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Energy efficiency is being embraced by companies as a critical competitive advantage. What’s more, many companies are generating at least a portion of their own power.
Marlene Motyka, US alternative energy leader for Deloitte, gives the results of a new resources study in this podcast.
The study found:
- 77 percent of respondents consider reducing electricity costs as essential to staying competitive from a financial perspective.
- 79 percent of businesses view reducing electricity costs as essential to staying competitive from an image perspective. This is the highest proportion since the resources study was first conducted in 2011.
- 93 percent say they have invested funds in energy management programs over the last three years, reinforcing the trend that businesses are allocating a greater percentage of their capital budgets to energy management. These funds represent about 18 percent of their total capital budgets, compared to 12 in 2014. The largest proportion since the study’s inception.
- In their goal-setting efforts, businesses increased their energy/resource reduction targets in all areas except carbon footprint. Companies are aiming to reduce their electricity consumption by 25 percent on average, up from 22 percent in 2014. Businesses are also giving themselves more time to achieve their reduction goals: 4.5 years on average, compared to 4.2 years in 2014.
- Companies generally are positive about their efforts to date, with 52 percent characterizing their energy management efforts as extremely/very successful, compared to 42 percent in 2014.
- Companies not afraid to try something new as their commitment to energy management gets progressively stronger. 39 percent of businesses say new/innovative solutions are actively encouraged, experimented with, and deployed, up from 30 percent.
“Importantly, this shift is occurring despite relatively low electricity prices and moderate expectations of future increases. Energy management is becoming a core business discipline – for companies of all sizes, not just enterprises,” said a company spokeswoman.
Meanwhile, consumers didn’t change their behavior much, but said they didn’t want to revert back to their previous consumption patterns.
What’s making businesses increasingly aware of the competitive advantage of energy efficiency? Post your thoughts below or on our LinkedIn Group, Energy Efficiency Markets.
