The market is changing, and more Texans want to keep Texas clean. For established businesses and start-ups, it can be scary to have to look at your business’s environmental impact and how to reduce that impact. Making your business more environmentally friendly not only boosts your company’s reputation but can also lead to significant cost savings. Part of embracing sustainable practices is maintaining strong business operations, including proper legal structuring. If you’re located in Georgia and have not yet officially formed an LLC, you might want to learn how to form an llc in georgia. Taking this step can grant your business additional credibility and stability, integral to maintaining strong environmental standards
It can be expensive to set the infrastructure needed to ensure that your business is as environmentally friendly as Texans are to everyone.
Tax Breaks
One of the ways going green can save you money as a business is through tax credits. Tax credits are how the government incentivizes good behavior on business owners, such as creating more jobs.
Business owners trying to be more environmentally friendly can choose from many tax credit options. There are often credits available on a federal, state, and local level. For instance, you can deduct up to $1.80 per square foot for a building that saves at least 50 percent of the heating and air conditioning energy.
There are also deductions and credits available if you install solar panels or use renewable energy. Additional credits are available if you have a property large enough to install your windmill and generate wind energy for your building. If you have business vehicles, you can get a tax credit for using alternative fuel vehicles, such as electric and biofuel vehicles.
Sometimes, it is a bit more costly upfront to install the necessary equipment or upgrades needed to qualify for the credits. However, the long term savings usually balance out the cost of installation and upkeep.
Lower Utility Costs
One of the significant ways that green practices help Texas business owners save money is by reducing energy costs. For instance, if you have solar panels on your building, you generate some of the energy that your building is using. You have to pay for the upkeep of the solar panels, but you don’t have to pay for the energy itself.
You can also make your building more energy efficient by using energy-efficient appliances and ensuring that you have proper weather stripping around windows and doors. This means that your appliances don’t have to work as hard to keep going and save you energy costs.
In addition, you can shop around for an energy supplier. Many areas in Texas have multiple companies available for energy needs. Selecting a company that utilizes renewable energy usually means they will have lower prices for their plans. You can click here to learn more about clean, renewable energy for businesses in Texas.
A More Competitive Business
More and more businesses are publicly making the switch to more environmentally friendly practices. Many customers and clients are looking for that switch from the companies with which they do business. Texans want to make sure that the hill country stays beautiful and the bluebonnets continue to bloom, so they are looking for businesses trying to do something to ensure that future.
If you don’t make the shift, it can cause customers to go to your competitors instead. It is also likely that you will be paying more in energy costs to run your business so that you won’t have as large a profit margin as your competitors. And if you want to have the same profit margin, you would have to raise your prices. That would push away customers who aren’t as environmentally conscious.
Your Customers Will Thank You
Customer loyalty is the key to business longevity. Creating customer loyalty takes more than just having a good product or service. In addition to that, you have to have good customer service policies. You have to know what your customers’ values are and match those. Environmentally-conscious customers will not purchase from a business that does nothing to reduce their carbon footprint.
By using green energy and energy-efficient appliances, you can market your business to the environmentally conscious. Those customers who aren’t as moved by such things will also appreciate the lower prices you would give because your costs are lower.
Go Green to Get Green
Texas-based businesses have a lot of reasons to become energy efficient. In Texas, the summers can be hot and humid, and it can take a lot of energy to keep your building cool for employees and customers. In the winter, it can be bitterly cold. Perhaps most motivational is that using more energy-efficient practices and renewable energy in your business can save you money.
Image by Klaus-Uwe Gerhardt
