In Michael Porter’s book on Competitive Strategies, he talks about the competitive forces that shape an industry.   One of the main competiitve forces that impact almost every industry is the source of their energy.   The more options businesses create for their sources of power, the more competitive they will be long term - espcially with respect to other companies in their industry.  

This point was brought home recently by a business I have been working with on assessing, aligning, and expanding their energy options.  The company is a small speciality grocery who has seen his electrical bills go up from $700 to $7000 dollars over the past 20 years while his overall consumption has decreased due to efficiency improvements in his refrigeration.   When deregulation went into effect, he was able to get a lower electrical rate from an out of state provider, yet had to still pay the local carrier for delivering the electricty.   And then last year with the dramatic increase in heating oil prices,  it was the first year his company didn’t turn a profit.  

With electrical rates expected to experience a simiar increase over the next 20 years.  and the impact of volatile oil prices on his long term viability,  the business owner wants to develop his own power solutions.   The more options he can create to power his store, the less he will pay for his power, the more competitive he will be and the lower he can charge for his products or the more profit he can make on the products he charges that are in line with his local competitors.  

Through the Project  Energy Independence course, we are looking at two solutions - one for creating his own electricty with roof solar panels and another for heating his store with a removable wood furnace.  He doesn’t own the store so any solution he selects, he wants to do it with minimal infrastructure changes - these two solutions enable that.   There is a  whole foods store in a community 25 miles away that is using a fuel cell as a back up electrical generator - we are looking into some grant money to explore that option.

I’ve been extremely busy both implementing my own energy independence projects and creating a course to teach others how to do the same (the reason for the lack of blog posts over the past couple of months).   My Connecticut solar energy project is well under way with the site location marked out.   It is on delay for about a month for a VERY GOOD reason - the state of Connecticut has reinstituted it’s rebate program and we have to wait until July 1 to apply.   It reduces the cost of the install by almost $8000 - a SIGNIFICANT savings.   Our wind energy project in Alaska is right on track to install a 5kw Helix Wind Turbine.   We have done the site analysis, selected and prepared the location, ordered the windmill and scheduled training for the installation.   The Nevada sites are doing well  - one location is complete on the energy reduction implementation and the other one that is employs a passive solar design is still in the construction stage - a great place to be to input the systems right from the get go.

The Project Energy Indpendence course stemmed out of what I have learned on my journey to become Energy Independent.    I combined Cheetah’s award winning accelerated learning principles and project management methodology to get people successfully up and running with their  own energy independence projects in 35 hours.  The 35 hour online instructor led, Project Energy Independence course is based on four learning objectives:

1. Learn how to accurately assess current energy usage patterns.

2. Determine how to align energy use with actual needs.

3. Develop options for powering your life (includes a complete assessment of the wide assortment of energy alternatives).

4. Learn how to effectively and efficiently implement your energy independence projects.

The Project Energy Independence course is designed for both people who are new to the idea of becoming energy independent AND for people who have to help others become energy independent as it creates a very simple format to walk people through all the steps on becoming energy independent.

For people reviewing this course on the blog, use the promotion code IndependenceNOW - and get $100 off the price of the course.   The promotion code is good until July 31, 2009.