SIA The Intelligent Partner - Summer 2007 - (Page 10)

But 1.5 watts tells you how much power you’re using, not how much light you get. Newer T8 ﬂuorescents are about 35 percent more efﬁcient than older T12 ﬂuorescents, and the LED accent lights now becoming available will probably last forever. Consider photovoltaic units for parking lot lighting – ﬁrst cost may be high, but it operates essentially for free for the next 20 years and makes a highly visible statement to your customers and neighbors. 2 Save some trees Almost any business can reduce the amount of paper moving through its ofﬁces. Examine the way you use business forms, training materials, ﬂyers, and coupons – see where paper use can be reduced by using smaller pages or by moving the entire project on-line. If you need to print out reports for distribution to managers and employees, halve your paper consumption by printing both sides of each page. If your ofﬁce printer won’t do that easily, set up an account with Kinko’s or the local equivalent copy shop to have them do it – nowadays you can send them a ﬁle and they’ll deliver the printed product next day. Take advantage of the SIA-sponsored FEDEX/Kinko’s discount program – it’s free to SIA members, both vendors and retailers. By adopting paperless publishing practices – this article is an example – SIA hopes to set an example for member businesses. “Our Trade Show conservation effort alone offset the annual carbon emissions of 57 cars,” noted SIA president David Ingemie. SIA, like SSL and other “umbrella” organizations in the industry, has already changed out the bulbs and dramatically reduced the paper stream. implemented a high-tech, expensive networking system that allows an efﬁciency ofﬁcer at corporate headquarters to monitor – and control – thermostat setting at all the branch stores. If you’re a one- or twooutlet store, obviously your “network” is between the ears of the employee who locks up, and the one who opens in the morning. Post No Idling signs around the parking lot and delivery zones. The only trucks allowed to idle should be the refrigerated types. Do an energy audit. Most utility companies offer this service for free, or at a nominal fee. This will spot insulation and HVAC issues you may have overlooked. Some easy ﬁxes for speciﬁc types of stand-alone retail space: 4 5 Audit yourself Steal the breeze The single biggest electrical draw in a snowsports shop is probably the back shop. A stone grinder plugged into a 220 volt circuit may draw 7 or 8 kWh. Fortunately, it probably runs only a few hours a week. Items like waxing irons and ventilating systems are a continuous heavy draw. Ask your utility company’s energy auditor about powerconditioning circuitry that can reduce peak loads by the big electric motors in stone grinding machines. 6 7 8 9 Reflective roofing As Pete Nestor found, just painting the roof white can save a lot on air conditioning costs. Windows Shade them in summer, insulate them in winter. Idling Condition your power use 3 10 AC up, heat down Deal with HVAC issues (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), especially HVAC conﬂict. An HVAC conﬂict is when someone sets the air conditioning thermostat to 68 degrees without ﬁrst disabling the heating thermostat, which may be set to 73 degrees. Automatic thermostats are a simple, cost-effective solution, but employees need to be educated not to over-ride them. SSV has | SIA | T.I.P. | SUMMER 2007 Buy wind power. As Gary Cole notes, it’s not expensive, and it makes a powerful statement about your business. If your utility company doesn’t sell it, look for a reputable carbon-offset broker like Renewable Choice Energy. SIA bought 225,000 kWh of renewable energy certiﬁcates from Renewable Choice to offset the energy burned at the trade show last January – the equivalent of taking 27 cars off the road for a year. Figure out what the carbon equivalent is of the energy your shop uses in a year – your energy auditor can tell you – and zero it out. Then tell your customers that’s what you’ve done. REI and most of the big resort companies do this. But buy green tags carefully, and know where your money is going – in recent months the business press has reported on some green tag scams. Your sophisticated customers read articles like this and wonder how savvy you may be in putting all your environmentalist eggs in the green tag basket. Solar energy is a legitimate plan for a sports shop. The solar cycle is a pretty good match for the business day energy consumption cycle. Moreover, tax incentives and installation rebates in key states with relatively high electric rates (New England, New York, New Jersey, West Coast) mean that the payback period for a large solar electric array may be as short as three to ﬁve years. Even in Colorado, where energy costs are still pretty low, Aspen Skiing Co. has found it ﬁnancially smart to install about 15 kW of photovoltaic panels at three different sites. A smart energy engineer will ﬁnd a way to get additional beneﬁt by using the panels to shade roofs or parking areas from the sun. And smart accountants may ﬁgure out how to get the array paid for up front – for instance, there are now companies that will install a solar array for free on your property, then take over as your 10 Go solar

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SIA The Intelligent Partner - Summer 2007

Contents Word off the Slopes SIA Staff Contributors SIA Business SIA Board of Directors Greening the Biz Want Instant Success? Just Add Snow Out and About Day in the Life – Supplier Day in the Life – Retailer Day in the Life – Rep Products & Services Index to Advertisers

SIA The Intelligent Partner - Summer 2007

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