Many facility and operation managers are facing a similar problem today: making a compelling business case for addressing aging facility infrastructure to senior leadership. In many instances, if an air handler or heating system isn’t directly contributing to a revenue generating activity, the ROI and payback period can appear unfavourable when compared to an investment in companies’ core activities. Facility infrastructure issues often get deferred until the problems are unavoidable causing disruption, downtime, and ironically impacting the core activity that drives the revenue generation.
What if you could tip the scales in favour of your project and lower the risk?
Energy incentives available from federal, provincial, and municipal programs can help shorten payback periods and improve the business case for your facility infrastructure project.
The building systems in commercial, manufacturing, and mixed-use residential facilities all consume energy and are prime opportunities to drive efficiency and lower operating expenses. Energy incentives are a financial tool to offset the upfront cost of analyzing and implementing replacement systems so a facility can take advantage of long-term energy savings. Across every province there are millions of dollars available to encourage businesses to make a long-term investment in both their local communities through jobs created by system efficiency projects, and their own market competitiveness through cost resiliency.
While incentives sound exciting, common assumptions or past experiences are pervasive impacting the adoption rate of available incentive programs; accessible funding is left on the table across the country.
Here are the top three assumptions energy incentive programs are not being leveraged to build better business cases today:
1. The process takes up too much of my time
Yes, applying for any energy rebate or incentive program is a time-intensive process requiring detailed information gathering and following a specific process for each program. While some incentive programs and their administration team have guidelines and requirements, not all are clear on specifics, which can delay the entire process.
Fortunately, application complexity does not need to siphon your time away from your business. In almost all instances, a professional third-party can facilitate the application process on your behalf. Spending a small amount of time verifying the past performance of these third parties and engaging with one can be a small investment with a great payoff when an incentive is secured.
2. I’ve heard I may never actually receive the incentive
Based on the ebb and flow of government mandates, new programs are continually debuting while existing ones may unexpectedly end leaving those who have applied in an uncertain state. Actively managing and communicating with an energy incentive program administrator is an effective risk mitigation strategy throughout the application process. Facility owners can choose to outsource the application management to a competent facilitator. Facilitators are experienced in anticipating subsequent information that may be required, verifying calculations, and conducting due diligence to ensure a strong application with minimal applicant caused delays. Modern Niagara manages hundreds of applications across Canada for client projects and, in some cases, guarantee the energy savings that qualify for the incentive for owner piece of mind.
3. I don’t have any eligible projects in my facility
Every municipality, province, and territory have different programs offering incentives for specific activities. From national perspective, Canada is encouraging the adoption of efficiency measures to lower the countries’ GHG emissions. The built environment is both a significant contributor to GHG and also an attractive opportunity for economically reducing emissions. Provincial, territorial, and municipal programs target specific industries and technologies that provide, in most case, a good ROI.
The best way to know if there’s an energy rebate program that applies to your industry is to regularly review available financial incentive programs across Canada using the rebate search tool on the Natural Resources Canada website. Engaging with a energy efficiency specialist can also help to uncover opportunities that your facility may be eligible for based on the age of HVAC and lighting systems.
Understanding what incentives you may be eligible for and getting help to make sure you secure them are sound strategy for improving the ROI for an energy retrofit project. Modern Niagara has a dedicated team of Energy Solutions Specialist and Engineers who can work with you through the process from start to a successful finish.
Click here to contact our Energy Solutions team for more information!