February 15, 2011

CFOs underestimate return on energy efficiency

The Guardian reports that most CFOs at large businesses are significantly underestimating the returns from energy efficiency investments.


On average they thought that straightforward energy efficiency projects – like heating and lighting upgrades, energy saving policies and staff training – would deliver an internal rate of return (IRR) of 20%.


We took a close look at 1,000 energy efficiency projects... and found that companies can expect to see an IRR of 48% on average and payback within three years. In the retail sector, according to our figures, the average IRR from energy efficiency projects leaps to 82%. Few other investments get anywhere near these rates of return.


Click here to read the paper

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