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Despite the misconception that green initiatives are costly, adopting green business practices makes good business sense.  Many green-savvy organisations have achieved some of the following results:

• 30-35pc reduction in energy consumption
• Over 10pc reduction in energy costs through purchasing cheaper energy
• €1,200 saving per employee by reducing waste
• €100,000 per 300m3/d saving annually by converting from mains water to groundwater
• 30pc saving on water rates by conserving water and fixing leaks

Reduce energy consumption

Energy costs may be a small proportion of total costs, but account for a significant proportion of controllable costs. By eliminating avoidable, excess energy expenditure, your business can save 5–25pc of its energy costs. This small saving on energy can give a significant boost to profit.

Active energy management can lead to reduced plant running hours, cheaper maintenance costs, less frequent breakdowns, less noise and unwanted heat and improved working conditions.

Even a small reduction in electricity demand during peak times can enable some businesses to avoid paying for costly upgrades to supply transformers when extra capacity is needed.

Buy cheaper energy 

There are now seven companies actively competing to supply electricity or gas (or both) in Ireland and the prices they offer can vary by more than 10pc. By engaging specialist independent procurement services to handle or assist with electricity and gas tendering, thorough price analysis, evaluation and negotiation, you can secure a more cost-effective energy solution for your business.

Reduce and reuse waste

There are many reasons why we should try to reduce wastage: compliance with legislation; reduction of potential liabilities; social responsibility and conservation of scarce national resources; and, perhaps most pressing of all, financial.

In practice, the cost of waste to a company is not just the cost of disposal. On average, wastage of resources costs companies up to 4.5pc of turnover. According to statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Waste Database Programme, small and medium-sized enterprises are responsible for the production of 50pc of commercial and industrial wastes generated nationally. This presents enormous potential for savings.

Convert to groundwater

There are seven reasons to use groundwater instead of mains water:

• No local authority meter charge
• No local authority rationing of supply
• Consistent water quality and temperature
• Low running costs
• Manage your own resource
• No planning requirements (apart from well-head structures)
• Potential for geothermal use

Installing a groundwater supply on your site provides a consistent and cost-effective solution to rising water charges. It can reduce operation costs and, crucially, ensures your manufacturing process/operation will not be impacted by any council difficulties in water supply, which may be caused by the increasingly more common adverse weather events.

Conserve water

Shockingly, few organisations know exactly how much water they use. Many pay more in water and waste water charges than necessary. By conducting a water-efficiency audit, you can identify typical water savings that can be achieved for commercial applications and the most appropriate devices and practices for your site. Some have payback periods of only a few days.

The big freeze over the New Year highlighted that approximately 43pc of council water pipes leaked treated water. Recent conservation studies in industry also indicated that there is a high incidence of water-pipe leakage on the customer side. Leakage assessment can highlight main areas of leakage and avoid ongoing payment for lost water.

The results

A study conducted by WYG for the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) identified that 41pc of businesses that take action to make environmental improvements (over and above simple legal compliance) do so because these improvements realise cost savings.