Energy management

At the very heart of any energy improvement programme is its management. Investing in new technology is pointless without effective management. Due to the fact that a great deal of energy efficiency schemes are reliant upon people conserving energy, for example, turning electrical items off when not in use, all employees must be motivated and committed to the programme. Below is a summary checklist of the management issues that should be included within an energy improvement strategy:

• Formulate an energy efficiency policy
  
  
• Include energy efficiency within the company's purchasing policy
  
  
• Assign responsibility for energy to an employee within the company
  
  
• Understand all energy bills fully including what is being charged for when, tariffs and where switching supplier would be beneficial. Ie: consider all of the buying aspects.
  
  
• Compare past bills
  
  
• Read meters each month
  
  
• Identify and account for peaks and troughs in consumption patterns
  
  
• Compare your site with industrial norms of energy usage
  
  
• Maintain frequent energy reduction targets
  
  
• Look at energy consumption in terms of levels of production
  
  
• Ascertain as to whether energy use is related to external temperatures should heating bills be in excess of £5000 per annum
  
  
• Has sub-metering on high demand equipment been investigated?
  
  
• Identification of most relevant personnel to consult
  
  
• Training for relevant personnel
  
  
• Frequent communication of energy reduction measures and their benefits/results of the improvement strategy, internally and externally
  
  
• Use all literature available
  
  
• Investigate the usefulness of employee suggestion schemes
  
  
• Investigate the usefulness of rewards and incentives for good housekeeping
  
  
• Energy reduction as part of induction for new employees
  
  
• Look into having an external energy audit if bills are in excess of £10 000 per annum
  
  
• Ensure that savings made from energy reduction measures are reinvested, in part into other energy efficiency projects.