Sustainable Freight
Decision Makers Guide
Saving energy, whether it be electricity, fuel or gas, is very important for Australian transport and logistics operators. Energy and fuel for transport are among two of the biggest expenditures on a company’s balance sheets and any reduction in these costs produces instant savings for a company.
To save energy it is important to take a closer look at your energy costs, discover where your business spends the most energy, and identify any areas of waste or areas where greater efficiency can be applied.
This ‘Decision Maker’s Guide’ was designed as a resource to help guide you on how to assess your company’s energy usage, consumption patterns and help to undertake a business case of the option available to increase your energy efficiency for both building electricity and transport fuel.
For the Transport and Logistics industry massive savin
gs can be achieved through employing best practices. Australia in a recent international scorecard ranked Australia 10th out of the 16 major OECD economies for overall energy efficiency, but last for energy efficiency in land transport (www.businessspectator.com.au). This fact alone highlights the potential savings that can be enjoyed with greater energy efficiency.
The report has all your information to:
-
Understand your Energy Bill
-
Measure your Fuel Usage
-
Calculate your Emissions
-
Discover the Opportunities
-
Undertake an Energy Audit
-
Build a Business Case
-
Create an Environmental Checklist
Download the full report here.
Energy Reduction Plan
Any strategy to reduce one's emissions will require an Energy Reduction Plan.
There are a number of online resources available to help a company develop theirs.
An example of one Energy Reduction Plan template can be downloaded here.
Build the Business Case
It is very important for a Business to plan sufficiently into the future to project future performance, opportunities and risk. This is no different when it comes to proper Enviornmental Management. Most projects to reduce emissions for a company are going to involve some cost. While these projects may increase efficiency, and lower costs they may also produce additional beenfits e.g. a newer more efficient HVAC system may need less spend on maintenance over a certain time period. However the upfront cost may be too prohibitive for some organisations depending on the initial cost.
A sound business case will analyse the initial costs against all potential benefits. It is important here to consider the short-term and long-term impacts for your business. Often to keep prices low transport and logistics operators will have to keep investing in the most efficient technology. While the costs can be prohibitive without these measures you may struggle to keep costs low. On the other hand investing in technology and projects to lower your emissions may have certain impacts on the short-term performance of your business.
The business case will help you ientify the risks and opportunities in moving forward. It will help you analyse what enviornment steps you can take, when to take them and also dictate the necessary payback period required to justify the expense.
To develop your Business Case see the above Decision Makers Guide.
There are a number of different resources also available throughout the web to help you develop your Business Case.
See:
FoodSA's "Business Case Assesment: Energy Efficient Equipment Toolkit"