16 small businesses around the country are being honored with ENERGY STAR for Small Business Awards for exemplary energy efficiency. The awards, presented by the EPA, recognize small businesses that prevent pollution profitaby. This year’s winners include a wide range of business types: restaurants, grocery stores, manufacturers, animal hospitals and nonprofit organizations.
All of these businesses are reducing their operating costs by increasing energy efficiency. To receive an award, small businesses are judged on the number of energy efficient upgrades they make, cost savings per square foot, creativity and innovation.
EPA analysis shows that small businesses can save just as much money per square foot as large companies. Thus, the 22 million small U.S. businesses can make a very large contribution to the national economy and the global environment by not wasting energy dollars.
A Few of the Winning Businesses
One of the winners is Northeast Cooperatives, a Vermont-based distributor of organic/ natural foods and products. Its 400 employees and member consumers (mostly natural food stores and consumer buying groups around the country), own the company. Efficiency Vermont, the state’s new energy efficiency utility, helped the company install a much more efficient refrigeration system, motors and lighting. Efficiency Vermont paid 20% of the $525,000 cost of the upgrades as an incentive. The upgrades save the company $140,000 a year – 1,250,000 kWh of electricity and 2,000,000 pounds of CO2 emissions.
C. W. Hines & Associates, Inc. is a management-consulting firm in Newport News, Virginia. The firm drastically cut its utility bills by
installing more efficient lighting – compact fluorescent lamps, T-8 fluorescent lamps, and sodium and metal halide lighting with occupancy sensors. They also optimized the natural lighting in the building, and placed window films and solar screens on the east and west windows to reduce heat gain. The company invested in new windows, insulation and a new high-efficiency heating and air conditioning system. Not only are the fans and motors more efficient, but variable frequency drives operate only at the speed necessary to deliver warm or cool air. Other simple measures include insulating around all hot water pipes and planting trees outside the building to provide shade in the summer.
According to president Carolyn Hines, the company’s investment pays off financially and, equally important, in productivity. The improved lighting, heating and cooling systems and natural light make the office more relaxing, comfortable and more “family friendly.”
Thomas Sikora, President of Tomar Electronics, Inc., in Gilbert, Arizona, installed skylights for free daylighting, reduced hot water settings, upgraded chiller controls, and installed variable speed drives on the heating and cooling distribution system. Then, he installed a thermal storage cooling unit to cool his company’s entire 76,000 square foot plant. In a thermal storage cooling unit, ice is stored, and when cooling is needed, water is circulated through the ice storage area and then distributed at about 34F (1.7C) to provide space cooling. Key savings come from freezing the ice at night when electric rates are lower, which allows cooling from the ice during the day when electricity costs more. Tomar Electronics reduced their electric bill by $25,000 per year, and the more than 357,000 kWh saved prevents about 443,000 pounds of CO2 emissions annually.
To apply for the 2003 awards or see the list of this year’s winners: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Read other success stories: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Earth Day, April 22nd, 2003 is the deadline for applications for the Fifth Annual ENERGY STAR for Small Business Awards. Small businesses may nominate themselves; or finance, product and service providers may nominate their small business customers.
Energy Star for Small Business is a free service of the EPA that helps owners and operators of small businesses and organizations cut utility bills by improving their building’s energy efficiency. www.energystar.gov/smallbiz
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