If you are reading this article and your business card says energy manager, chances are you already have some level of corporate commitment, as discussed in the last article. The tendency of many newly appointed energy managers is to rush out and get some quick hits – put up some awareness posters, install some compact fluorescents, retrofit some low flow nozzles.  These are good measures but not the best place to start. You need a plan. Why? Because: “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else,” as Yogi Berra once said. To make matters worse, when you get there, no one will know you are there.

The process of developing a good strategic plan is as important as the plan itself. The process needs to be inclusive and collaborative. At the end of the day you want a plan that everyone has bought into. Energy impacts a number of key functions within a company.

The chance for success increases with a good management team that includes: an executive sponsor from senior management to provide leadership and set direction; a finance person to ensure the most appropriate purchasing decision are made; an operations/production person, as the end user, to ensure that measures are implemented effectively;’ and human resources to facilitate training and help generate a culture of energy awareness.

When developing a sustainable energy program, I like to use the following steps:

• Baseline Analysis;
• Best Practices Assessment;
• Design Review;
• Energy Studies; and
• Opportunity Assessment

The baseline analysis establishes the starting point of your energy management program. Like starting a new business, it’s essential to have an opening inventory, which is the basis upon which the success of the program will be measured. The most reliable source of information is the actual utility invoices. These provide cost and consumption as well as rate information and other usage statistics such as power factor and time of use.

The process of compiling this information can uncover many opportunities.  Why do we have so many accounts? Why are the rates different between two similar buildings in the same city? Further analysis can be determined on how energy use is affected by weather, occupancy, production or retail transactions. Benchmarking energy intensity will tell you how you stack up against your sector and provide an indication of the range of target you could be setting. The baseline also lays the foundation for an energy tracking system. The system should be centralized and available for all to use in gauging progress toward established targets, milestones, and deadlines.

In addition to quantifying energy usage, another important step is to complete an initial assessment of best practices within the company. The purpose of this exercise is to identify and address gaps in current management practices (e.g. procurement policies, operating procedures, maintenance practices, financial criteria, training programs, and energy reporting use).

Through one-on-one interview or group workshops it is possible to engage senior managers to talk about energy and, in the process, improve their understanding of how energy relates to their critical business drivers. The results can be used to benchmark energy management practices against others in your sector to measure improved performance in subsequent years.

If your company is constantly building new facilities, a design review using energy simulations is a useful tool to identify energy savings opportunities. Energy modeling enable designers and engineers to investigate alternative energy efficiency measures before the design is completed and construction starts.

Results can be used as a basis for design specifications of new construction ensuring that the company’s new facilities will be energy efficient in the future. In addition the resulting model can be used to establish benchmarks to compare against existing facilities and assess retrofit operations at these facilities.

Knowing your organization’s baseline energy use and the relative performance of your entire portfolio is only part of the information needed. Assessing the performance of equipment, processes, and systems will help you identify further opportunities for improvement.

A scoping audit is the simplest and quickest way to become familiar with a building’s operations and identify obvious opportunities for energy savings measures. Typically, only major opportunities will be uncovered during this type of audit. The level of detail, while not sufficient for reaching a final decision on implementing proposed measures, is adequate to prioritize energy efficiency projects for strategic planning and determining the need for more detailed audits.

Opportunities identified in the initial assessment, baseline, scoping audits and design review should be compiled into a master opportunity list. The opportunities can be organized into three types – operational, retrofit and capital intensive. Estimates of energy reductions, cost savings, implemented costs and emission reductions should be included for each measure. At this stage, the intent is to include all the indentified measures for discussion purposes. This list can then be reviewed with an internal energy committee to discuss the feasibility of inclusion in the energy management program.

Once the potential for improve has been estimated, goals can be established at the appropriate organizational level. Energy performance goals should be formally established and recognized by senior management. These goals and targets form the basis of a complete sustainable energy action plan, which should be endorsed by senior management. This action plan should identify the different steps required to achieve the goals and targets outlined, the resources required for success and at timeline for completion. Approval of the plan establishes the program as a mission for the whole organization.

Now that you have a plan outlined, as Yoda said, “Do, or do not. There is no try.” Next article I will talk about financing the energy program.