[garyp]

I'd like to pose a question of people here.

We can recognise that much of the publicity associated with energy efficency, saving energy, etc. is focused on the residential user. A number of approaches have been used to attempt to persude those users to implement desired policies (guilt, eco friendly, money saving, dictatorial, tax) with varying levels of success. Often what is easy (CF lightbulbs) are implemented over those with large effects (condensing boilers).

However a substantial percentage of consumption is down to the business user. These are users that are used to change management, used to viewing the benefits and attempting to make cost analysis of options, and desire to look good to the market by looking green. These are also the users that have multiple options for microgeneration, and the bottom line desire for cost benefits.

However they are also often those that waste energy. Just think of office lights, computers, heating, etc. left on over night. So given the different nature of the business user, and the different 'hot buttons', how could you optimise a message to get action from them and have them implement a swift energy efficiency change management programme?

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('garyp', 'S')o given the different nature of the business user, and the different 'hot buttons', how could you optimise a message to get action from them and have them implement a swift energy efficiency change management programme?

[EnergyHog]

Businesses already know that if they reduce their costs they can beat their competition. People in general realize that the cost of energy is going up. So I would say, sell it as a competitive edge over the competition.

When your competitor's heating bill is $1000/mo. but your bill is only $200/mo. because you installed a geothermal unit, who will go out of business?

When gas is $10/gal. but your lawnmowers are electric, you will beat the competition.

Honestly I'm fairly confident that when gas is $10/gal. people won't be concerned with mowing their lawn. I think that is why this is a hard sell to many businesses.

In the US we all (75% service economy) make money doing BS service work that would not even exist if not for our dollar hegemony.

Therefore, when things get rough and people aren't spending on frivilous items, alot of businesses here will simply vanish. Bye bye Vegas.

[vision-master]

As I've said before, modern commercial buildings are uninhabitable without being on the grid. Remember, you can't even open a window these days & are lucky to see the light of day anyways. Not a healthy environment under those God awful fluorescent lights.

[CARVER]

Uhmm..
[s]Regulation[/s]
[s]Education[/s]
Financial Incentive$ ...[Ding Ding Ding]... we have a winner!

The trick is to let the financial incentive trickle down to those who actually need to put it in action. If the employees need to implement it they should receive (part) of the financial incentive, a bonus, that should get them to pay attention. It being good for the corporation which employs them, usually doesn't do it. They don't see the result, or it is not made obvious to them, yet everyone understands extra $$$ on their paycheck, that is visible. Financial incentives, when implemented properly can be a very successful motivater.

But when the financial incentive is not yet there, you could try to give them a piece of their own recipe: Tell them their [s]neighbors[/s] competitors are already doing it, and that they are already falling behind. Paint them a picture that they simply cannot refuse, like they do in their commercials. Tell success stories (doesn't have to be real) about some guy at a big corporation who went over his manager's head and told the boss how he could cut costs by saving energy, the boss let him manage the entire operation and now he is in a position.. blah blah ...too good to be true ...blah blah. Publish that in the MSM and the next day you will have all kinds of nervous managers trying to find out how to cut costs by saving energy. ..just kidding ..though I'd love to see if that would actually work

[rogerhb]

There will be no change until people are considered citizens first rather than consumers first.

To do that, people have to stop acting like mindless consumers and realise there is no such thing as disposable income.

Business will then take the hint when they go bankrupt.

[small_steps]

It is financial, the business will spend the $$ where the ROI / IRR is (or is percieved to be) greatest. Also a bit of marketing could come into play here, and human nature as well. Sure, you could get your heting bill down to 200 / month, but if you spent 15k on the heat pump, and you could have spent that on equipment that provides tangable time savings and income, you are going to have a difficult time competing with the income and the decreciation that the business can acrue from this income generating expenditure. Sure, damn near every - one/ thing can make ones self more effective, but we have not been accustomed to doing so, that is we are rusty, but we will regain our skills, or else atlas will have truly shrugged.

[garyp]

I think its interesting to note that just about all the suggestions made here are cost/finance/saving related. Although its a route, I'd question if its particularly effective.

Saving money always seems to be at the unfashionable end of corporate endeavour. Sure it can help, but to really win by it there's a need to be talking the order of magitude level that outsourcing commands. Saving money isn't sexy for the up and coming, thrusting young exec, particularly of the 10% variety.

Growth, new markets, the arenas for boasting in the bar have much more appeal. That together with risk and its avoidance.