As business owners, we often get the message that we have to choose—either we grow our profits or we do good for the planet.
Not only is this a false choice, it’s also a dangerous one that sets us up to make bad business decisions. If your business hasn’t adopted green practices because they seem to be too expensive, you might be falling into a few common pitfalls. Here are three mistakes your business might be making.
1. Buying Cheap Goods
While buying cheap goods cuts short-term operating costs, it’s not necessarily the best way to increase profits over the life of your business. Many products we use, including energy-using goods, are doomed to fail after a predetermined amount of time, a phenomenon known as “planned obsolescence.” The incandescent light bulb is a classic example, being specifically engineered– beginning in the 1920s!– to fail after 1,000 hours of use.
The development of ultra efficient and environmentally-friendly LED bulbs has been a game-changer, with some lasting nearly 50 times longer than the standard incandescent bulb. Even allowing for some differences between testing and reality, the higher cost of LED bulbs is more than justified by the product’s efficient use of energy and longevity, which can yield significant savings in the long term.
Light bulbs are just one example of a green product that outperforms its conventional counterpart. See our Learn page for more.
2. Using Appliances Past Their Prime
Waiting for that fridge, water heater, or other appliance to die before replacing it seems to make sense. Throwing out a perfectly working piece of equipment is wasteful, right? Not necessarily, it turns out. In evaluating whether and when to replace older appliances, you should consider not only the month-to-month cost of operating and maintaining the item, but the costs you will incur over the lifetime of the product.
In other words: Even if your decades old refrigerator still does its job, it probably uses a lot of power. A new model might literally use 1/3 as much energy. This means that replacing your old appliance with a new, energy efficient one will significantly reduce your operating expenses, and will – from an environmental perspective – better conserve natural resources.
If any of your appliances are over 10 years old, it’s time to weigh out the costs and begin planning for a replacement. Not only will you benefit financially from the switch, you’ll feel great about using something that’s less wasteful and having less of an impact environmentally.
Finally, waiting for an appliance to die isn’t the most time-efficient. Depending on what dies and when, you may look at losing income from your business if something critical goes out. Or you might find yourself needing to make a hasty decision in an urgent situation.
Don’t let the appliance run you—make the plan now and save yourself a lot of time and headache.
3. Waiting for Someone to Do it for You
It can be all too easy to sit back and wait for someone to take the initiative for you, or force it on you. Maybe you’re waiting for your partner or operations person to take the flag and run with it. Maybe you’re secretly hoping for new regulations from the state or for your landlord to do something. Or maybe something major will change in your industry forcing your hand.
Quit waiting. You can take the initiative and be the driving force of change in your organization. Depending on where you are, you may have to start small, but even small improvements add up. If you need help getting started, there are lots of resources on this site, and many more available. So don’t wait for someone else to do it for you, get to work!
The post Are You Being Short-Sighted? 3 Dangers to Watch Out For appeared first on Michigan GreenLine.