Al Valk Takes Off Ten Percent
By Shawn Dell Joyce
Many local businesses are discovering the benefits of taking the Ten Percent Challenge and lowering their energy use and cost by ten percent before the winter rise in energy costs. One of those businesses is Al Valk’s Garage in Walden.
Valk says: “As a small business in a struggling economy we have been researching all the rising costs of doing business, insurance, taxes, licenses, fuel electric, etc. Our electric bills for last July through August were $960.00, and with the winter season just around the corner, our electric bills will more than double. The idea of the Ten Percent Challenge is real to us; because of the rising costs of doing business, we are trying for more.”
Valk contacted his utility, New York State Electric & Gas, and had an audit through their in house energy audit program called Enerpath (www.enerpath.com). NYSEG sent an auditor to Valk’s Garage and recommended that he replace the old, out-dated fluorescent fixtures and bulbs with more efficient newer ones. The work has not yet been completed, but Valk has been assured that it will be in the next few months and will start saving him more than $113 per year, and $566 in the next five years in spite of rising energy costs. Valks’ current annual lighting expense is $371 per year, and one simple lighting upgrade of 24 bulbs and fixtures, which will cost $1,025, will pay for itself in 42 months and give a return on investment of 28 percent. Icing on the cake is that NYSEG kicked in more than $600 towards Valk’s lighting upgrade, reducing his costs to just over $300.
While Valk reduced his electric bill by more than 30 percent with one simple upgrade, he’s not stopping there. “We plan on resealing all the 17 overhead garage doors,” notes Valk, as well as having all the “heating units serviced and cleaned, with a possible upgrade on a heating unit – if money is available.”
Valk thinks the Ten Percent Challenge makes good business sense. “The challenge equals smart business management, says Valk. “We must pay attention to all costs of doing business and living expenses to survive.”
If you want to save 10 percent on your home or business energy costs, watch for news about future Ten Percent Challenge meetings such as the one scheduled for earlier this week in Walden. Sign up and find out how your home or business can do something positive for your bottom line and the community.
Already taken the Ten Percent Challenge? Email me and tell me what you did to save and I’ll write about you in a future column. ShawnDellJoyce@gmail.com
Shawn Dell Joyce is the director of the Wallkill River School in Montgomery, one of the flagship businesses of the Ten Percent Challenge, along with the Wallkill Valley Times. Keep following her column to see how other local businesses are joining the Ten Percent Challenge.
