Apr 15 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Thomas Content Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Concerns about energy security, rising energy costs and climate change are mounting, generating more buzz about energy efficiency, a new survey released Monday shows.

But that buzz isn't yet translating into increased investment in energy efficiency, says the survey released by Johnson Controls Inc., the state's largest company and a key player in energy efficiency technology.

Four out of five executives and facility managers responsible for energy decisions forecast energy prices to rise in the coming year, with a consensus that prices will escalate by nearly 14%, the survey found.

The second annual Energy Efficiency Indicator survey polled 1,150 energy decision-makers online with the help of the International Facility Management Association.

The survey found 72% of organizations are paying more attention to energy efficiency than they were just a year ago.

But the survey found 56% of companies expect to make energy-efficiency improvements to their buildings, little changed from last year's 57%.

Hurdles include cost pressures from other areas within a company; the payback period for savings on energy costs; and the disconnect between that payback and the desire for commercial real estate landlords to sell their buildings within a few years, said Clay Nesler, vice president of global energy and sustainability for Johnson Controls.

The survey also found growing interest in energy efficiency is being driven by companies that have set corporate goals to become more environmentally sustainable and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Nearly 40% of those surveyed think it is "extremely" or "very" likely that legislation will be enacted within two years to require energy efficiency or reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.

Spending cut unlikely

Executives at Johnson Controls and several other companies that have implemented energy efficiency upgrades said during a webcast Monday that they don't expect corporations to cut back on energy-efficiency investments during an economic slowdown.

The reason: Spending on energy efficiency can cut costs year after year for the company, they said.

But more investment in energy efficiency isn't expected either.

"There is acknowledgment that this should be done, there is interest, but at the end of the day, there are a lot of uses for capital and there are a lot of pressures on operating budgets," Nesler said. "And what happens quite often is that as these projects get brought up, frankly, investments in energy efficiency might not be given the same strategic weight as investments that increase revenue or expand markets."

Companies that spend more heavily on energy efficiency tend to be larger with offices in multiple locations. More of these firms have a commitment from the corporate boardroom to become more environmentally friendly.

JohnsonDiversey Inc. of Sturtevant is incorporating energy efficiency into its buildings as it seeks to reduce its carbon footprint, said Stuart Carron, JohnsonDiversey environmental marketing manager.

The company's 550,000-foot distribution center in Sturtevant, completed last summer, is the largest warehouse in the country to earn "gold" status from the certifying organization Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, he said.

The privately-held maker of industrial cleaning products saw a "delightful convergence" of the bottom line and green building when it reviewed applications from developers responding to its request for proposals for a "high performance warehouse with green features."

"The developer with the best financial proposal and the best ability to deliver the project . . . had the highest green building features built into the proposal," Carron said.