Owners: Environment Comes Second

A survey finds most small businesses go green primarily to save cash, not the planet.

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Many small businesses are going green to save cash, not the planet, a new survey finds.

Three fourths of 1,000 small and midsize business owners recently polled by PNC Bank said cost-cutting was their primary reason for reducing energy usage, investing in energy-efficient systems or changing shipping and distribution channels.

"The biggest concern for most small and midsized business owners is cash flow," Todd Barnhart, senior vice president of business banking at PNC, said in a statement. "These findings reveal that when it comes to the environment, owners think first about their bottom line."

Still, nearly 80 percent of respondents said they do give consideration to the environment in running their business, while only 21 percent said environmental impact is "not something I think about," the survey found.

Asked about specific energy policies, a third of respondents said they supported oil drilling in the Arctic National Refuge and other restricted areas, while 23 percent preferred to develop alternative energy resources. Others supported either more energy conservation or greater use of nuclear power.

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Venuri Siriwardane

Venuri Siriwardane's work has appeared on Inc.com, and in the Newark, New Jersey Star-Ledger, USA Today, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, among other publications.

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