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In recent years, Urban Intelligence's director Lior Rauchberger has watched demand for sustainability audits grow.
At the same time, clients have become less concerned about spending money to make the changes they need to reduce their carbon footprint. "When we started, some companies weren't interested unless you could show a payback on investment in less than five years," Dr Rauchberger said. "There has been a whole shift in that regard. The sustainability agenda in this country has moved up a few gears and companies now want to be seen to do the right thing. The payback period is less relevant."
That said, changes implemented following an energy audit typically pay for themselves within two to four years, experts say.
Initiatives range from installing fluorescent lights and occupancy sensors to cutting back the number of lights used in over-lit offices and attaching timers to air conditioning units and boilers.
Fishprint director Peter Booth says his company's energy use overhaul, implemented two years ago, was effectively cost neutral. "There was almost no extra cost straight away," Mr Booth said.
The company installed low wattage lights, put timers on appliances that previously ran all night and switched to waterless printing.
The waterless system, which is less energy intensive, allowed Fishprint to permanently turn off an energy intensive refrigeration unit, previously used to chill solution.
Other machines, now operating on timers, switch on at 5am and are ready for the first work shift at 6am.
The company has also started using 100 per cent renewable energy, supplied by the Climate Friendly Group. "We set a goal for ourselves to be the most environmentally friendly print company in the world," Mr Booth said. "We could see the technology was there and available, but was not being taken up and used. It didn't make sense not to use it."
For electrical contractors Alert Electrical, the move into energy audits about two years ago was prompted by the hope of 'saving the environment', saving clients money and making money as well, operations manager Stuart Munro said.
A recent customer is now saving $5000 annually on energy bills with a payback period of just two years on its investment. Mr Munro said 100 lights left on in an office needlessly overnight can cost about $6 and release 20 to 30 kg of CO2 gas a night. "You can save money pretty quickly and that's good, because it convinces a company's accountants that an energy audit is a good thing to do," Mr Munro said.
Energy audits typically involve client interviews to determine usage and occupancy rates and the use of computers to log actual usage.
Electricity is one of the biggest energy wasters.
According to Sustainable Business Practices Director Dan Atkins, energy audits are best carried out as part of a base line audit.
The sustainability base line audit includes an energy audit, a waste stream assessment and an investigation of the social and environmental impacts of a company's products. "It is used to develop a whole of company sustainability strategy," Mr Atkins said.
He believes setting up a green office can be a good starting point because it is a highly visible step that helps to engage employees on sustainability.
Dr Rauchberger believes demand for energy audits will continue to grow exponentially over the next three to five years and will ultimately be mandated by government at some level. "Once the momentum builds, businesses won't want to be the one without the green tick," he said.
References
- Paula Beauchamp, Herald Sun, April 23, 2008 12:00am
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