Solar panels installed at Cambridge Savings Bank’s Newton Centre office are only one example of the energy-saving methods the bank has used.

When Cambridge Savings Bank President Robert M. Wilson walked into the break room of the bank’s Inman Square branch, he was a bit surprised to see a group of employees eating lunch with the lights off. He offered to flick the switch, but the employees insisted they were fine eating by the natural light coming in through the windows.

Barbara Cox, senior vice president of marketing at Cambridge Savings, said that incident is an example of how the bank’s staff really got on board with its plan to save energy.

“It’s not like they knew he was coming,” she said. “They were really trying to participate.”

Nelson Goddard, senior vice president of facilities and administration, said the bank started thinking about ways to conserve energy in the fall of 2000. At that time California was experiencing a number of brownouts, and although it wasn’t likely the same scenario would play out in the Bay State, the situation on the West Coast still had him and others at the bank thinking about ways to save energy.

“We found we were using a good deal of energy, above the average,” he said. “We really thought we had a usage problem.”

Cambridge Savings has been conserving energy since 2001 and has been awarded recognition by the Environmental Protection Agency along the way. Most recently, the bank was recognized for its environmental stewardship with an Environmental Merit Award. Several of its branches also have earned the Energy Star for their individual energy-saving performances.

EPA encourages companies to evaluate their use of energy and look for ways to better manage their buildings that can in turn prove cost-effective. EPA also provides tools for businesses to use to help incorporate energy-saving practices. The agency launched its Energy Star Challenge about a year and a half ago. It estimates that by 2015, $10 billion could be saved if every commercial building owner embarked on the challenge.

Commercial buildings currently are responsible for approximately 17 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the agency.

“We have a lot of banks and financial service companies that partner with us. That’s been very nice,” said Jean Lupinacci, director of EPA’s Energy Star Commercial and Industrial Branch.

The mission, however, is to encourage even more organizations to take the agency up on its challenge. She said a good place to start is EPA’s Web site. By entering some information about the energy their facilities utilize, banks can see how their energy use stacks up compared to that of other institutions nationwide. She said the system takes into account geographic location and hours of operation to make it an even playing field. In addition to evaluations of individual branches, an institution can see how it measures up as a whole.

Cambridge Savings is in the top 25 percent of banks that conserve energy nationwide, according to Lupinacci.

“Cambridge [Savings] is a good example,” she said. “They are really pulling together and looking across their whole company.”

‘It Is Important’
Even though it always has been cost-effective to cut back on energy use, more and more companies are looking for ways to improve their efforts, Lupinacci said.

She also noted that there is an increasing concern for the environment, as well.

“It is important. It will not only help the environment, it will help their bottom line,” she said.

For Cambridge Savings, cutting back on 20 percent of its energy quickly proved to by cost-effective. According to Goddard, the bank has been seeing about a $60,000 reduction in its energy bills.

“That’s when we really got involved with EPA,” he said.

Since then, the bank has installed solar panels at its Newton Centre office that opened in November 2003.The bank also added a thermal well in its Belmont branch to assist with heating and cooling the building in 2004. The bank earned a Go Green Award for outstanding energy-saving practices.

Goddard stressed how important it is to get the entire staff on board for a company to truly reach its full potential when it comes to conserving energy. He said employees did not get upset over the new policy since they were filled in on the bigger picture – Cambridge Savings was on a mission to save energy.

“We went out and sold them on the program,” said Goddard. “People really bought into the program,” he said.

“I think a lot of companies and even individuals are looking to do their part to help the environment,” added Cox. She said there are several approaches to conserving energy that banks can explore. Although Cambridge Savings has made some pretty big changes, she noted, there is nothing wrong with starting out on a smaller scale. The bank used different-colored stickers on different machines to let employees know which ones should be shut off when no one is using them. The bank also set goals for each branch and offered incentives such as a free lunch to the office that did the best job of meeting or exceeding its energy-saving goals.

An added bonus is that many employees have carried such practices home with them. They saw if the bank could save money and conserve energy, then they also could do it at home.

“I think they enjoy being able to be part of it. I think that everyone is paying more attention to the energy issue,” she said, noting the inflation of oil and gas prices. “We put some goals to it, but it was a little beyond what we thought we could do. I think we were surprised by how much we could save.”

Bruce Spitzer, director of communications for the Massachusetts Bankers Association, said with 2,100 bank branches in the state, there is a lot of energy being used to run brick-and-mortar facilities.

“We are talking about heating and lighting and on and on,” he said.

Spitzer said banks have a real opportunity to save a substantial amount of money. MBA also can help banks start the process by offering tips and guidance for institutions that would like to join the energy-saving movement.

“It’s not only good for the environment, it just makes good business sense,” said Spitzer.