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Successful businesses worldwide are focusing on becoming more sustainable, and most top business leaders see a strong connection to sustainability and future business success.
Leaders from some of the world’s most successful corporations, such as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk, have personally dedicated their companies to sustainability efforts. In June 2020, Alan Jope, the CEO of global consumer goods company Unilever, celebrated the company’s 10th year of a dedicated plan to sustainability. He called the company’s commitment to sustainability a “game-changer for our business.”
In Kentucky, global companies such as Ford, Maker’s Mark and Yum! Brands and more have teamed with the commonwealth’s largest utilities, Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company, to invest in sustainable efforts and initiatives.
Here are four ways business owners and executives can help their own businesses become more sustainable.
1. Subscribe to renewable energy
While renewable program offerings available to customers vary at each utility, participating in a community solar program is a simple, straight-forward investment that can help put a company’s sustainable initiatives in motion while supporting their local community. In Kentucky, LG&E and KU’s subscription-based Solar Share program is a cost-effective option available to the utilities’ residential, business and industrial customers who want to support solar energy. For less than 20 cents a day, your business can support local solar energy in Kentucky, earn credits on bills and track the facility’s solar generation data. The program is ideal for companies that want to avoid up-front installation costs and long-term maintenance required for a private solar system.
In March 2019, Ford Motor Company became the first major founding partner in the program. And non-profit Kentucky Habitat for Humanity teamed with LG&E and KU for an innovative partnership that transfers Solar Share credits to eligible low-income families across Kentucky, offsetting a portion of each family’s utility bill for 25 years.
Workers install solar panels at the Maker’s Mark facility in Loretto, Kentucky. Photo furnished
2. Consider a solar array at your facility
If putting an individual solar facility on-site at your company’s property is a consideration your business is looking to explore, utilities can help do the heavy lifting. LG&E and KU offer the Business Solar program for business and industrial customers who wish to customize a solar project their patrons can see in operation. The utilities procure, build, own and operate the individual solar facilities with minimal impact on operations and maintain the solar arrays for the life of the agreement. This allows companies to avoid large, upfront capital costs, and receive bill credits that offset a portion of monthly bills.
In May 2018, the Archdiocese of Louisville partnered with LG&E and KU for the first diocesan-based solar array in the greater Kentucky region. In 2020, Maker’s Mark, manufacturer of world-famous bourbon, added to its sustainability initiatives with a 560-panel solar array at its property in Loretto, Kentucky.
3. Support electrical infrastructure
As driver-adoption of electric vehicles continues to rise, helping ensure there is infrastructure to support EV drivers is essential. Some businesses are helping advance the effort by making EV charging stations available for employees or others on their property.
In 2016, forward-thinking Yum! Brands became the first LG&E and KU commercial customer to host charging stations for employees at its Louisville campus. The utilities partner with businesses to install EV charging stations on-site. As a station host, you can determine if the hosted stations will be publicly or privately accessible. In addition to working with businesses, LG&E and KU have also installed nearly two dozen public charging stations across Kentucky and have plans in the works to add additional, faster, public EV charging stations in the near future.
4. Explore customized sustainable options
Because supporting sustainability can take many forms, identifying your company’s goals and exploring what combination of initiatives, program participation and partnerships are available can help businesses meet their targets. LG&E and KU offer the Green Tariff to help support the growth of renewable energy and economic development in Kentucky. Your business can choose between three options, or a blend of all three, to meet your renewable energy goals. The options include the ability to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), build a solar array at your facility through the aforementioned Business Solar Program, or purchase solar, hydro or wind power through a Renewable Power Agreement.
Already, two of Kentucky’s leading industrial companies, Toyota and Dow, are participating in renewable power agreements that support the construction of a new, 100-megawatt solar array, which will be one of the largest in Kentucky.
Visit lge-ku.com/sustainability, to learn more about these sustainability options.