Around 210,000 businesses in New Zealand have energy bills less than NZ$100,000 (99% of which are less than NZ$40,000).

For many in this group, maintaining a profitable business requires attentive budgeting in order to make the most of often limited resources. These businesses are also likely to be hit the hardest by the coming 2007 Kyoto Protocol carbon emissions charge, which will have the greatest impact on energy and fuel costs.

This guide has been designed to enable these New Zealand businesses to reduce their energy bills by providing practical guidance and assistance.

The site provides an introduction to energy management – why it is important, how the Kyoto Protocol will affect energy and fuel prices, and the opportunities available for taking action in energy management.

The site then provides advice and tools that suit the demands of various business sectors: accommodation and education, property and business services, retail trade and industrial operations. For each sector, there are specific practical energy management tips that target the priority areas for achieving energy savings.

It is hoped this guide will help you to reduce your energy bills without great effort or expense.

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Message from the Chairman

Stephen Tindall, Chairman, NZBCSD and founder of The Warehouse.

Cold shower threats ... low lake levels ... electricity price hikes ... gas reserves running low ... climate change and the Kyoto Protocol. In my experience there has never been so much uncertainty around our energy supply and prices.

Fortunately we (NZ business) need not be helpless victims of this uncertainty. We can manage it by understanding and taking control of our energy usage.

For example, at The Warehouse we have halved our energy usage per square metre of shop space and are saving around $3 million a year. A number of our energy management initiatives are simply the clever application of commonsense. It makes perfect sense - we’ve reduced our:

• costs
• exposure to price hikes
• greenhouse gas emissions

We have written this guide to help you manage your own energy usage and emissions. We were delighted to partner with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority and the New Zealand Climate Change Office at the Ministry for the Environment on this project. It has been a pleasure working together. We welcome your feedback and are keen to profile case studies about your activities.

We’d also love to hear your suggestions on collaborative solutions for addressing the climate and energy challenge.

Let’s work together to take this wonderful country of ours from strength to strength.

Stephen Tindall

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Click here to download printable versions of the Energy Efficiency Guide Part 1 [1.13MB] and Part 2 [697KB]

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