Environmental Leader

While large corporations get most of the headlines on green initiatives, many U.S. small businesses are also cutting energy costs making green choices, USA Today reports.

Harbec Plastics, for example, uses wind and natural gas turbines, a state-of-the-art water-cooling system, hybrid cars and trucks and fluorescent lights which have saved $1.2 million and cut CO2 emissions by 750,000 pounds.

Two-thirds of small business owners recently surveyed say they would be willing to pay more for goods and services to run their businesses if they knew they were environmentally-friendly. Forty-seven percent of small business owners surveyed said they are already taking steps to show customers they are environmentally-friendly.

With the right upgrades, the typical small business can cut its energy bill up to 30 percent and see a payback on the investment within three years, according to Entrepreneur.

According to the Energy Star Small Business program, energy efficiency improvements of 10-to-30 percent are economically viable for many small businesses through the implementation of “best practices” for facility operation and maintenance, and the use of cost-effective technologies, the National Small Business Association reports. In conjunction with Energy Star, NSBA is challenging the 150,000 small businesses it reaches to reduce their energy consumption by 10 percent or more through improved energy efficiency.

Small businesses can cut operating budgets five percent by changing their office-management practices, says Anna Clark, president of EarthPeople, a Dallas consulting firm, in the USA Today article.

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