When you’re running many facilities, keeping tabs on energy can feel like a huge puzzle, but by focusing on a few key areas right from the start, you can build a strong foundation and avoid many headaches down the road. Consider these recommendations about what you can do proactively to avoid the most common pitfalls of managing energy across multiple sites.
- Build a Solid Energy Strategy from the Ground Up: Don’t just react to problems; design and implement a comprehensive energy strategy. This means aligning your energy goals with existing guidance frameworks, like ISO50001, and ensuring consistent practices. Even if you’re not going for formal certification, following a framework can give you a robust Plan-Do-Check-Act approach to energy management.
- Assign Clear Ownership and Team Up: Energy management can’t just be one person’s rainy-day job. Establish an Energy Steering Group with an executive in charge to ensure that everyone, from assets and finance to sustainability and operations, is on the same page. This prevents responsibilities from being fragmented and makes energy efficiency a shared organisational goal, fostering accountability and action.
- Get Your Data in Order and Use It: You might have fancy monitoring systems, but if the data is inaccurate, or not understood, it’s a wasted investment. Prioritise accurate energy data management. This means making sure all your solar, BMS, and consumption monitoring systems are correctly installed, reporting accurately, and that staff know how to interpret and use this information for better decision-making. A user-friendly energy data dashboard can work wonders. You might even consider publishing it on your website or on display in your public spaces.
- Maintain Top-Notch Record Keeping: Ever tried to find old building plans? It can be a nightmare! To avoid complications with maintenance and future upgrades, ensure documentation is consistently supplied, digitised and filed for all new builds, renovations, and upgrades. Designate a specific role or team to be responsible for maintaining these records in a centralised system.
- Proactively Monitor and Maintain Solar Systems: Installing solar is a great investment, but only if it’s working. Many systems can be faulty or misconfigured without anyone noticing, increasing your energy consumption and wasting money. Set up a comprehensive solar monitoring review and rectification program. Audit systems regularly, ensure connectivity, and establish an alert response process with your maintenance team to catch and fix issues promptly.
- Maximise Solar Self-Consumption: If your sites are exporting a lot of solar energy back to the grid for little financial return, you’re missing an opportunity. Look into ways to increase self-consumption, such as load shifting (controlling equipment to operate during solar generation hours), conducting battery feasibility studies, and investigating peer-to-peer trading opportunities (sharing energy between sites).
- Empower and Upskill Your Facilities Team: Your facilities, projects, and maintenance staff are on the front lines, and they can drive significant energy outcomes if properly supported. Invest in their training and resources. Incorporate energy efficiency KPIs into their job descriptions and hold regular operational meetings to foster a culture of sustainability and empower them to deliver optimisation, not just fault response.
We’ve done this a few times now. If you need help with any of these steps or would like to engage us for the full shebang energy audit…