Small business success: Dunkin’ gets solar

When you live in New England, and the Boston area in particular, you come to love Dunkin’ Donuts for a number of reasons. The way ordering your coffee “regular” gets you cream and sugar; the fact that when espresso drinks came on board, it was with 100% fair-trade espresso beans; the way you can walk 100 yards in any direction and bump into one (seriously, my home town has a Dunkin for every 4000 people). And now, we can love the fact that three local franchises are going green.

Owners of Dunkin’ Donuts shops in Attleboro, Rehoboth and Taunton, as well as stores in Florida, [brothers-in-law Richard] Demers and [Roger] Deslauriers have outfitted their stores with solar panels, tankless hot water systems, automatic faucets and light switches and installed LED lights for their parking lots. (Wicked Local)

The roughly 9kw worth of solar panels provide about 10% of the stores’ total electric needs. Maybe the St. Petersburg, FL, store that heralded the chain’s foray into LEED-certified design will follow suit and add solar panels to complement its array of energy-saving technologies (including a vermiculture bin for organic waste). For a chain that was founded in 1950, Dunkin’ doesn’t seem too fazed by the pressures of a changing time.

One reason it’s so satisfying to read about three franchise locations of a national coffee chain going solar is that it brings home solar’s attainability. You don’t need to run an auto manufacturing plant, or own acres of flat-roofed warehouses, or be a billionaire in order to make solar work. You can have a small shop, a limited amount of roof space, and modest goals. Small businesses can use solar to make a real statement to their customers while making a sound financial investment. How sound? That depends on local and state incentives available. If you’re a small business owner thinking about going solar, let us know–we can help you decide if solar is right for you.