Retrotec USACE - Manual (Page 29)

7
2
Organizing Energy Assessment
Planning energy management and assessment requires the commitment of the
whole organization. Successful improvement of energy effi ciency requires all
parts of the organization to somehow be involved in the process. Without the
active participation of stakeholders from all levels, from top management down
to the persons responsible for the daily O&M, energy management cannot
meet its goals. Energy management and assessment activities must be clearly
connected to the general strategies of the organization, otherwise the improve-
ments will remain a series of uncoordinated, one-time, ad hoc actions with no
long-term impacts or real changes on ground-fl oor activities.
Unless everyone knows that he or she can make a difference, people will
not contribute fully to the energy assessment and saving actions. Furthermore,
organizations will not see the potential return on any investment they make in
energy-saving technology unless everyone is committed to reducing consump-
tion. The organization’s management must be committed, because improving
energy effi ciency will often require changes to current working practices and
the overall culture of the organization. Change will only be successful if it is
driven from the top. Similarly, all employees should take responsibility for im-
plementing day-to-day energy-saving actions.
Figure 5 shows the fi ve steps that organizations should follow when imple-
menting an energy management and assessment program. Actions and tasks of
every step will be briefl y discussed below (more information is available at sites
such as www.carbontrust.co.uk and www.bess-project.info).
Step 1: Organize the Activities and Appoint Responsible
People
As a fi rst step, the overall organization of energy management must be planned
and the responsibilities of persons involved must be clearly defi ned. To achieve
this, an energy assessment team should be created that is responsible for all as-
pects of energy in the organization, including performance assessment activities.
Possible participants in this kind of team will be discussed later in Chapter 3.