What to do after an Energy Audit

Rising energy costs along with corporate and government commitments on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and greenhouse emissions are giving facilities the opportunity to investigate their energy productivity and performance. At Northmore Gordon we are committed to partnering with industrial and large commercial facilities to identify and implement solutions which have a long-lasting impact to reduce energy costs.

A Type 2 Energy Audit is a comprehensive review of a facility’s energy performance, providing a baseline picture of energy consumption and costs, how energy usage relates to production and other variables (such as weather), comparison against industry benchmarks, and identifying and quantifying a number of opportunities for energy efficiency, productivity improvements, and cost reduction.

Unfortunately, due to the breadth of the report and difficulty prioritising, it can be hard to know which direction to take after an energy audit, and often the initial enthusiasm generated by it can dissipate.

To make it easier we’ve set out the pathway you can follow after an energy audit to capitalise on the opportunity to reduce energy costs:

Prioritise: Use a value-ease matrix to identify the high value and easy projects (just do), high value and difficult projects (strategise), low value and easy projects (incorporate into planning), low value and difficult projects (shelve).

Plan and Assign: The energy audit sets a baseline and performance indicators you can track energy consumption against. It’s important to assign responsibility to one or more individuals in your team to monitor consumption and oversee implementation of energy saving opportunities

Implement: Begin the process of implementing high value easy to do projects by changing operational practices or integrating into procurement and capital plans.

Strategise: Establish an energy management strategy, to ensure management decisions include consideration of energy, that a coherent plan and targets are established to reduce energy costs and consumption, and stakeholder engagement is obtain at all levels.

Review: Once you’ve followed these steps you’ll have a plan of action to follow for a year or so and this will require periodic review (at least yearly). Schedule in this review now to ensure evaluation or project progress and benefits takes places.

If you need further help getting your energy projects headed in the right direction, get in touch with us. We can help with each of the above steps and talk through what support you need to continue the journey.