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Conference hears how businesses should be investing in green technologies

Companies could slash their energy costs by taking a long-term view about how to make their businesses more sustainable, an environmental technologies conference in Worcester heard.

Jae Mather, director of sustainability at the Carbon Free Group, said companies could cut thousands from their long-term energy bills, provided they were willing to invest in green technologies now.

Speaking at the Marches Environmental Technologies Network (metnet) Conference, Mr Mather told businesses from across the Marches that they could not risk sitting back and doing nothing in the face of increasing fuel price rises and price volatility.

He said rising global growth and increased demand on inputs such as food and energy would only make the volatility worse, meaning businesses had to act now to ensure they were not adversely hit.

“We have got a situation of perpetual growth and growing demand on resources, but the increased use of inputs can’t continue in its current form,” he told the conference, which had attracted 70 business delegates from across the Marches. “Infinite growth is not sustainable.”

Mr Mather said that few business had recognised how failing to be sustainable could affect them in the long term, and had instead incorrectly thought that making more environmentally-friendly choices would cost them more money.

Companies would select options which were cheap in the short-term, such as regular lightbulbs, without calculating how beneficial new, green technologies, such as LED bulbs, could save them money, despite a larger initial outlay, he explained.

“Sustainability can be financially viable,” he said. “Renewable energy solutions reduce the potential for risk, reduce carbon output and save thousands of pounds.”

It was important the region’s businesses did not think about how to tackle their energy use and look for ways to improve their sustainability by themselves, he added.

The Stern Review(the Government’s review on the economics of climate change) said that if a city invested two per cent of its GDP into carbon reduction for ten years, it would generate annual savings of 2.2 per cent of GDP each year.

On top of that, CO2 would be reduced by over 40 per cent and payback would be in just four years.

“Something relatively simple like a community fuel system can create jobs and reduce energy impacts for multiple homes and businesses,” Mr Mather said.

“No one should be looking at anything in isolation, and new, more effective ideas can be considered by thinking about sustainability together.”

Patricia Head, metnet project manager, said: “I hope local businesses have realised that there are a wealth of opportunities for them to save money and drive their environmental credentials by thinking more closely about their sustainability.

“Members of the metnet network operate in an incredibly dynamic and growing sector, and hopefully this conference has helped them to recognise the potential for them to work with other businesses in the region to help the Marches continue to thrive.”

Metnet delegate Mike Webb, managing director of Tenbury Wells renewable energy company SunRG, said an increasing number of businesses in the region are showing an interest in the potential cost savings green-energy investments could bring them.

“There was nervousness about the renewables at the start, but as people see it’s a trusted technology that brings results, more and more people are recognising the potential.

“At the moment the majority of our installations have been for smaller, domestic clients, but as we come up with new and high-tech solutions to maximise yields we are seeing more businesses looking to invest.

“Projects like metnet, which organises events like this, gives businesses the chance to see what technologies are out there,” he added.

“With the help of metnet I have met a lot of people who have helped my business develop, and hopefully we can give other businesses the help they need to develop too.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by metnet .