Although electricity costs are twice as high in the New York City and Westchester County as the national average, only a tiny fraction of the estimated 200,000 area small businesses have taken advantage of government and utility-sponsored energy efficiency upgrades.

The fact that many small businesses lease -- rather than own -- makes delivering the incentives challenging.In its new report "Energizing New York's Small Businesses," [1] the Center for an Urban Future attributes the disconnect to multiple factors, among the most common: the considerable hassle involved in simply finding incentives in the first place; meeting the deadlines and requirements after enrolling; and the lack of innovative financing to address the disincentives inherent in the lessee role of many small businesses.

The report also concludes that new energy efficiency programs rolled out in the past year offer considerable promise for serving more small and mid-sized firms, especially a Con Edison program offering a free on-site survey of lighting and HVAC systems, and incentives covering up to 70 percent of replacement system installation costs.

Among Center for an Urban Future [2]'s recommendations:

• The New York City Economic Development Corp. should create a special Web site with download options for all materials needed to apply for different programs.  Right now, interested businesses can find information at www.nycedc.com under "Help Me Find Info" and  "Available Business Incentives" and  "Energy Savings."
• Even better would be if the powers-that-be created "a universal application for city and state incentives programs." 
  
• The NYC Department of Small Business Services also should dispatch "mobile energy clinics" as traveling education and enrollment sites to high-density industrial areas.