Get up-to-the-minute multimedia coverage of the U.N. Conference on Climate Change as world leaders and environment officials hammer out a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Full Coverage
Green business spurs growth for energy consultants
NEW YORK (Reuters) - As more American companies seek to go green to please environmentally friendly customers and cut costs, energy consultants are reaping the benefit with a surge in business.
Energy consultants are reporting exponential growth in the number of clients seeking advice on saving energy and money.
Steven Winters said green was not even on the radar screen when he set up his building service firms, Steven Winters Associates, 35 years ago.
But since his first year in business, clients seeking "green" building services, like advice on energy efficiency, has grown 6,800 percent, said Winters. In the last five years, the number of clients seeking those services has doubled.
Cecily Chanell, a senior sustainability consultant at Steven Winters, said on average the firm can help clients cut about 30 percent of their energy use.
Switching out incandescent bulbs and turning the lights off overnight are no-brainer first steps.
But energy efficiency consultants go on to evaluate everything from faucet aeration -- increased water aeration reduces water use and water heating costs -- to daylight harvesting, a technologically sophisticated way to adjust lighting according to the amount of daylight available.
Legow Management, one of Steven Winters Associates' clients, said costs pressures prompted them to look at way to make their rental buildings more energy efficient.
"Electricity (costs) are going up 14 to 15 percent a year... if you can keep pace with their increases, you're doing a good job," said Jerry Legow, one of the firm's owners.
CORPORATE ETHICS TURN GREEN
Such measures can also have side benefits, like employment and tenant satisfaction, that can bring further savings, according to Tom Hicks, a spokesman for the U.S. Green Building Council.
"A big part of that bottom line of those organizations is the people -- and keeping good quality people retains and attracts the top talent," said Hicks.
When Legow Management switched to energy efficient windows, the company found it cut noise levels, a side benefit that Legow hopes will help keep tenants for longer.
"If people are happy, maybe they'll stay," said Legow.
One gauge of the interest in greener, more energy efficient buildings is the membership of the U.S. Green Building Council. Founded in 1993, the organization reached its 10,000 member mark this year and has a large corporate membership.
"I think this is part of the new corporate ethnics that has taken hold in the last few years," said Albert Thumann, executive director of the Association for Energy Engineers.
It helps that consumers are often willing to pay a premium for an environmentally friendly product.
A survey last year by the Albanese Organization, the developer of the first "green" high-rise residential building in the United States, found rents were higher in greener buildings in Manhattan's Battery Park City.
Ultimately, although some businesses are interested in seeing how they measure up as a global citizen in terms of their carbon footprint, going green often boils down to the bottom line, said Channell.
"Any decisions that are made about retrofitting or changing corporate practices have to make sense financially," she said.
