Small Business

Case Studies

View case studies of California businesses that have taken steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions!

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The Money Saving Actions page directs you to no-cost, low-cost and long term energy saving tips.

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We're looking for California businesses that have reduced their climate impact! Read more

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Use the business specific carbon footprint calculator to calculate your business' footprint.

California small businesses are an important driver of California's economy.

All businesses use energy, produce goods and services, and have employees who commute/travel for work. These activities produce greenhouse gas emissions.

To facilitate voluntary greenhouse gas emission reductions in a cost effective way, a toolkit has been developed to help small businesses save money and limit their environmental impact. This toolkit consists of the following elements:

Carbon Footprint Calculator
Money Saving Actions
Case Studies
Rebate$ and Incentive$
Award Program
Informative Resources


In order for this toolkit to provide valuable assistance to small businesses, we need your feedback on its content and usability. Please take a few minutes to download the Instructions and send us your comments so we can improve this site. If you are interested, we will acknowledge your business (and add a link to your website) as a toolkit reviewer on our Participant page after you complete the review.

Did you know?

Small retailers spend on average $800 each month on electricity and small offices spend $1,000 each month. Much of this spending is unnecessary.

California's small and medium-sized businesses consume about 18% of all commercial energy in the state .

By implementing cost-effective energy efficiency projects, annual utility bills can be reduced up to 20%. The simple reasons are that efficiency upgrades reduce annual maintenance costs, increase cost savings, conserve resources and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

FREE Workshop in Sacramento March 16, 2010

How does your business compare?

Highlights

Why should Small Business work with the State to achieve AB32 goals?

All 3.4 million California small businesses use energy and produce goods and services and their employees commute to work. Each of these activities produces greenhouse gas emissions. As businesses reduce emissions, they will help the state reach its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal and save money. For example, businesses that implement energy-efficient measures outperform their competitors by as much as 10%. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a win-win situation.

How might AB32 impact Small Businesses?

ARB analyzed the impact that Scoping Plan implementation would have on California businesses and concluded that the primary impacts will be changes in the costs of goods and services and changes in energy expenditures.

What is the Small Business Toolkit?

The Small Business Toolkit is a “one-stop shop” to help people reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Existing websites with useful information are linked from CoolCalifornia.org so that a busy small business owner need only go to a single site to be directed to all online resources. Printed materials are also available.