Use the links below to help find financial resources to pay for energy efficient upgrades to your facilities, environment-related projects and improvements, and financial incentives that can save you money such as tax credits, tax deductions, sales tax exemptions, property tax exemptions and rebates.

Financing Energy Efficiency Projects

Access to capital for an energy-efficiency upgrade need not be an issue. Some upgrades require little funding. For those that do require investment, don't worry; there are many traditional and non-traditional financial resources available. A well-designed upgrade can provide your business a positive cash flow from energy savings while paying off the capital investment for new equipment.

For small, inexpensive projects, you may want to use your own internal funds to pay for the upgrade in order to keep your payback period low and return on investment high.

For larger jobs, financing might be the only way to pay for the upgrade. Fortunately, a variety of sources and mechanisms exist for small businesses to finance energy-efficiency improvement projects.

It's your business decision to weigh your competing needs for capital versus continuing increases in operating costs for energy. Remember, even a longer return-on-investment on energy efficiency results in affordable comfort, and new, more reliable equipment that will pay for itself with energy savings. Strategic energy efficiency investments are your hedge against the certainty of higher utility bills that you cannot control.

• U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Financial Opportunities
  Grant opportunities for businesses developing energy efficient technologies.

• Environmental Technology Opportunities Portal
  Information on government programs that help fund development of new environmental technologies and offers information on existing environmental technologies.

• National Center for Environmental Research
  Information on funding opportunities for scientific research in the environmental sciences that will improve EPA's scientific basis for decisions on national environmental issues.

Small Business Innovation Grants

A few federal programs provide grants to small firms engaged in scientific research and development (R&D). The federal government's SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) programs award a specific percentage of federal R&D funds to qualified small businesses. SBIR/STTR programs encourage small firms to undertake scientific research that helps meet federal R&D objectives, and have high potential for commercialization if successful.

The following federal agencies award SBIR/STTR grants:

• Department of Agriculture (USDA)

• Department of Defense

• Department of Education

• Department of Energy

• Department of Health and Human Services

• Department of Transportation

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

• National Science Foundation