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More companies are looking to reduce their energy and water utility bills by taking steps to make their processes more efficient.
It’s all about adapting the quality-improvement techniques that many companies are already using, said Joseph Jacobsen, associate dean at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
What’s making people turn to green? Businesses know that carbon regulations are coming and want to get ready, and they are realizing that saving energy and water helps save — or stem the rise — in utility bills.
“Green is not just environmental sustainability. Green is business sustainability too,” said Jon Dommissee, director of new product development and marketing at Bradley Corp.
Jacobsen and Dommissee spoke during a Green Manufacturing Summit held Thursday at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Bayside. Bradley, a local maker of plumbing fixtures, and the state Focus on Energy sponsored the event, along with the Journal Sentinel.
Despite the slowing economy, companies continue to seek grants from Focus on Energy to help them pay for energy-saving projects, said Nate Altfeather of Focus.
Focus provides grants that help shorten the payback time on projects that boost energy efficiency. With companies holding the line on spending, the types of incentives sought from Focus may shift.
“We’re going to see a lot more interest in low and no-cost maintenance incentives,” Altfeather said. “People aren’t going to be able to cut checks for $100,000 for new equipment.”
Focus is developing new incentives designed to help companies with energy-saving upgrades that have a payback of one year or less. The Focus program, funded through charges on utility bills, will pay nearly 100% of an energy audit for those firms, Altfeather said.
Another new program, he said, would help fund the hiring of a part-time energy manager for companies that are too strapped and overloaded and can’t find time for someone already on the payroll to complete energy-saving upgrades.
Enrollment is booming in energy-related courses being offered by Milwaukee Area Technical College, many of which are centered at the Center for Energy Conservation and Advanced Manufacturing in Oak Creek, said Jacobsen.
The college is starting courses in sustainable building operations and energy management and will launch courses in the area of renewable-energy installation this fall.
“There is a sense of urgency about this that is just incredible,” he said. “It has to do with the stimulus package and putting people to work.”
For more on the event, and information about incentives available from Focus on Energy, see Thomas Content’s Plugged In blog at www.jsonline.com/business
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