Only 2% of survey respond- ents plan to invest in clean technologies in the next year - but new finance deals will bring microgen- eration within the reach of more businesses in future


If there were no upfront costs required of you to invest in energy eficiency measures and the investment was repaid through monthly savings on your bill, with British Gas putting up the financing and bearing the risk, would you be incentivised to adopt energy eficiency technology?


PEAK PERFORMANCE While new products and new suppli- ers entering the market will be good for competition and may well drive down the price of certain technolo- gies, Chessum says that “suddenly many people will be calling themselves energy specialists”. If businesses are choosing to spend their own capital rather than entering into some form of EPC then it is, as always, a case of buyer beware. “You need to be sure you are invest- ing in proven technologies that will deliver what they say they will. If your energy officer invests in a new lighting system that does not carry a perform- ance guarantee and that system only delivers 10% savings rather than the expected 20% – then as a business you have spent the money and are stuck with it,” says Chessum.


77+23+r NO 23% YES 77%


“A CAREFULLY CHOSEN RANGE OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR A LEISURE SITE MAY CREATE SAVINGS FAR GREATER THAN THE SUM OF THEIR PARTS ”


There are also other advantages to taking a holistic approach to your business’s energy needs rather than installing new technologies in a piece- meal way. The energy efficiencies from a new combined heat and power unit, for instance, will be better if the facil- ity upgrades its insulation at the same time. In the context of an EPC, a care- fully selected range of products and systems chosen for a leisure facility may produce energy savings that are far greater than the sum of their parts. Different financing models are still taking shape for EPCs, and they're still very new to the marketplace. British Gas recently introduced an EPC model into the framework of an existing facili- ties management contract it had with Amey at the Home Office, for example. Extensive energy survey audits were carried out across 300 government


Find out more: www.britishgas.co.uk/business 0845 955 5820


buildings to identify energy saving opportunities and BG/Amey made £500,000 available for the project. The measures introduced along with energy management are projected to slash the Home Office’s £7.3m energy bill by around £1.3m over three years. Each EPC model will be specific to


the organisation involved. Businesses and public sector organisations with annual energy bills in excess of £50,000 can make significant savings. “A business that has yet to make any investment in energy efficiency will naturally see the biggest returns and shortest payback period. For those who have already made improvements, they may need to choose the type of technologies that require a longer pay- back period,” says Chessum. Contract lengths will vary, but will typically be between five and 10 years,


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