Driving Energy Efficiency at the Facility Level
Published: June 1, 2011
Chris Wiederspahn
Successful energy management programs require wide-scale change and awareness. From an energy or facility manager’s perspective, getting employees to recognize and change wasteful energy behavior can be extremely challenging. For large corporations with thousands of employees and multiple facilities, the task becomes even tougher.
First, you need employees to be aware of their energy-related behaviors and then motivate them to make the right choices to be more efficient. To really facilitate a change in an employee’s behavior—energy-related or otherwise—takes a basic understanding of psychology. We've found that successful and sustainable awareness and behavior programs have the following elements in common.
Effective communication. Successful programs clearly communicate energy management goals and explain why the change in behavior is desired. They also have effective, user-friendly communication mechanisms in place to encourage employee input and to provide feedback about how their input is helping the organization accomplish its goals.
Measurement. Successful programs measure and track energy use on a regular basis and communicate this information to employees.
Rewards and recognition. Successful programs give credit where credit is due. Rewards and recognition give employees a true sense of accomplishment and help to build a personal sense of ownership in the program by making energy conservation personal.
Leadership by example. Successful programs recruit energy champions. Employees who see executives, upper management, and peers “walking the walk” are significantly more likely to adopt a change and sustain the effort.
Establishing a green team is one type of energy-awareness program that can help reduce energy costs and change behavior. E Source research associate Chelsea Hodge recently investigated such programs. She found that green teams can often embed the concept of resource conservation across departments and roles. A green team can help your company identify, evaluate, and implement simple operational, procedural, and cultural changes that support your overall energy management program goals. Here are seven steps to creating and running an effective green team:
- Develop a statement of purpose for your green team and get management buy-in.
- Host a fun kick-off activity and recruit team members.
- Establish a baseline for existing activities and energy usage. Give a presentation on energy-efficiency projects you’ve already implemented and suggest ideas for projects for the green team.
- Have the team identify and evaluate energy-reduction projects and campaigns.
- Set a goal. Examples include implementing three energy-efficiency projects by the end of the year or reducing energy consumption by 10 percent within two years.
- Implement projects. Begin with projects that are easy, low-cost, or have a short payback period.
- Measure progress toward the goal and celebrate successes. Track progress with a poster or bulletin board in a public, high-traffic area. When the green team achieves its goal or reaches a critical progress point, have a party to celebrate and recognize the team’s hard work and success!
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) provides additional resources for setting up energy awareness campaigns. E Source also has resources that can help companies with behavior-change and energy-awareness programs. Contact us for more information.
Welcome to the fourth issue of The Bottom Line! This e-mail newsletter provides corporate energy managers, energy procurement professionals, and leaders in sustainability with a first look at industry trends and insights that directly impact your bottom line. Our goal is to provide you with actionable information to help streamline your efforts and improve results in three main areas: energy efficiency and conservation, energy procurement and supply management, and greenhouse gas (GHG) measurement and mitigation. |
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About the Author
Chris Wiederspahn
VICE PRESIDENT, E SOURCE ENTERPRISE ENERGY MANAGEMENT SERVICES
Chris Wiederspahn has more than 20 years of industry experience. For the past 13 years he has helped guide dozens of the nation’s largest end users in transactions to secure more than $2 billion in retail natural gas and electric contracts. Prior to that, Chris was called on to analyze changing wholesale power markets for the U.S. government, to help revamp the sales and marketing strategy for one of the nation’s top five electric utility holding companies, and to direct the sales and marketing effort for GPU’s unregulated subsidiary.
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