There's never been a better time to reduce your energy usage
How CleanBC resources can help you
As you may have seen in recent BC Hydro stories about heat pumps and the new Better Buildings Energy Coach, CleanBC's plan to achieve legislated climate targets of a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the year 2030 (based on 2007 levels) is well under way.
By 2032, CleanBC's Better Buildings program is aiming for every new building in B.C. to have an ultra-efficient, net-zero energy-ready design. For existing buildings, it also offers at least 25 different incentives and rebates, such as:
- Custom Programs
- Whole Building Efficiency
- Lighting
- Social and Non-Profit Housing
- Motors and Fans
- Energy Efficiency Guidance
With incentives up to $500,000, there are many ways your business might now be able to afford to invest in infrastructure to seriously reduce its carbon footprint, and that's just part of CleanBC. There are also programs to help reduce pollution, drive cleaner transportation, increase electric vehicle adoption and develop clean energy jobs. Take a look at CleanBC's Incentive Guide and their Highlights Report [PDF] for some thought-starters, as well as a glimpse into the difference we can make to B.C.'s future if we all work together over the next 10 years.
Get more help from BC Hydro
BC Hydro's Conservation and Energy Management (CEM) Hub, (which launched around the same time as Clean BC), brings some powerful tools and incentives for business customers that fully align with CleanBC's vision.
"The CEM Hub is about helping all of our business customers plan strategically and make the right decisions about how to manage their energy usage for the long term," says Paul Seo, Senior Program Manager at BC Hydro. "We offer a lot of solutions and tools for a wide range of activities to support our business customers, including a strategic approach to managing energy." These revolve around our three pillar approach:
- Business Management: Understanding where you are now and where you want to be so that you can create a strategic roadmap that includes targets to hit over a specified time
- Asset Management: Using the road map to determine where best to invest your capital dollars, optimize incentives in order to upgrade to energy efficient technologies
- Change Management: Defining different or new behaviours for your team to drive better energy management, such as turning down your heating by one degree or switching off equipment and lighting whenever possible
"We know our business customers are very aware of their electricity costs," says Rob Raymond, Program Manager at BC Hydro. "But many of them aren't aware that they don't have to be fixed costs and can be carefully controlled. The CEM Hub helps these customers plan strategically and make the right decisions about how to manage their energy usage for the long term."
This is especially useful for customers with multiple locations, as a single log-in now gives access to all current available data, including:
- Energy Information: Annual consumption, energy costs and current consumption trends for your company and/or individual locations
- Advanced Analytics: Understand and see impacts of energy efficient projects and determine which sites are performing well
- Incentive project log: Details on all completed and ongoing incentive projects for any location
- Strategic tools: Assessment tools to create energy road map and behavioural change toolkits for additional savings
If you've participated in the past with our incentive offer, you'll just need your ID and password. If you're a new user, just enter your business account number to get help deciding which program suits your business best.
Why it pays to get started today
With so much momentum behind reducing GHGs and energy usage overall, there’s never been a better time to invest in your business's future: incentive funds for GHG reductions are possibly the highest they’ve ever been. So take a look to see what funding your business could benefit from – and apply for it!
Find out more at CleanBC – and of course, by logging into BC Hydro's Conservation and Energy Management (CEM) Hub.