Filed under: Going Green | Tags: dealership, Energy, environment, Green, Star
Energy Star is a very recognized brand name. The organization was created in 1992 as a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. They claim to having been responsible for the avoidance of huge amounts of greenhouse gases and in 2010 alone the reduction of 18 billion dollars in utility bills. We see the Energy Star label on products and in printed information. But did you know about all the things that Energy Star does?
The Energy Star website is divided into several sections that provide a great roadmap as to all the things they do. Of course the testing and labeling of Energy Star rated products is there but the website also provides great detail on what businesses and homes can do to conserve energy. Our discussion in this blog is a high level discussion of the tools and information that car dealers can use to become “greener” and communicate that to their employees and the community.
When performing Dealership Assessment and working with car dealers on Implementation Green Dealer Support uses many of the tools available on the Energy Star website. A couple of areas we find particularly valuable for car dealers are:
- Encouraging using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager
- Signing up for the Energy Star Challenge
- Researching Energy Star Products
A large amount of information is also available for non-business applications. This starts with Energy Star Products and also includes a lot of information that can be really helpful in the operation of your home. Both new home purchasers as well as those with older homes can benefit from this area of the website. To learn more about Energy Star click on this link.
In later Blogs we intend to examine the why and how of using some of the great Energy Star tools for car dealers. For now you might want to see what a couple of dealers did to become green using the Energy Star tools as well as working through the issues on their own:
Auto Fair Companies in Manchester New Hampshire
Sorting through all of the Energy Star tools and information is something that Green Dealer Support has become very experienced at and can assist car dealers in leveraging all the information that is available. As we discuss Energy Star tools and information in greater depth in later blogs we will share with you how these tools work.
Dealers I talk to are always telling me that if they are going to do something “green” they would like to have a good Return On Investment (ROI). In principal, we agree with the need for investments to have a good ROI. The challenge is always how to measure the ROI By definition ROI is the performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.
The formula is pretty straight forward:
Most Investments have some sort of direct $ cost and so that part may be easy to figure. It is the Gain from Investment that is often a challenge.
Take the replacement of an Incandescent 100 watt bulb with a 23 watt CFL. The needed wattage was derived from the n:vision Energy Efficient Lighting Chart. The cost should not be too hard to calculate, next time you are at Home Depot or your local hardware store, figure out the size and color rendition and any other unique characteristics and you will find the cost is $3-7 each. Now you know the cost, let’s call it $5.00.
The Gain from Investment becomes a little harder to figure. Here are some of the items to include:
- The reduced use of electricity (the easy calculation)
- The CFL bulb last more than 13 longer than it’s Incandescent replacement
- The CFL generates a limited amount of heat (AC load)
- In hard to reach location it requires replacement much less often
- The image of your business projects to customers and employees
- The impact on the environment
So the Gain from Investment is a little more complex but in most cases can still be calculated and become part of the ROI calculation.
But making decisions on the impact of ROI on being “green” frequently does not stop with an ROI study. For example in the above calculation some additional things to consider are:
- What about disposal of CFL bulbs which contain trace amounts of mercury
- Under some circumstances CFL perform differently than Incandescent bulbs
- What about other alternatives such as LED
- What about considerations for ways to keep lights turned off when not needed or harvesting natural light.
Decisions about being “green” are not just a matter of saying you want a good ROI.
Green Dealer Support focuses on helping car dealers become greener and sort through the sometimes complex issues related to the all important ROI.
This blog is a continuation of the roll out of Green Dealer Support and will be an added way to get information in the hands of our team members as well as other who have an interest in Green Businesses.
Your may have noticed that our company name has the word “Dealer” in it and could have actually have included the words “Car Dealer”. Many people have asked me why we took such a focused approach. If we provide a good service shouldn’t our services apply to any business and isn’t that market a lot bigger than just car dealerships? The answer is yes but we made a commitment to focus on a very unique group of businesses (car dealerships) who have a similar business model and are relative the same size.
When we built our business model we decided to focus on car dealers and to look at everything about the dealership operation that could fall under the umbrella of “green”. We have attempted to identify everything under that green umbrella and then help dealerships make decisions on whether/how to incorporate these green qualities into their operations.
We will be posting three Categories of Blogs:
- Going Green-Green ideas you can use in your business or away from your business
- Green Facts-Sorting out things people are saying about green
- How We Work-Some frequently asked information on how we go about doing what we do
Green Dealer Support 