ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
The five-step-plus approach
The latest schemes for managing energy in the built environment stress the importance of continually improving performance, explains Andy Lewry.
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To successfully carry out energy management within an organisation, a system needs to be introduced that is simple to understand. This should address management issues, both within the organisation and for the building(s), with the resulting energy savings providing a competitive business advantage. The system must provide a structured approach and a framework in which to work. It is essential that the outputs provide a clear sense of direction for the organisation and communicate the objectives to all of the stakeholders. Alongside this, the system should measure and monitor and, to keep its objectivity and reputation, be easy to audit. Last but not least, the modern management philosophy is one of continuous improvement, where any system must review and capture the lessons learned and then act on them.
Such a system, which has been tried and tested over many years, is a five-step approach (see figure 1) introduced by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) through the energy-efficiency best-practice programme in the 1990s. This is now part of the Carbon Trust’s portfolio of publications at both a strategic and implementation1 level. The strategic energy management guide also contains sample energy policies that can be downloaded and used as exemplars.
In developing an energy policy, these key points should be addressed:
- state the way energy is used;
- state global targets;
- state managerial responsibilities.
- state staff responsibilities; and
- lay out future plans.
The energy policy is typically in two parts, where the first part is a high-level statement. The second part should have specific objectives and targets and be used to:
- communicate board commitment;
- raise staff awareness;
- demonstrate commitment to key stakeholders;
- underpin the energy strategy; and
- provide a structure for implementation.
Although this approach is a great step forward to integrating energy management within an organisation’s managerial processes, it has a fundamental flaw: it does not close the loop and produce an iterative process where the lessons learned feed back into the process, which is then improved.
Once the simple system is in place it should be refined in a manner that it learns from both its successes and mistakes.
For the past few years BRE has been advocating a “five-step-plus” approach (see figure 2), where the loop is closed by a review and audit step whose analysis produces the lessons learned. These are then fed into a plan for improvement, which embraces all aspects of the process and includes an action plan for change. This approach should be adopted once the energy management programme has gained momentum.
This approach is in line with the approach of a new international energy management standard (EnMS), which was published in June 2011. ISO 50001:20112 EnMS, ISO 50001:2011. ISO 50001 specifies requirements for an organisation to establish, implement, maintain and improve an energy management system. This allows organisations to take a systematic approach to the continuous improvement of energy performance, including efficiency, end use and consumption. Even for organisations that have been committed to energy management for a long time, or that may already be certified to ISO 140013, case studies indicate that the more formalised processes required by the new standard can lead to new opportunities and procedures being identified and implemented.
The framework and the major aims of the standard are as follows:
- improve energy performance in a systematic way through objectives, monitoring, use of targets and investment programmes (this is the key purpose of the standard);
- establish, implement, maintain and improve an energy management system;
- identify appropriate roles, responsibilities, needs for training, awareness, and so on;
- include transport within the scope, if appropriate;
- ensure compliance with the stated energy policy, including senior management reviews;
- demonstrate conformance to other stakeholders; and
- certify the energy management system by external verification, or carry out self-evaluation and declaration.
The key to this standard is the approach it has adopted – the plan, do, check, act approach:
Plan: Conduct the energy review and establish the baseline, energy performance indicators, objectives, targets and action plans necessary to deliver results that will improve energy performance in accordance with the organisation’s energy policy.
Do: Implement the energy management action plans.
Check: Monitor and measure processes and the key characteristics of operations that determine energy performance against the energy policy and objectives, and report the results.
Act: Take actions to continually improve energy performance and the international EnMS.
REFERENCES
1. Practical energy management overview, CTV023, and Strategic energy management overview, CTV022, Carbon Trust. (Both now replaced by Energy management − a comprehensive guide to controlling energy use, CTG054, Carbon Trust, 2011.).
2. Energy management systems – requirements with guidance for use, ISO 50001:2011.
3. Environmental management systems – requirements with guidance for use, ISO 14001:2004.
Andy Lewry, Principal Consultant Sustainable Energy Team, BRE