There's a theory that people and businesses will do the best for energy efficiency, but that's not always the case - people don't always turn the light off when they leave the room.

Hi. I'm Chris from EECA, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.

Many large energy using businesses could be wasting up to 20% of their energy, despite a number of easy wins that they could have in this area.

Here's some things that we hear from businesses first-hand. They wanna know best practice.

They want to have guidance and frameworks, and they want support with how to achieve this.

And finally, there's resource constraints and competing priorities for what they want to do in energy efficiency and the other production areas of their business.

EECA works with a diverse range of businesses, all across NZ, to overcome these challenges.

EECA were part of the catalyst for the whole energy-efficiency programme.

We've been working with them for a number of years. We have a dedicated adviser. And they've been, uh, an integral part of the success of energy efficiency and carbon reductions here at the airport.

At Panuku, we had the great privilege of being able to redevelop, uh, the Wynyard Quarter in Auckland. We were told to do sustainable development.

We thought, 'We want to address the issues of climate change, 'we want to make sure we build a place that is really efficient and uses resources wisely,' so it was just a natural fit for us to be working with EECA.

Managing your energy well can save you money as well as providing wider benefits to your business.

It can improve productivity, health and safety, staff engagement as well as decreasing your carbon emissions.

By reducing our cost, we're reducing our footprint, we're reducing our carbon emissions, and we're becoming a more sustainable company. 

We've had reports back from our health and safety people that the improvements that we have made, particularly in the areas around lighting, that it's had several spin-offs in terms of safety, and, uh, having a much brighter and friendlier working environment means that you get a very good buy-in from the workers.

Every day we see what good energy management looks like.

Normally, it's a focus on the three P's - plant, people and process.

The same principles apply for every business.

I'm really proud to be part of a team that works with NZ's largest energy users.

We help businesses think long-term; help them utilise a framework; build a case internally; get all of the right people, involved; and finally, show how energy efficiency can add value across the entire business.

I suppose when you're looking at energy efficiency, there are a multitude of opportunities, and that can seem quite daunting. But essentially, working with EECA and getting an audit done as a first step will actually present you back with the information you need to make good business decisions.

EECA has supported thousands of energy audits, feasibility studies and workshops to identify energy-saving opportunities.
These are across all sectors of our economy.

With this experience behind us, EECA can get you on the path to better energy management.

No matter who you are, there are opportunities to save energy and carbon.

EECA have been very encouraging. They've helped us. They've assisted us with providing expertise.

And I think without EECA, we would have been a lot slower in picking up on what we've done.

We look for the best opportunities for your business. We put you in touch with energy experts, provide case studies and facilitate network opportunities for you to meet similar businesses.

It's about getting the pitch right and understanding the business, to show that in an industry with low margin, that actually, energy management and cost reduction is the most efficient way of improving the bottom line.

To other businesses considering help from EECA, I would say take it.

So, why do we do it? We're here to make NZ a better place to live through the better use of energy.

Energy efficiency and carbon reduction is good for your business, it's good for the economy, and it's good for the whole of NZ.