While sweeping energy reform seems impossible for Congress, private-sector firms are working to increase efficiency by changing how businesses consume power.

One such firm is energy consultancy Southpoint Solutions. The North Carolina-based company improves wasteful lighting to help its customers scale back their energy use. After auditing a client’s lighting system, Southpoint engineers design, install, and implement a more efficient one, typically replacing high-intensity discharge (HID) fixtures with high-intensity fluorescents (HIF) and LEDs.

Their clients range from a single-location hardware store to multi-site manufacturing corporations, and the company’s website features case studies of customers who saw up to 80 percent increases in light levels and over 50 percent reductions in energy costs.

That kind of ROI makes retrofitting a no-brainer. And even putting aside the long-term savings, Southpoint’s projects are attractive because they can be financed with no money out of pocket.

“[Utility companies have] introduced a lot of programs on the energy efficiency side of the house that go back to their customers and offer rebates for energy-saving projects,” says Southpoint co-founder and president Jeff Hickman. By using these incentive programs and government subsidies for businesses that take green initiatives, Southpoint has developed a system that can deliver immediate positive cash flow for their clients and simple payback in less than two years.

Hickman has found that in a tight-belt market, the ease of financing these projects allows even skeptical prospects to rationalize the retrofitting.

“Utility expenses non-related to production are fixed costs, and they come right off the bottom line. So any increases we can create in cash flow there drops right to net profit for that customer,” says Hickman.

The projects may also affect productivity. Employees of the retrofitted companies benefit from brighter, cleaner-looking, more pleasant work environments. That’s because Southpoint’s fixtures produce light with a spectrum similar to that of natural sunlight. “The human body reacts to that, and people actually tell us they feel better,” says Hickman. “So when we execute a project, we have one of those rarities in the industry that is a win-win with our customers.” But when you take into account the benefits enjoyed by the clients, their employees, the environment and all users of the local power grid, his statement seems short at least a couple of wins.

Hickman says Southpoint plans to add five to seven positions in 2012. He expects business to pick up with the eventual loosening of capital markets and a rise in domestic manufacturing. “We see a lot of pent-up demand for furthering energy-efficient projects.”

For more informaiton, please visit: www.southpointsolutions.com