Energy costs for industries typically constitute from 10 to 25 percent or more of the total annual operating costs for a small business and or industry. Finding opportunities to cut those costs can have a big impact on a company’s bottom line.

A P2E2 Site Assessment is an effective tool facility managers can use to identify opportunities for reducing energy consumption, cutting waste, air emissions and water use and their corresponding costs to your company.

The Department of Environmental Protection has available P2E2 Site Assessment Grants to help offset the cost of a professional assessment of facilities for energy efficiency and pollution reduction potentials.

The process of doing an assessment and evaluating the potential for cutting costs offers companies both short-term and strategic opportunities to make businesses not only more efficient, but more competitive.

In many cases there is an immediate payback in taking recommendations of an assessment, but more likely the long-term payback of changes can be significant.

Sometimes it’s as simple as installing time-sensitive thermostats, other times it may call for more investments, but with a bigger reward over time.

If you’re interested in having a site assessment done, it is critical to hire a certified and qualified site assessor.

Some site assessors are more familiar with energy, some with water treatment, some with wastewater treatment and others with food processing. We always recommend requesting copies of previous reports to review as part of the selection process to see the type of work that the site assessor will deliver.

To learn more about the assessment process, the DEP P2E2 Site Assessment Grant Program and to see examples of the potential savings, a special white paper is attached to this webpage.

For more information contact: Stephen N. Zeller, Brinjac Engineering

4/15/2005