Techblog
How to Create and Implement an Energy Management Plan
An effective energy savings programme can measure and track usage, identify inefficiencies, and create an effective energy savings action plan. Here's where to start creating an Energy Management Plan.
Every business needs energy - to run equipment, light spaces, air-con, and the like. The larger the business, the more energy is consumed.
However, not all energy usage is created equal. Like other essential costs of doing business, energy use needs to be monitored, evaluated and managed.
Do you have a plan for measuring your energy use? An effective energy savings programme can measure and track usage, identify inefficiencies, and create an effective energy savings action plan.
Even many good-sized enterprises are not big enough to have someone available to focus exclusively and full-time on energy management. The job often becomes one of several responsibilities for an executive. To have a comprehensive view of energy usage, sometimes an outside professional may need to be brought in for an assessment.
Still, it's important to cover the basics of energy management to root out waste and maximise efficiency.
Energy management includes assessing and planning for the energy needs you require to operate your business. Cost savings are an objective; so are resource conservation and climate protection - all the while ensuring that users have reliable access to energy to meet their business needs.
Effective energy management starts with a creating a statement that defines the driving policies behind the energy management plan, and then a strategy.
A written energy policy will reflect senior management's view of energy usage and environmental impacts, and frequently becomes part of a wider corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy. It will spell out how to comply with energy and climate change regulations required of businesses by local authorities.
A strategic energy plan comes next, mapping out some of the following items:
- Your current energy performance assessed against a comparative reference point from an energy performance rating system such as Singapore's Building and Construction Authority Green Mark program.
- Clearly identify all possible energy needs for operational functions including facility management, logistics, production, and maintenance
- Available energy resources, and a proactive and efficient approach to buying energy.
- Realistic cost-saving and energy efficiency goals for buildings, equipment (including IT), and services.
- Investments to take advantage of cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities.
- Evaluate operating practices for waste, unnecessary use, or misuse.
- Create shut-down procedures for energy-using applications (lighting, motors, etc.).
- A program to meter and monitor energy use and costs against planned targets.
- An internal communications plan to promote an organisation's culture of energy efficiency
- A scheduled periodic energy management review plan.
A progressive energy management plan will also look at possibilities for the use of renewable energies, reducing waste and the use of pollutants, and educating employees (and the public) about environmental conservation.
For executives busy with too many other tasks to spend considerable hours on energy management, one possibility is the outsourcing the energy-related issues and questions to an external service to offer expertise and efficiency at competitive pricing. An energy survey may be a good starting point.
Read more about energy saving tips here and the liberalisation of the Singapore energy market here.
Have a question about energy savings or the liberalisation of the Singapore energy market? Why not ask our Energy Expert Mr. H C Chew, General Manager of Sembcorp Power. Send in your questions, or share your own energy savings tips, and stand to receive exclusive premiums that can help you save energy and costs!