Not going green costs you more

There is a common misconception that going green will cost more money and while there is an initial capital outlay, doing nothing ignores several very costly key factors.

Ultimately, the longer you wait the more you will lose, with the only winners being the utility companies. This is exactly the same for businesses and individuals.

Increased costs

Energy and water prices are continuing to increase year on year, and this is unlikely to slow down anytime soon. It’s been predicted there will be a 35% increase in energy and water consumption by 2041 and the pressures of supply and demand means that prices will go on rising.

Against that backdrop, it’s essential to remember that all energy and water sustainability projects deliver savings which can be immediate and in some cases can be as much as 90%.

In the illustration below we see that an energy and water efficiency project can reduce an organisation’s cost by 20% from £500,000 per year to £400,000 per year. Assuming energy and water price rises of just 4%, the business-as-usual utility bill after 10 years would be £710,000 per year.

But a company with an efficiency plan in place could reduce costs by £1.2m over the 10 years.

These numbers work in a similar ways for homes. With energy efficiencies, an electricity bill of £500 per year is reduced by 20% to £400 per year, meaning that if utility prices rise just 4% annually over a 10-year period, the savings would be more than £1,200 – and doing nothing means these savings are missed completely.

Missed investment potential

Lack of action means more than just missing out on utility bills savings, there will also be missed investment opportunities. From a business perspective, this could be not purchasing an asset that could have increased capacity. For a home, not saving by going green might deny a family a memorable holiday or a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Environmental gains

The final cost of not going green is probably the most significant, but it’s also often the hardest for anyone of us to see – and that’s the environmental cost. Using the above savings examples again, for a home these are equivalent to supplying electricity for 1.9 average homes for a whole year. What’s more there’s a carbon emissions reduction of 3.8 tonnes – the same as 9,640 miles driven in an average car.

These gains over 10 years are significant, but what is even more significant is that there are 25m homes in the UK and just under 6m businesses. The combined impact of everyone doing their bit is exceptional.

Going green is common sense

Going green makes complete sense for everyone with the only potential barrier being the initial cost of the projects. For businesses, SaveMoneyCutCarbon works with funders who can lend on the future cost savings on utility bills.

The mortgage market for homeowners is behind the curve here, but hopefully this will improve as banks become more innovative in their lending for affordable green projects against future utility cost savings.