Your building and office

The state of a businesses' building plays a major role in energy consumption and expense. Even if your company doesn't own the building, getting the property manger headed in the right direction is easier than you think and can result in a cleaner, greener, healthier workplace for you and your coworkers.

Get Power Smart

BC Hydro can help your business save energy and money through their product incentives, seminars and events and their e-Catalog of energy efficient products. Buy smart with energy efficient products. Changes such as swapping light bulbs to energy efficient ones through the Product Incentive Program can save your business money.

During the 2010 PowerSmart Month, BC Hydro released a series of 6 videos that tell the story of "The Grocery Store Makeover" of Donald's Market. Watch these videos to learn about what small to medium businesses can do to save energy and how Donald's Market took advantage of the Product Incentive Program.

EPISODE 1 The game plan: Energy audit and goals
EPISODE 2 Smart spots: Displays that light up
EPISODE 3 Seeing clearly: Overhead light fix
EPISODE 4 Keeping cool: Better refrigeration
EPISODE 5 Waste not: compost, paper and more
EPISODE 6 It's a wrap: Savings and results

Be a Green Table restaurant

The Green Table program helps restaurants reduce energy use and incorporate more sustainable practices into their operation. The program focuses on waste and recycling, efficient energy use and water conservation, pollutants and eco-friendly practices as well as products and services that benefit the local economy.

Get help from David Suzuki

Use the David Suzuki Office Essentials: Greening Your Workplace toolkit. This free toolkit spells out exactly how to improve your office with step-by-step instructions on saving energy and water, reducing waste and creating a healthier (and happier) workplace. Thousands of Canadians are already using these resources to go green in the workplace. Now you can, too.

If you want to build a case for a GHG management program, download David Suzuki's Doing Business in a New Climate Guide. This guide helps measure, reduce and offset emissions, provides real life examples and links you to other resources.

Check out the Metro Vancouver's Smart Steps Program

The Smart Steps Program is a set of tools, technical assistance and information to help your business find specific, cost-effective actions to reduce the amount of materials and energy used for day-to-day operations.

Ten Strategies Guidebook will walk you through the best places to initiate eco-efficiency measures in your business. Next, check out the sector guides for more focused information that can be tailored to your business.
SmartStep advisors can help you make the most of this program by offering workshops, demonstrations of their business case software and technical advice.
Business Case Total Cost Assessment help business owners identify changes to operational practices that can lead to reduced costs and increased profitability while also increasing resource efficiency and reducing pollution.

Investigate INEM tools

International Network for Environmental Management has developed several online tools to assist organisations in implementing environmental management. Here's a list of their tools:

Get a Green Workplace audit

Green Workplace offers comprehensive and targeted environmental assessments, as well as employee training and education packages, all aimed at helping your business shrink its carbon footprint.

Check out the Go Green Program

Encourage your building manager to call Go Green. This program, sponsored by the BC Building Owners and Managers Association, helps property managers recognize, prioritize and implement best practices in the five following areas - resource consumption, waste reduction, building materials, interior environment and tenant awareness.

Government tools to help improve your workplace

Industry Canada offers links to many self-assessement tools, calculators, and other tool kits to improve your energy efficiency and reduce your environmental impact.

Add Dollars to $ense

Increasing the energy efficiency of your operation is one of the fastest and easiest ways to cut costs, improve your bottom line and reduce your greenhouse gas emissions. Discover how at this NRCan energy management workshop series. (schedule)

Grants and incentives

Government incentives

ecoENERGY retrofit incentive now includes commercial and institutional buildings up to 20,000 square metres in size. Find out how your organization can qualify for up to $250,000 in retrofit incentives from the Government of Canada.

Capital Cost Allowance provides an accelerated rate write-off for investments for investments that produce heat for use in an industrial process or electricity by using fossil fuel efficiently or by using renewable energy sources. Qualifying systems include: 1) cogeneration and specified-waste fuelled electrical generation systems, 2) active solar systems, 3) small scale hydroelectric installations, 4) heat recovery systems, 5) wind energy conversion systems, 6) photovoltaic electrical generation systems, 7) geothermal electrical generation systems, 8) specified-waste fuelled heat production systems.

Utility incentives

BC Hydro

Their Power Smart Industrial Program offers range of major funding opportunities and expert resources to help B.C. businesses increase profitability and take complete control of their energy. Visit their website to learn about their plan, discover, upgrade, support cycle and how you could benefit. (i.e. refrigeration system and compressed air system upgrades).
Their Project Implementation Funding is available to large commercial customers to reduce the capital cost of implementing electrical energy efficiency projects - it is designed to allow customers to meet internal hurdle rates for mechanical, HVAC and other energy efficiency projects.
Hydro's Whole Building Design program will co-fund an energy study to develop a high-performance design to save you energy. This offer is designed for commercial, institutional and multi-unit residential new developments or major building retrofits that can save 100,000 kWh, and are in the early stages of the design process. If the energy efficiency measures in the high-performance design involve added costs, then incentives may be provided to help, based on the amount of savings the building will achieve.
The High-Bay Lighting Initiative for warehouse storage or logistics facilities offers project funding (to a maximum of 60% of total project costs) to install new energy-efficient fluorescent lighting and controls. Incentives are based on the total electrical savings of the project.
The Energy-Efficient Lighting Design offer provides financial incentives and tools to help building developers and their design teams create and install more effective and energy-efficient lighting in new multi-unit residential and commericial development projects.

Fortis BC

Improve your natural gas efficiency. Managing energy costs is a hot topic for many businesses. Fortis BC offers great tips and tools to help businesses save on their gas bill

Businesses located in the Lower Mainland that consume more than 2,000/GJ annually are qualified to receive a FREE energy assessment by Fortis BC.
Efficient Boiler Program is designed to encourage the use of high efficiency, natural gas hydronic space heating systems in commercial applications. If you're a commercial building owner, developer, consulting engineer or contractor, Fortis BC can help you select an efficient boiler configuration for your project. What's more, they can help you with financial incentives for installing or upgrading to condensing or near-condensing boilers.
Light Commercial ENERGY STAR Boiler Program - If you're building, converting or upgrading your heating system, you may qualify for a cash rebate of up to $1,495 by installing an ENERGY STAR condensing or near-condensing boiler sized up to 299 MBH.
Efficient Commerical Water Heater Program - Today's high performance natural gas water heaters offer efficiencies of up to 95% and are more reliable than standard models. Whether you're building new or upgrading, installing a high-efficiency water heater is one way to prevent your profits from running down the drain. Another is to apply for a rebate of up to $15,000.

Other offers

Solar BC offers subsidies of the installed cost available upon installation and commissioning of solar hot water systems for schools.

Vancity's Green Business Program - Business and not-for-profit members – including housing co-ops and property-managed stratas – can get free advice on how to green your operations and an Eco-Efficiency Loan to help you finance your energy improvements. You can choose one or both options.

Vancity's Green Building Grant Program provides up to $50,000 each year to qualified recipients. Applications are accepted from charitable organizations, not-for-profit organizations and co-operatives.
Vancity's Micro Loan for Green Businesses help start-up entrepreneurs developing green businesses or working on green technologies to launch.

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