John Osborne at BSI (British Standards Institute) Training encourages organisations to think of energy management as business critical for cost reasons, but equally important as a means to embed sustainability and change across a workforce…

Improving energy efficiency within a business can provide a number of real benefits. Not only will it help to reduce impact on the environment, but it will also save money. Why then, do so many companies fail to put sufficient energy management policies in place to improve their effectiveness? A BSI study revealed that 80 per cent of respondents rated energy management as “very important”, with the key driver being to reduce or control cost, yet 60 per cent didn’t have an energy management policy in place.

Organisations are clearly talking the talk when it comes to energy consumption, but simply making the right noises isn’t enough. If businesses are to truly cut costs and offset this against less attractive cost cutting exercises then they need to put a clear system in place to manage this. Without a transparent policy to guide businesses forward, how can they even begin to answer those all important questions?

• How much energy does the business use currently?

• Who is responsible for managing energy efficiency within the company?

• What are the current issues with your energy consumption?

• What activities lead to consumption of energy?

• How can you improve your energy efficiency?

• Have you identified what areas need to be improved or completely changed?

• How much energy could you save in the long term?

• What impact would saving energy have on your business from a financial perspective?

Those businesses that are unable to answer all of these questions have really only scratched the surface of effective energy management (if at all). The likelihood for those that have a clear policy in place is they will have already addressed these questions, and will have made the first foot hold into producing a robust framework for making significant and continued improvements in energy consumption. A policy and tight framework will also allow identification of an organisations’ past, present and future energy consumption as well as the development of an energy monitoring process.

The BSI report showed that two thirds of respondents did not conduct regular energy usage audits, nor did they maintain a current energy management policy, both of which compromise the delivery of continual improvement in energy management.

In an effort to make the right noises, some businesses may make minor adjustments to save money, such as ensuring PC monitors are switched off at night, and perhaps replacing light bulbs with energy saving varieties; but is this really enough?

Energy management has evolved into a rather complex arena, covering a multitude of business activities all of which need to be taken into consideration when bringing about change and improvement. Companies may find that additional training and a standardised management system (such as BS EN 16001, the new European standard for Energy Management Systems) is needed to help them build a framework that will enable them to implement change. But there are a few simple steps you can take in the first instance to get the ball rolling:

• Take regular meter readings: this will help you to understand how much energy your organisation is currently consuming

• Organise thorough inspections of the work premises: this will help you to identify the areas where further savings can be made.

• Assess energy consumption levels on current activities

• Talk to employees and get their input on energy waste

• Take into account all energy related activities under the control of your organisation, for example the energy used to operate machinery and heat buildings. In taking these initial steps, most organisations will begin to realise the level of energy emissions being needlessly emitted every day.

Wasting unnecessary energy is largely due to poor organisation and education; in most cases employees simply don’t understand how to make the change themselves. But ultimately, wasted energy will affect the efficiency and productivity of a business, certainly in the long term.

Making change happen:

• Build a policy that incorporates the processes and practices you need to improve energy efficiency across the business. This will create a mechanism to turn energy efficiency into a key performance indicator

• Get buy in from senior management – do they really understand the benefits of making this change?

• Communicate with staff – involve them from the outset, get their feedback and suggestions for improving energy efficiency. The most successful change happens when everyone in the company is onboard.

• Establish clear minimum reduction targets so you have something the measure against

• Establish reliable ways of measuring consumption / assess on regular bases – energy consumption can fluctuate seasonally depending on weather and productivity.

• Establish objectives, implement, monitor and measure and continually improve

Once a policy has been created, organisations must implement the behavioural change needed to embed energy efficiency considerations into everyday decision-making and this is by no means an easy feat. This won’t happen overnight, it requires clear planning, perseverance and ongoing support.

Actions speak louder than words in today’s challenging climate, it’s clear that businesses can no longer continue to bury their heads in the sand when it comes to energy efficiency. The benefits are now clear to all, but if businesses are to truly reap those benefits changes need to be made, policies must be put in place and improvements must carried out and maintained. Those 80% of companies that cited energy management as a key driver for reducing costs, should really make their actions speak louder than their words if they are really serious about controlling spend and increasing the overall efficiency of their business – it could also significantly reduce the need to make cuts elsewhere in the business, which in most cases would only damage an organisation’s performance.

BSI Group

They interviewed Sir John Parker, who is Chairman of the National Grid in the UK, but has been involved in many other varied major industrial and commercial corporations. In most of these he has championed sustainability and has implemented many environmental and energy policies.

Andrew Cave, the writer of the piece, described Sir John as evangelical about the need for companies to invest in energy efficiency. What Sir John stated in the interview was the highlight for me and I would like to share his words with you.

Sir John told the Telegraph regarding energy efficiency:

“It’s the area that doesn’t always seem to me to get the highest attention and it’s the lowest-cost way of reducing one’s carbon footprint,

“With energy efficiency improvements you get a triple win: you reduce energy consumption; you make your business more cost efficient, which protects and creates jobs; and you reduce emissions. So, it seems to me that we ought to put much more effort into reducing our energy consumption.” Sir John said.

