Dry cleaners, like most small business operators, are feeling the squeeze as rising energy costs put a damper on profitability. Reducing your energy consumption is smart business - it brightens up your bottom line and helps Oregon's environment, too. Energy Trust makes it even easier to save to help offset some of the upfront costs of energy upgrades.

For dry cleaners, lighting is a large part of your energy costs and it's a great place to start saving. Here are some no-cost ideas to save energy on lighting:

• Establish a shutdown schedule. Turn off unnecessary lights. Post a list of lights to be shut off every night after hours.
• Enlist employees. Make sure your team understands how wasted energy hurts the bottom line. Ask them to follow the shutdown schedule and turn off lights in back offices, supply rooms and other areas when not needed.
• Turn off excess lighting and remove extra lights in over-lit areas.
• Take advantage of natural day-lighting. On bright days, turn off lights near windows.

There's a good reason why nearly 75 percent of small business energy improvements are related to lighting. Lighting upgrades generate big energy savings and you can recoup the improvement cost with those savings in as little as a few months. Better lighting can also result in greater employee productivity, improved customer comfort and lower maintenance costs.

Energy Trust incentives shorten the payback period even more. Consider these low-cost upgrades:

• Install high performance T-8 fluorescent lighting with electronic ballasts - These one-inch diameter tubes can cut lighting energy use by 50 percent or more compared to the old 1.5-inch diameter T-12 fluorescent tubes. Incentives $15 and up for each High-performanceT-8 fluorescent fixture.
• Switch to ENERGY STAR® compact fluorescent lights - Switch out standard incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). They use up to 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer. Incentives $2 and up for each upgrade to CFL's.
• Use occupancy sensors - Sensors automatically turn off the lights. They are great for storage areas, restrooms, and other areas where you don't need lights on all the time. Incentives $25 and up for each sensor.
• Install LED exit signs - Retrofit your exit signs with energy-efficient, ENERGY STAR qualified exit signs which use three to eight times less energy than incandescent and fluorescent illuminated exit signs. Incentives $20 per sign.

Why wait when you can start saving today? It's easy to do.

Call Lyn Schmidt at 503-224-4751 or email Lyn.k.schmidt@lmco.com and she can help you get started. You can also call Energy Trust of Oregon at 1- 866-368-7878, or visit www.energytrust.org/buildingefficiency.

From Jodi's Closet came hundreds of prom gowns ready for distribution to high school girls wanting to go to their prom. Jodi has been collecting them for years. Some are gently worn others are brand new.

For only one can of non-perishable food (donated to the local food bank) girls from around the valley have the opportunity to "rent" a dress for their big evening.

This year Tayler Harrington, a senior at South Medford high school undertook chairing the event as her senior project with the help of Jodi Bittick, Martinizing Cleaners of Medford. Jodie sizes them, stores them and makes them ready for the big day. Tayler took care of all the publicity, and gathering all the donations. She even sent out thank you cards to all the merchants and volunteers.

This year, on Sunday April 13, the gowns were ready for the girls to choose. Towne & Country Cleaners transported the gowns to the Rogue Regency Inn, who donated their meeting rooms for the display, and a suite for the girls to be able to try them on before making their final choice. Weldon's' Cleaners donated racks to display them.

On hand were hair and makeup people, food, drink etc. Macy's donated sample bags for the first 50 girls and there were drawings throughout the day for many different things. There was a grand prize drawing (which my employee's daughter won) it included, a dress she could keep, shoes, purse, nails, hair and make-up done that night, dinner, a limo for the evening and her dates tuxedo.

Over 100 girls came to the event and 83 dresses were "rented" out. Two barrels of food, 1,500 pounds, was donated to Access, the local food bank.

So as prom season comes to a close, ask your customers to donate their gently worn dresses and start you own Princes for a Day program! Help your local high school girls who perhaps could not afford to attend their prom and take away the cost of the dress at least.

For more information on how to open you own "Jodi's Closet" contact Jodi or Dan Bittick at Martinizing in Medford at 541-734-9247

With rising costs of everything from hangers, gas, and the food you feed your family, what can you do to feel confident in raising the prices you are charging at your cleaners?

Cleaners have historically used shirts as a "loss leader" with the assumption that it will create more dry cleaned items which they have a better profit margin on. Well, with the creation of the "smart care" khakis etc, cleaners are seeing more "just shirt" customers. If your shirts are still priced as a "loss leader" you should ask yourself; how much are you paying your customer to do his shirts!

It is time to make a profit on this labor intensive part of your business and the Oregon Dry Cleaners Association wants to help you put out a better shirt so you have the confidence to raise your shirt prices and make a profit on them.

ODCA, Seitz, and Unipress are working to put a "Perfect Shirt" seminar together for you. The date is Saturday July 12th in Portland. Mark your calendars now and watch your email and the ODCA website for more details.