Siemens and Osram CFOs tout lighting's benefits to the environment and the bottom line

People in the electrical industry have been making the ROI and environmental cases for energy-saving lighting retrofits forever, but the pitch often falls on deaf ears when it gets to the finance chiefs. Maybe it will be more compelling coming from one ...
Jan. 28, 2010

People in the electrical industry have been making the ROI and environmental cases for energy-saving lighting retrofits forever, but the pitch often falls on deaf ears when it gets to the finance chiefs. Maybe it will be more compelling coming from one (or two) of their own.

Matthias Grossmann, CFO of Siemens Financial Services, and Jean-Paul Michel, CFO of Osram Sylvania (also part of Siemens), co-wrote a piece that appears on GreenBiz.com today, promoting lighting retrofits as a way for companies to improve their bottom line while promoting their commitment to reducing their impact on the environment.

The piece runs through a couple of case studies where clients were able to save bundles of money and abate tons of carbon emissions by swapping out lighting throughout their facilities, then cites a recent study showing U.S. CFOs are far less committed to investments in greening their facilities than their counterparts in other countries.

"...bringing the operations back into the black can start with helping the companies become more green," write Grossmann and Michel. "It's a twofer that really should be a no-brainer."

Lighting: A Path to a Greener Bottom Line

About the Author

Doug Chandler, Senior Staff Writer

Executive Editor

Doug Chandler began writing about the electrical industry in 1992, and still finds there's never a shortage of stories to be told. So he spends his days finding them and telling them. Educationally, he's a Jayhawk with an English degree. Outside of work, he can often be found banging drums or harvesting tomatoes.