He was also asked this question by the paper:

If you had one message to fellow business leaders on building a low carbon business, what would it be?

“Start with energy efficiency; I think it’s that simple.

“There’s a danger that you can get too esoteric about this. If you take the mine-head power stations that we have at Anglo American, they capture methane which would otherwise escape – but we’re also capturing a free fuel to create the power.

“So, it’s sustainability and energy, it’s energy efficiency, and it’s reduction of carbon capture. It’s a lovely three-way hit, but it’s driven by energy sustainability in its wider sense.”

Just further evidence, this time from someone who has been there and done it, that energy efficiency and using innovative energy saving technology is the way forward for commerce and industry.

It is good to see someone in the higher echelons of the business world realising the importance environmentally of energy saving but also the fiscal advantages that it brings to businesses.

He has a great interest in sustainability and it is worth reading the whole piece – Curbing The Carbon Culture – The Daily Telegraph.

Sir John Parker’s CV as published by the Telegraph:

Over 27 years, Sir John, 67, has been on 13 quoted company boards, nine of which he has chaired.

He is still much in demand, adding the chairmanship of mining and minerals giant Anglo American to his non-executive portfolio this summer – just in time to see off a hostile takeover bid from rival Xstrata. His past chairmanships have included three dual-listed companies in cruise ship operator Carnival, pallets giant Brambles and paper group Mondi.

In addition to chairing Anglo American and National Grid, he is vice-chairman at DP World and a non-executive director at Airbus maker EADS and US cruise ship operator Carnival. He has only recently relinquished the joint non-executive chairmanship at paper group Mondi.

If so, regardless of the financial prejudice involved, failure to cooperate and agree to compromise will mean a depressing future for our planet and its population. Wealthier nations, such as the US (who didn’t sign the Kyoto accord back in 1997 fearing their economy would suffer), have demonstrated reluctance to cut carbon emissions to avoid the financial contributions entailed.

Unfortunately, until the US decides to sign up to targets, the rest of the world will be unwilling to do so. An example needs to be set, and time is running short.

In effect, disadvantaged countries are more vulnerable to climate change than richer ones, and this should urge the latter to suggest their help in the face of this shared adversity.

A set of measures have been identified as necessary to counterattack the climate threat:

- set emission reduction targets for industrial countries
- secure commitments by developing countries to slow emissions growth
- establish hard figures of funding for poor countries
- create an institution to manage those funds

It is of common interest to aid the poor to implement energy saving methods, as lack of action now could result in bigger costs down the line.
Developing countries, that will be the biggest emitters in the future, want around £250 billion per annum to help them cut emissions by becoming energy efficient, switching from fossil fuels to clean energy like wind and solar. The money will also help vulnerable countries like small island states adapt to climate change. As unlikely as this funding is currently, developed countries sway towards committing to a substantial contribution to keep the subject on the table.

Climate risk reduction officer for aid agency CAFOD, Agnes Kithikii, presents the issue as critical: “People are dying right now due to climate change and more people will die because of the delay in reaching a legally binding agreement this December in Copenhagen,” she said. “The US, EU, Australia and Canada and other rich countries are denying the poorest and most vulnerable people the right to a future.”

Photo from San Franciso Airport

I read an article the other day about a growing trend for air travellers, purportedly allowing them to reset the balance of things environmentally, very conveniently and cheaply, assuaging troubled consciences and all through a modern form of a confessional, a kiosk!.

Apparently air travellers can voluntarily purchase “credit” from a kiosk at airports that will off-set the carbon contribution that the airplane they will travel on spews into the atmosphere. I can hardly believe this.

Can you truly soothe your conscience (that is if you feel guilty) by sending a sum of money to an organization who will then further perpetuate your guilt over carbon usage?

While at this kiosk, you input the trip details and it will calculate the amount of emissions you are producing from your trip.

Example: Travelling from Los Angeles, California to Boston, Massachusetts (USA), it would calculate a carbon (offset) fee of about $11.00 (USD).

What would you get for this $11.00?  A piece of paper that represents the fact that a colorless, odorless gas, which will be emitted on your behalf to shift you through the air to your destination, might be offset and  used in another part of the world therefore balancing the scales a bit.

You might get some indication that your funds went toward the preservation of some rain forest project or a local climate initiative.

It is my opinion that this is way too abstract and will not have any effect on carbon emissions whatsoever.

I do believe that money will continue to fuel the many myths that are being generated about climate change, diverting from any proper discourse on the subject. Save your money and use it yourself to become more environmentally effective.

For my $11.00, I would sooner purchase a piece of rope for drying my clothes, switch out my outdated light bulbs to compact fluorescent lamps (CFL’s) or ride a bicycle to the market.  This will offer a true sense of saving and if you are prone to carbon use guilt, these solutions should help remedy that as well.

That is at least some direct action, it also requires more input from myself than simply using my credit card for carbon credits!