims IGD” according to Foodproductiondaily.com.

-Gap Inc. identified that most of its energy is consumed “at the store level” therefore; it introduced initiatives in 2005-2006 to reduce energy consumption in U.S. stores.

-Dale writes in the Wall Street Journal that both the content and manufacturing process of many green products use less oil, reducing the impact of rising energy prices on these companies, providing a competitive advantage.

What role does energy conservation play within your organization?

References:

Byrne, Jane. “Food processors cut food miles by sharing transportation.” Foodproductiondaily.com [www.foodproductiondaily.com]. June 18, 2008.

Dale, Arden. “Green Products Gain From New Price Equation” The Wall Street Journal [http://online.wsj.com].

Environmental Leader. Microsoft Pays Employees For Energy Efficiency Improvements. [www.environmentalleader.com]. July 10, 2008.

Gap Inc. Gap Inc. 2005-2006 Social Responsibility Report. 2005-2006, p. 59.

Knowledge@Wharton. Clearing the Air: How Companies Operate in a Climate-conscious Era. “Law and Public Policy” [http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu]. June 11, 2008.

Sun Microsystems. “Open Work is for Everyone” [www.sun.com/aboutsun/openwork]. Obtained July 11, 2008.

Sustainable Life Media. “Energy-Efficiency Slackers Cost U.K. Companies $25 Billion A Year” [www.sustainablelifemedia.com]. July 2, 2008.

United State Environmental Protection Agency. A Business Guide to U.S. EPA Climate Partnership Programs. Washington, DC: US EPA, June 2008.