Two new sources of funding to help businesses cut energy use have been launched today.
The Carbon Trust has announced a new fund to provide capital for smaller businesses to replace energy inefficient equipment. The £7m Green Business Fund is available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and will offer energy saving training and assessments, implementation advice and capital support for the installation of energy efficiency equipment.
Eligible companies can apply for a capital contribution to cover up to 15% (maximum of £10,000) of the cost of a project or equipment replacement.
The fund can be used to purchase a range of equipment, including energy efficient lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), and energy controls. The trust is also running free workshops on improving efficiency for small businesses.
The trust expects the scheme to support up to 2,000 small businesses and enable participating companies to invest £55m in energy saving projects, which would deliver lifetime energy savings of almost £130m. The programme will focus on high quality implementation to ensure the best energy efficiency opportunities are fully realised, the trust said.
New research by the trust of senior decision makers in SMEs found that almost half (46%) are concerned about the amount they currently spend on energy, while more than one-third (37%) of businesses nationwide would like to take more action to their improve energy efficiency.
Lack of money to invest in new energy saving equipment and the absence of affordable options rank as the two biggest barriers to improving their energy efficiency (23% for each), the trust found.
Hugh Jones, managing director of advisory at the Carbon Trust, said: ‘Our experience of working with thousands of companies across the UK indicates that year-on-year savings of 20-30% can be delivered through action on energy efficiency. We’d encourage smaller companies to apply to make the most of the fund on offer in order to realise significant savings on their bottom line.’
For more information, or to apply, click here.
Meanwhile, RBS has extended a service originally aimed at SMEs to large corporate customers with an annual energy spend of more than £200,000. The service includes energy audits to help businesses find ways to cut consumption by replacing inefficient heating systems or by generating renewable energy onsite, and provides funding or refinancing for installation costs.
The bank says that it can help corporate customers realise savings identified by audits under the energy savings opportunity scheme (ESOS), as well as to help customers finance long-term changes to their energy consumption.
