EESI and Bentley University Students Team Up to Explore Energy Issues for Small Businesses

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) lent its expertise to a group of Bentley University students last fall on a project to help federal policymakers understand how they can help small businesses use energy more efficiently. The students surveyed the attitudes of approximately 20 New England small business owners about energy consumption, energy efficiency, and long-term energy planning for their businesses. In December, the students traveled to Capitol Hill to present their research to staff from the offices of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as well as Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) himself.

“The fact that small businesses generate over half of the nonfarm private GDP in the United States and spend over $100 billion every year on energy-related costs makes them major players in terms of both the economy and the environment,” said David Szymanski, the assistant professor leading the project and a former science policy advisor to Sen. Tester.

“Not enough attention has been focused on the need and opportunities for small businesses to become more energy efficient,” said Carol Werner, EESI’s executive director. “It can affect a business’s bottom line and generate businesses for those companies selling high-efficiency products. It is a ‘win-win’ strategy for everyone.”

The surveys were designed to assess how small businesses plan for future energy use and price fluctuations and to determine how energy efficiency initiatives could better serve the needs of small businesses. Key findings of the research included:

• Business owners interviewed take primarily reactive approaches to energy efficiency; i.e., businesses will reduce their energy consumption after energy costs rise rather than proactively increasing their energy efficiency.
• Immediate cost-savings is the primary motivator for small-business owners; if increased efficiency will lower costs, small businesses will become more energy efficient.
• Businesses feel tax incentives geared towards small businesses specifically will be most beneficial to them.
• Businesses feel it is difficult to receive relevant and accurate information about energy and energy efficiency; only eight businesses out of the 20 interviewed were aware of programs that incentivize greater energy efficiency.
• Regarding tax incentives, businesses know more about what they do not qualify for than what they do qualify for.
• Businesses rely on their electricity and fuel providers to receive information about energy efficiency.
• Seventy percent of small businesses interviewed do not believe they need to portray themselves as “green” to attract more business. However, businesses are seeing increased customer interest in “green” products.
• Eighty-five percent of small businesses interviewed do not think that climate change will have a significant impact on their operations.

The recommendations made to policymakers included:

• Consider the needs of small businesses by supporting tax credits and other programs that incentivize energy efficiency.
• Implement programs that would increase the availability and accessibility of information about the benefits of increased energy efficiency for small businesses.

EESI and the Bentley students hope that policymakers will encourage the Small Business Administration, Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program, and the Department of Energy to make outreach to small businesses a priority for access to their programs. “Based on what we learned from the project, we know this low-cost option could really make a difference,” said Werner.

Bentley University is one of the nation’s leading business schools, dedicated to preparing a new kind of business leader – one with the deep technical skills, broad global perspective, and high ethical standards required to make a difference in an ever-changing world.