Manufacturers Best Practice Guide
Planning an Energy Program: Energy Policy
Adopting a company-wide energy policy ensures the commitment of corporate management to include energy into a company's broader business plan. Because it clearly defines goals and objectives, as well as executive expectations in terms of financial investment and bottom-line results, an energy policy is critical for guiding energy management planning and action. An energy plan also facilitates communication and compliance among multiple energy managers, facility managers and corporate executives.
Energy policy goals usually include commitments to improve the energy efficiency of facility operations and equipment, reduce peak energy demand and lower energy costs. Beyond these, businesses can also include non-energy related goals as part of the energy policy. These secondary goals might include:
- Reduce noise from lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC)
- Improve indoor air quality and occupant comfort
- Increase productivity through improvements to the indoor environment
- Reduce health and safety risks
- Increase property value by upgrading building systems
- Gain flexibility in operating funds by reducing controllable costs
- Respond to customer demand
- Contribute to global environmental well-being
- Realize savings that can be re-invested in the company
Energy policy objectives flow from the goals, setting quantitative, measurable tasks. Objectives are especially useful to verify the results of an energy program. Writing objectives into contractual agreements ensures that contractors and vendors are clear about company energy goals and are held accountable for their work. Objectives can also serve as the basis for a more detailed measurement and verification (M&V) plan.
The following is a list of areas addressable by energy policy objectives and an example of each:
- Energy Consumption - Reduce total energy use 20% by 2015, compared to base-year
- Peak Demand - Consumption will be voluntarily reduced whenever a stage one emergency is called
- Energy Costs - Energy will be purchased using the most cost-effective rate structure
- Energy Source - 10% of energy will be from renewable sources, either produced onsite or purchased through renewable energy credits
- Implementation Priorities - All proposed energy efficiency projects where investment payback is less than one year will be automatically approved; other projects will be prioritized based on life-cycle cost analysis
- Revenue Savings - 25% of energy cost savings will be reinvested in additional energy efficiency and conservation measures
- Provision of Finance - An amount equal to 10% of a company's annual energy expenditure will be invested in energy efficiency each year
- Measurement and Verification - An energy accounting system will be installed to continuously track the facility's energy use profile; the facility will be benchmarked annually
- Operations and Maintenance - All company units will seek reductions in energy consumption; all energy wasting repairs will be addressed within two days of notification.
- Employee Awareness - All employee-suggested energy efficiency and conservation measures that are approved and adopted will result in a reward equal to 10 percent of the subsequent energy cost savings
- Air Emissions - Strive to cut greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2010 over base-year
- Water and Wastewater - Whenever feasible, energy projects will seek ways to reduce consumption of potable water and disposal of wastewater
Leading by Example: Hewlett-Packard (HP)
HP's energy management program works to minimize electricity and gas use without adversely affecting business operations. It ensures that energy efficiency is built into facilities to improve the use of lighting, heating, IT, ventilation and cooling systems. Global standards for temperature settings, lighting levels and operation schedules ensure that energy is conserved throughout the facility's operational life.
HP set a goal to implement efficiency projects saving 40 million kWh of energy globally during 2005. Projects undertaken or continued in 2005 yielded more than 43 million kWh.
Looking to the future, one of HP's priorities is working with other companies in the Silicon Valley to achieve an area-wide 20% reduction in CO2 emissions. HP adopted this goal in March 2003 as part of its participation in the Sustainable Silicon Valley coalition.