If you are willing to embrace sustainability and make the switch to renewable energy for your company, you will see it pay dividends for not only a cost savings, but surplus cash flow as well.
Nielsen, in its 2015 Global Corporate Sustainability Report, said that brands showing a commitment to sustainability saw a 4% growth in sales worldwide last year, while those that didn’t saw a 1% decrease.
In today’s world, consumers are increasingly showing a preference for brands that have embraced sustainability.
During 2015, 66% of respondents to Nielsen’s survey said they are will to pay more for sustainable goods, which equates to an 11% increase in 2014 and up 16% from 2014.
This isn’t limited to just companies that sell sustainable goods specifically as Nielsen found that 45% of respondents said a company’s “commitment to the environment” plays a large part in their purchasing decisions.
With 73% of millennials and 72% in Generation Z saying they’d pay more for sustainable products, we will see this number only grow from here.
Low Energy Prices
As natural gas prices reach record lows, now is the time to capitalize on low energy prices.
Some may jump to the conclusion that purchasing renewable energy now might actually cost your organization more money, but that is surely not the case.
In 2015, we saw some of the world’s largest organizations significantly increase their renewable energy investments.
Google, who we spoke about back in December, is one of them and making huge strides to be at the forefront of this corporate social responsibility movement.
Low prices for natural gas make for a competitive market for electricity overall, creating plenty of opportunities for your organization to use renewable energy purchasing to meet your sustainability goals in a cost-effective way.
Using Technology to Mitigate Regional Price Variations
Prices for green power, typically secured through renewable energy certificates, can vary significantly region-by-region.
Everything from wind speed to regional compliance schemes make renewable energy more expensive to procure from some areas than others, and organizations that lack the tools to take these factors into account can end up spending more on energy than they had to.
EnerNOC uses live market fees to take a forward-looking approach to procurement, comparing what your organization pays (from the day your energy procurement agreement begins) with forward market prices and your load data to get details on how much you’d pay for your next agreement.
Understanding when and where to buy energy will help your organization form its go-to-market strategy to get the best price possible.
