Cost savings push SMEs to go green

27/03/2011

 A DESIRE to drive down costs is encouraging businesses across East Yorkshire to enhance their green credentials.

Environmentally friendly features such as rainwater harvesting, photovoltaic (PV) panels and biomass fired boilers are becoming increasingly prominent in new-build developments.

Last week, The Business reported on the 50,480sq ft new development on Wykeland's Meltonwest Business Park, which comprises a variety of sustainable elements, including hundreds of PV panels.

Dominic Gibbons, managing director of Wykeland, said the green agenda was something the Hull property development and investment company "took very seriously", not only because it reflected good ethical development, but also because it was what customers wanted.

Today, Dave Garness, director of Garness Jones in Hull, said a desire to keep costs down was encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs )to follow suit and find ways that they could lower their carbon footprint while reducing their energy usage, thus achieving instant cost and energy savings.

He said: "With regards to solar and PV panels, I think it is still early days. However, the awareness of such features is far better than what it was, which is great.

"I think larger companies that are looking at sustainability in terms of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) are certainly asking the question of what sustainable features a property has, but for SMEs, less so.

"The awareness is still there among SMEs but, in the current climate, they have other priorities, namely making a profit.

"However, I think the real driver going forward will be cost savings and PV panels are a good example."

Solar electricity systems capture the sun's energy using PV cells.

Each cell is made from one or two layers of semiconducting material, usually silicon. When light shines on the cell it creates an electric field across the layers. The stronger the sunshine, the more electricity is produced.

The cells can be attached to the roof or walls of a building and convert sunlight into electricity.

Mr Garness added: "If installing them on a property can demonstrate immediate costs savings then it has an immediate impact on an SME.

"OK, it requires an initial investment but if businesses can see a return on that investment then it will be worth it."

Mr Garness said one area in which his firm is seeing an increase in enquiries and demand centred around insulation.

He added: "One area in which we do see a really good level of awareness and demand is the insulation value of a building, which ten years ago wasn't very high on the list at all.

"Now that energy costs have risen as they have, this is fast becoming an important area in which businesses can save money.

"The vast majority of the market is made up of SMEs and they have to make a profit, so to many of them sustainability is cost driven.

"There is nothing wrong with that; it is business, and SMEs tend to look more closely at their bottom line."