This Sunday (16 June), local Star Radio's Business Hub begins a short series of monthly dedicated programmes to help busy business owners cut their costs and understand more about how renewable energy might help them.
Switching your business to some form of renewable energy is usually a longer-term commitment which often means spending capital. Get it right, and the payback can be spectacular - you hedge your energy costs, and those claims of double-digit ROI really can happen! Green credentials can also keep customers, make your staff feel great and and make a visible commitment to reducing emissions.
It's also a fact that large incentives are available right now to make the switch, some recently almost doubled, meaning some businesses see capital payback in around four years, on equipment that will last 20 years or more.
But is something like biomass heat right for your business? Are the grants really happening? Why doesn't everyone get the four-year payback? What if you don't own your building? And why would I need a ground-source heat pump?
Hosted by Hugh Massam from E equals, these short programmes get experts to answer questions like these, to help you quickly get to grips with what's involved, and see what's right for your business.
This month's experts are Sam Whatmore, founder and Director of Forest Fuels which specialises in wood-based heating, and Guy Ransome, Commercial Director of Finn Geotherm which installs electrically-powered heat pumps and other heat recovery systems. Both these systems are 24/7 so they are particularly suited to commercial and public buildings.
Besides a quick guide to these technologies, the programmes also help you find out more about grants you can get (simply, when approached the right way), ways to get renewables installed without spending any capital, and some low-tech simple ways in which almost any business can probably reduce the energy bills at little or no cost.
And if you miss the show on Father's Day you can always play it back a few days later from the business hub.
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