User Manual

1
Harvard Business Review Analytic Services
SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
37%
OF SURVEY RESPONDENTS SAY THEIR
ORGANIZATIONS HAVE INITIATIVES IN
PLACE TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE.
71%
OF RESPONDENTS CITE REDUCING
ENERGY COSTS AS THE MOST
IMPORTANT DRIVER OF DEVELOPING
ON-SITE POWER GENERATION.
Nearly 50%
OF RESPONDENTS SAY THEIR
ORGANIZATIONS PURSUE ENERGY
REDUCTION OPPORTUNITIES ON
AN AD HOC BASIS.
BUSINESS RESILIENCY
AND ENERGY INNOVATION
The vast majority of U.S. business, hospital, and higher education
leaders have strong concerns about rising energy costs, business
interruptions from weather-related events, and the daunting
specter of cyberattacks on power grids. But, according to a Harvard
Business Review Analytic Services study, only a small minority of
organizations have embarked on any signicant course of action
to address these concerns; only about a third of organizations have
developed business resiliency plans. Even fewer have put an energy
procurement strategy in place.
Businesses and other organizations need to pick up the pace, according to experts.
New technologies are on the cusp of driving an energy industry transformation that
will likely change consumption and delivery to the same degree—and with similar
speed—that cellular technology revamped telephony. Businesses are already turning
away from non-sustainable energy sources. And the most prescient are taming energy
costs and ensuring resiliency through increased use of on-site power generation.
Equally striking, despite decades of debate about the role of government in the
economy, business and organizational leaders rmly believe in a strong government
role in energy innovation. Moreover, the vast majority of respondents believe
businesses and municipal governments should partner to ensure the resiliency of
cities and the organizations that operate in them.
A New Energy Era on the Horizon
Businesses and other organizations are clearly turning away from fossil fuels and
nuclear power. In their place, solar energy leads the list of energy sources that
organizations will signicantly increase their use of in the next 10 years. Natural
gas also ranks high because of its widespread availability and relatively low carbon
emissions. FIGURE 1
Converting waste to energy is also high on the list. Landing in the number four spot,
the process has proven to be very eective, especially in countries with limited fossil
fuel resources, according to Robert Thornton, president of the International District
Energy Association. He points to Denmark as an example. “During the rst oil embargo
in 1973, Denmark relied on imported oil for over 92% of its primary energy supply, and
the economy nearly came to a standstill. Subsequently, policies like the Electricity
Supply Act and Heat Supply Act catalyzed much greater energy and resource eciency,