Determining Clean Energy’s ROI For Your Business

When you invest in clean energy and energy efficiency solutions, you want to make sure you get a solid return on your new investment. But how can you determine whether the new systems in your facility are generating a good ROI? Let’s look at the different factors you should consider for ROI from solar systems, LED lighting, and energy efficient HVAC systems.

Solar system ROI can be measured through a variety of factors: rates, system costs, efficiency, property and facility characteristics, and changes in property value that occur. Often, post-implementation, you’re left wondering when you should calculate these measurements. A good rule of thumb is to measure ROI at the end of your solar payback period– the time it takes you to earn back your solar energy system’s upfront costs. For example, if your payback period is 5 years, then you should measure the pertinent factors listed above to determine your system’s ROI and how it impacts your budget and operations.

While those methods work well for measuring ROI of solar energy systems, calculating the ROI of an LED lighting installation can be a bit different. Given that LED lighting systems are made up of fixtures and bulbs, calculating ROI may be easily accomplished ahead of making an investment for new installation or retrofit. These calculations compare existing fixtures against LED fixtures to show per bulb, fixture, and overall. LED experts show customers how efficient LED is, and help you understand how an LED installation improves your facility’s energy efficiency.

We now know how to determine the ROI for solar panel systems and LED lighting systems, but what about for energy efficient HVAC systems? There are a number of online calculators available to help you estimate ROI for energy-efficient chillers, boilers, and commercial heat pumps. The Department of Energy provides these ROI calculators to show businesses how switching to an energy-efficient HVAC system will improve their buildings’ energy efficiency and overall HVAC operations. In addition, seasoned HVAC experts have the knowledge and expertise to audit your facility, and evaluate on other clean energy technologies in use, which can provide a full estimate of costs and potential ROI.

Are you considering switching to any of these clean energy systems? If so, Helios Energy™ is here to help. We are a clean energy and energy efficiency solutions company based in Tennessee and we’ve installed LED, solar, and energy-efficient HVAC systems for businesses, universities, and government institutions across the US. If you’d like to better understand how these clean energy and energy efficiency technologies will fit into your facility, reach out to us today.