The starting point to
ensure the success of in the implementation of energy management system is
always from a commitment of the top management with the introduction of the organisation’s
energy management policy complete with the setting of energy management goals.
However, it is often a very
challenging task for anyone within the organisation to convince the top
management to introduce such policy without a strong business case proposal and
value proposition or strategic reasons to make that policy decision.
This is where whoever
wanted to champion the introduction of a sustainable energy management need to
look beyond just the energy cost savings to convince the top management. This
is due to sometime, unless the energy cost is a very significant portion of the
total operating costs of the organisation or against the core business costs,
energy costs savings alone would not be given much consideration in important
policy or strategic business decisions.
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| The introduction of energy policy often requires the understanding among the highest level of management personnel on its importance to ensure the success of energy management program at the organisation. |
Here I would like to share
some potential key selling points that can be considered in preparing a strong
business case proposal or strategic paper of energy management to convince
decision makers. It is important to look at other non-energy related benefits
and not only focusing on energy costs savings:
i) Contribution of energy
management to business profitability for the private sector and to achieve the
relevant national policies, government’s directives and international commitment
for the public sector;
ii) Business sustainability and
competitiveness in the markets;
iii) Compliance to some regional
markets and customers’ requirements;
iv) Corporate image of the
organisation through local and international awards and recognitions;
v) Contribution to the
improvement in the working comfort level and environment;
vi) Reduction of pollution and greenhouse
gasses emission; and
vii) Compliance to the legal
requirements which is sometime very costly in penalties and creating bad image
of the organisation.
The introduction of energy
management policy will drive the implementation of energy management system by
defining it clearly on what need to be done and what need to be achieved by
focusing and demonstrating those intention and commitment in the policy. This serves as the strong indication of
commitment from the top management to be seen by all in the organisation. Then
it will lead to the needed attention will be given on all planned activities in
the energy management system development and implementation for actions that
need to be taken by respective party and personnel.
This strong message in the
policy need be conveyed, understood and seen by everyone in the organisation to
achieve the common goals in energy management for the organisation through
their various roles and participation.
With the
commitment indicated in the policy, an internal organisation such as energy
committee or a dedicated permanent team to implement energy management system
in the organisation need to be established to indicate the next stage of the
commitment which is to act by implementing energy management system.
Figure
below illustrates on how energy policy will influence and drive the
implementation of energy management system in an organisation with key
elements, activities and responsibilities involved.
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Key elements in the development and implementation of energy policy.
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It shows, energy policy is
not a stand-alone statement in a document and must be attached with clearly
defined responsibilities of the management and plans to be executed to achieve
its objectives and targets that have been set.
The introduction of energy
policy comes with the dedicated responsibilities and authorities as discussed
in the previous Part 2 article. These responsibilities and authorities will be
executed by the management representative for the overall implementation and
through the scheduled management reviews by the top management group members in
the organisation. In the same time, the policy statement in the policy document
of the organisation will serve as the main reference and guide for the internal
energy management organisation to carry out the energy planning activities in
the energy management system development stage. This will result in the main
outputs which are energy management objectives and targets to be achieved.
The objective will indicate
the description of the energy management goals which often about the reduction
of energy use and its costs and the target will indicate the projected values
to be achieved within the specified period.
Then in the management
reviews, the top management can judge
the performance of its strategy against the agreed objective and targets.
With a clearly defined and
well-communicated energy policy with its objectives and targets, energy matters will be more likely to be
understood and accepted throughout the organisation’s management and all personnel. It should not just to be a
mere document and statement with a signature!
It is an official document that demonstrates support and commitment to
improving energy performance by the top management of the organisation. Energy
policy does not need to go into detail and the most important thing is must be
understood and embraced by in while performing day to day activities that will
affect the use of energy in the organisation.
The development of
the energy policy is often become the responsibility of the energy management
committee. It need to be prepared at an early stage and possibly update after
planning if required.
The policy should set the framework for target setting and management
review of the energy management programme introduced in the organisation.
Energy management policies can come more information including the policy
target values and time frame in the form or energy unit and percentage of
energy reduction goals with specified period to achieve it by the organisation
and some are just with statements on the objective, key focused areas and
pledge by the top management on energy management.
The
development energy management policy will start with the discussions on to
define the scope of the energy management system itself. It should indicate
clearly the boundary and scope of the policy throughout the organisation,
facilities and types of energy resources involved. For example, which plant, buildings, energy sources are included and
which are not included with its justification.
Energy policy and energy management system should be appropriate to the
nature and scale of the operations. However, whether is a small or large organisation,
energy management system should be made simple and practical for
implementation.
The typical good content in an energy policy statement should indicate
the following:
i) Commitment to continual improvement of energy performance through the development
and achievement of the specified objectives
and targets;
ii) Commitment to provide the necessary information and resources to
achieve its energy objectives and targets in the development, implementation
and performance measurement and verification of the system;
iii) Support for
the purchase of energy efficient products and services where
economically feasible for the organisation to pursue;
iv) Support the
use of energy efficient design practices in new projects within the
boundary of the facilities such as the addition of new buildings and equipment
and other expansion or retrofitting works that will affect the use of energy;and
v) Commitment by the organisation to comply with all legal and other requirements that
apply to its energy using activities;
On top of
all the above, the planned activities
will be more successful if adequate resources are allocated to energy
management especially with intention to achieve the intended objectives and
targets at approved by the top management.
The content of the policy statement requires the reviews and updates
regularly at suitable frequency to reflect
the achievement and the future and goals of energy management of the
organisation. However, it is often seen that changes in energy policy are usually minimal.
Finally,
the energy management policy should be communicated to all parties and levels of
personnel in the organisation for their awareness and adoption in their
activities in the organisation. All employees must be able to
digest and embrace key messages and their roles to ensure the objectives and
targets planned from the introduction of the policy will be achieved. This
could only be done through a proper awareness programme followed by the
official introduction of the policy by the organisation.
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The introduction of energy policy must be well understood by the top management groups
and then conveyed to all level of personnel in the organisation.
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Then, we will come to the critical step in the development process of
energy management system for an organisation; the energy planning which I will
share and elaborate with more insights in Part 4 of this series of article.
The energy planning stage is the most important stage in the system
development because it will determine key parameters to be achieved as the
outputs to the business or operational costs in the form of energy costs savings
and measures to be taken to achieve it within the targeted period.
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