The Energy and Sustainability Advantage:

Transcription

1 EBook The Energy and Sustainability Advantage: A Guide to Identifying Savings, Measuring Consumption and Driving Long-Term Impact Industry leaders are quickly learning how important smart energy management is to their company s competitive position and positive reputation. The proven link between sustainability efforts and a strong bottom line means that leaders across the organization are taking on more strategic roles in shaping and driving corporate energy strategies. This summary ebook gives you the insight you need to identify a starting point on your energy and sustainability journey and how to drive powerful results through energy and sustainability programs.

2 Where Are You on Your Energy and Sustainability Journey? We know that each business may be on a different stage of their progress towards energy goals. The best-practices explored in this ebook guide your business down the path to financial health and environmental responsibility with key insight at each stage. No matter where you are on your journey, you ll get the information you need to make your company stronger and healthier, and answer questions like:? Are you paying what you should be each month? Do you have the comprehensive and accurate data you need to make smart decisions?? Are you getting the right rates based on your consumption? Which of your sites are the most inefficient?? What are efficiency projects will best help you meet corporate goals? How can you leverage emerging technologies to drive savings? Manage Spend 8 Reduce Usage 8 Resources 1

3 Putting Data to Work Big data is here and with it, the potential for deeper insight into facility performance than ever before. But with complex data coming from a dizzying variety of sources (bills, meters, equipment, weather and occupancy, to name a few) across multiple sites, most businesses are challenged to turn all this information into action. Getting accurate data and normalizing it, then, becomes a crucial first step on your energy efficiency journey. Actionable data depends on a reliable system with the ability to bring in, validate and create standards for information from each source and site. With this in place, you can compare site performance at an apples-to-apples level for example, determining whether costly HVAC bills are due to high usage, peak demand billing, faulty equipment or weather variations. The right system has the potential to cut through this clutter and enable efficient, precise decision-making to yield the greatest return-on-investment for your company. 24 2

4 Getting the Best Available Rates Once you have the accurate data and greater visibility, what actions can you take to put it to use? In ENGIE Insight s experience, one of the first things professionals do with their resource data is make sure that they re getting the best available rates. Start by analyzing data to make sure it s representative of typical performance and weed out anomalies. Then, model the correct resource spend taking into account a comprehensive portfolio view. It s also essential to collect and evaluate market data, equipping you for informed negotiations with vendors. The volatility of electric, natural gas and oil prices make a good resource purchasing strategy more important than ever. By getting and understanding the data you need to secure the best possible deal, your company will pay the lowest rates available and enjoy the maximum return-on-investment. Wholesale Electric 3

5 Sharpening Your Bottom Line It takes a surprising amount of effort just to provide your company with a clean, accurate data foundation. Taking this data to the next level and creating an actionable baseline requires the ability to both pinpoint inefficiencies and understand usage over time. It may be necessary to compare the differing performance of peer sites over the same time period or if your sites are so large and complex that peer analysis is impossible identify ongoing drifts or trends. For many businesses, significant spikes in cost can be the first indication of an outlier. Once these high-cost periods have been flagged, you ll have to determine whether this is driven by your rates or your usage (either due to weather variations or operational changes), and whether it represents a one-time occurrence or a continual issue. Without the right data and normalization algorithms discussed in our webinar, these questions can be nearly impossible to answer. Understand Usage Over Time Utitlity > Electricity (kwh) 100 M Jul 11 - Jun 12 Jul 10 - Jun 11 Jul 09 - Jun 10 0 Jul Oct Jan Apr 4

6 Leveraging Emerging Technologies and Automation Constant innovations in the energy industry can inform your company s energy strategy and drive both immediate and long-term savings. There are several emerging technologies being used effectively by industry leaders, including: Renewable energy sources like solar and wind, which are disrupting grid prices nationally and changing mid-day rates in states like California Lower-cost sensors and scaled-up cloud software, which enable better monitoring of existing building and energy management systems Automation and artificial intelligence (AI), used to integrate complex systems and leading to an increase in smart or connected buildings We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. Klaus Schwab Founder & Executive Chair of World Economic Forum 5

7 Energy Journey Insights from Shari s Cafe & Pies Shari s, the largest full-service restaurant chain based in the Pacific Northwest, has a portfolio of nearly 100 restaurants open 24 hours each day. Naturally, reducing energy costs is a top strategic priority. An energy and sustainability journey that began with cost-saving operational improvements in 2008 has grown into an industry-leading strategic energy management (SEM) program with aggressive 2025 reduction targets. Jodenne Scott of Shari s describes how the company partnered with Ecova to reach this point, including vital strategies like: Gaining buy-in at every level of the organization, up to the executive leadership team Auditing expenses and facilities to uncover opportunities and identify projects with the fastest return-on-investment Finding and claiming available rebates for facility upgrades Adopting an Energy Plan as one of the company s core values 6

8 Shari s Path to 2025 In 2015, Shari s became the first full-service restaurant chain to join the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) s Better Buildings Challenge. As part of their commitment, they pledged to reduce electric/gas consumption by 20 percent by 2025 and water consumption by 35 percent by Since then, Shari s has implemented the following projects: Energy-efficient equipment upgrades and retrofits Fixed set points for HVAC and irrigation systems Energy Management Systems Demand Control Ventilations Systems Updated procurement and purchasing guide Behavioral changes incorporated companywide Between 2008 and 2016, these strategies helped Shari s reduce their electrical use by 9 percent, their natural gas use by 24 percent and their water use by 41 percent For more info on The Energy & Sustainability Advantage, watch this video from our recent webinar with CFO 7

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