Making the plan
Save energy your way
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to planning and implementing energy upgrades—nor should there be. Using knowledge of your building’s equipment and systems, feedback from your team, and an assessment of your current energy use and costs, you can create a customized plan to save energy, reduce expenses, and improve building performance and comfort in the ways that work best for you. Follow these steps to make an energy plan tailored to the specific needs, opportunities, and characteristics of your business.
Form your energy team
Energy conservation is everyone’s job. By forming an energy team at your organization, you’ll create a culture of energy efficiency that will help your resource- and cost-saving measures succeed.
An energy team puts individuals from different disciplines together to explore the best energy-saving options for your organization with the least disruption to your operations. The team has three primary goals:
- Learn about the organization’s current energy status
- Develop energy-saving ideas
- Measure progress and communicate results
Energy team members with distinct roles and strengths—for example, those with backgrounds in building operations, finance, and data management—can effectively collaborate to identify and track efficiency measures far more easily than an individual working alone. Ideally, your energy team members have an interest in promoting energy and cost savings so they can help generate enthusiasm and adoption, making energy efficiency an integral part of your company culture.
Perform an energy audit
In the average facility, as much as 40% of energy use is lost due to inefficient equipment or processes. An energy audit, also called an energy assessment, examines multiple areas of your building to identify wasted energy, with common culprits including:
- Equipment left running when it isn’t in use
- Equipment in need of maintenance, repair, or replacement
- Inefficient or unnecessary lighting
A preliminary or walk-through audit looks for the most obvious sources of energy waste at your facility. It’s the easiest audit to perform and typically results in the simplest energy-saving solutions.
A general audit takes a closer look at all of the energy users throughout your site, as well as your current energy-saving measures. This in-depth audit takes more time, money, and expertise than a preliminary audit.
An audit can be performed by your internal team or an energy service professional and can be customized to fit your organization’s schedule, budget, and priorities.
Select the best energy projects
The best energy projects for your facility are the ones that align with your needs and timeline. The information gathered during an energy audit will help to prioritize your energy project list.
To determine the best energy projects for your facility, first create a list of potential projects and then rate them across key criteria specific to your business needs and priorities, which may include:
- Energy savings
- Upgrade costs
- Return on project investment
- Safety improvements
- Incentives from utilities and energy programs
- Improvements to occupant comfort
- Required downtime
After adding up each project’s rating, you can rank the projects from highest to lowest importance. Your prioritized list will identify energy-saving measures that can be implemented right away, ones that need additional time or research to perform, and projects that can wait for a more optimal time.
Make an energy plan
The above steps can help inform your energy plan, a detailed document that provides an integrated approach to managing your organization’s energy use. It’s a key component of strategic energy management, or SEM—a structured, holistic program that delivers consistent long-term energy savings and economic value.
Energy plans are updated annually or when major changes are made to facilities and systems that use energy. It details your short- and long-term energy goals and the strategies and tactics to implement them. It will also help you anticipate and respond to evolving building regulations and incentives.
An energy plan typically includes:
- An energy policy that describes your organization’s guiding principles for energy improvement and your high-level energy goals.
- An implementation plan detailing the steps toward achieving your energy goals and the timeline for completion.
- A tools section that identifies the specific means and methods for executing the implementation plan, measuring results, and communicating the results throughout the organization.
Your energy plan ensures that everyone in your organization is aware of and understands their part in your ongoing energy-saving efforts.
Sequencing energy efficiency solutions
Watch Mike Hatten of Solarc Energy Group explain how planning for and executing energy-efficient upgrades and retrofits can result in a 35-60% reduction in energy use.
