Businesses stand to save money employee contact list and increase profits through direct means (like reduced utility bills) as well as indirect means... such as the effects of leadership and innovation on increasing customer loyalty, broadening customer base, reducing staff turnover and enhancing company visibility and reputation. "Being green" can make good things happen on multiple levels. Exciting New Options Efficiency: Energy efficiency offers employee contact list an immediate way to cut energy costs and in ways highly cost-effective for businesses. Selecting energy-efficient equipment, devices, appliances and vehicles is the way to tap this option. Many are available employee contact list these days and often at costs the same as or not much higher than the more energy-consuming alternatives. Paying more up-front can make employee contact list excellent sense (and "cents") too, when considering the short "payback time" on your investment. Once you reach the point where what you invested has been made up in the savings from energy that you otherwise would have used and paid for, the savings after that are like free money in the bank. That's why the cost of employee contact list replacing certain equipment that's still functional but energy wasteful can make sense as well. It's all about return on investment. And some equipment can be sold to recyclers (for a double return) or employee contact list donated to a worthy cause (and with tax benefit). Remodeling of a building to incorporate green design features (retrofits) can make sense for the same reasons. Conservation: Conserving energy is the easiest employee contact list step of all as you just have to reduce your power usage and not buy a thing. Everyone can participate and, in most businesses, there are many ways to do so - in offices, in transportation, in purchasing practices, etc. Make it a team effort and track the results (energy bill-wise) so everyone shares in the glory. Energy Sources: Not all businesses have an easy choice on this but many do, including many that don't realize employee contact list they do. I'll use our small business as an example. We switched a portion of our electric to solar electric (photovoltaic panels) years ago along with adding a solar water heater. We use employee contact list propane for heat given its efficiency and performance.