Boosting Your Bottom Line: Got Efficiency?

What do leading businesses and energy providers have in common? Both see energy efficiency as a low-cost resource that can boost their bottom line. Successful businesses routinely invest in high-efficiency equipment and processes. As a result, they achieve multiple benefits, including greater reliability, lower maintenance costs, less waste and greater productivity—in addition to the ability to lower their energy bills. That’s good news for shareholders and for the environment.

Believe it or not, most utilities have good reason to help their customers use less energy. Energy-efficiency programs help states and utilities reduce the need for additional generation, enhance their ability to comply with regulations and add value for consumers. Here’s some more good news: state and utility support for energy efficiency has never been stronger, particularly when it comes to commercial and industrial facilities.

In 2012, the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) Annual Industry Report* stated that 309 program administrators in 47 states and seven provinces invested approximately $7.6 billion in demand-side management programs. A whopping 39% of expenditures in the United States were for commercial and industrial programs. These programs offer a broad range of support, including financial incentives for high-efficiency equipment, custom-project support, energy assessments, engineering studies and training. The accompanying table indicates some of the most common efficiency-program offerings. In fact, CEE recently released a report documenting more than 100 motor-system efficiency program offerings in the U.S. and Canada.

For more information about the availability of commercial and industrial efficiency programs in your area, download the CEE 2013 Program Summary: Energy Efficiency Incentive Programs for Premium Efficiency Motors and Adjustable Speed Drives in the US and Canada, available through the Motors Decisions Matter (MDM) Campaign (www.motorsmatter.org).

The bottom line is that your utility is likely to have programs designed to help lower your bills and increase your competitiveness. So don’t get started on a retrofit project until you’re sure your organization isn’t passing up financial and technical support. Additional motor management resources are available through the Motor Decisions Matter campaign, including case studies, decision support tools, guidebooks and fact sheets. The campaign also encourages partnerships with local motor sales and service centers, electric utilities and efficiency programs that are well-positioned to offer added support. Don’t leave these valuable resources on the table. MT 

* MotorMaster+ 4.0 is available at https://www1.eere.energy.gov/manufacturing/tech_assistance/software_motormaster_intl.html