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Energy Management

Energy Management resources

Overview

Energy management is closely linked to operations management, environmental management, and logistics. To be most effective and resourceful, energy management systems work within a hierarchy (from most to least preferable) of preferred action. The first priority is to reduce energy use, and then meet the remaining demand with the most sustainable means possible. The hierarchy looks like this:


The primary objectives of energy management are:

  • resource security
  • energy conservation
  • operating efficiencies
  • cost stabilization and savings
  • pollution reduction

Increasingly businesses are managing energy use in an effort not only to save money, but also to minimize their ecological footprint. Energy management also has the added benefit of reducing an organization’s emissions of greenhouse gases through conservation and efficiency, but a concerted effort to reduce GHG emissions goes beyond energy management activities.

Efforts to improve efficiency and conserve energy consumption in facilities, operations, and transportation have been underway since the energy crisis of the 1970s. But there is still much to be done. New products (such as occupancy sensors and smart meters) can advance these efforts without behavioral changes. New programs that encourage conservation behavior (such as employee contests and driver training for companies with fleets) have also become popular and effective in forming new and better habits for reduced energy consumption.

Energy management strategies are often based on the idea of continuous process improvement or the “Plan-Do-Check-Act” management model. The most progressive companies are certified to the international ISO 50001 standard for creating and operating an energy management system.

Resources

Facility

Facility energy can account for a large part of an organization’s energy footprint. There are many opportunities to reduce energy demand, such as conserving energy use, upgrading equipment to more efficient models, and switching from fossil fuels to environmentally preferred sources of energy, including renewables.

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Fleet

Strategies for fleet energy management include reducing miles travelled (e.g., logistics to consolidate and streamline numbers of trips and routes) and switching to more environmentally preferred sources of energy, particularly when replacing or upgrading fleet vehicles, by purchasing alternative-fuel, hybrid, or dual fuel vehicles.

Process energy

Process energy is often a large cost and carbon footprint burden. As such it presents significant opportunities. Strategies for reducing consumption and costs include negotiated rates and use optimization by increasing machinery efficiency, altering production schedules to maximize off-peak rates, capturing heat normally lost in processes for reuse, and switching from fossil fuels to environmentally preferred sources of energy, including renewables.

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Transportation

Transportation is a central pillar of our economy and society. It enables people and goods to move around the world. It has become essential for societal growth and development.

Despite the substantial socioeconomic benefits, transport systems pose serious environmental and societal costs. The challenge for sustainability is not to do away with transport, but to make it sustainable, energy-efficient, and less dependent on fossil fuels.

Air pollution

Air pollution poses significant risks to human health and the environment. Vehicles produce air pollution during manufacturing, operation, and disposal processes. These pollutants can lead to health problems like respiratory illness such as asthma, as well as other problems like smog and acid rain.

Climate change and GHGs

Transportation also has a significant impact on climate change through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The majority of GHG emissions from transportation come from the combustion of fossil fuel based products, like gasoline and diesel fuel, in internal combustions engines. Over half of the emissions created by the transportation sector are a result of passenger cars and light-weight trucks. The remainder of greenhouse gas emissions from transportation comes from other modes, including freight trucks, commercial aircraft, ships, boats, and trains as well as from leak in pipelines and lubricants used in the transportation industry.

According to the EPA, transportation is one of the largest sources of GHG emissions in the US. In 2014, transportation accounted for roughly 26% of total US GHG emissions, as shown in the graphic below.

For every kilometer traveled, there is a large disparity in the amount of emissions produced by the different modes of transport. For each metric ton moved one kilometer the following emissions are produced:

  • Plane (air cargo): 500g
  • Truck: 60-150g
  • Train/Rail: 30-100g
  • Ship: 10-40g

To put those measurements in perspective, a one-ton shipment from Bangladesh to the United States by air emits 6,609,500 grams of CO2. The same shipment by waterway, using the highest estimated emissions figure, emits 528,760 grams of CO2.

Biodiversity and land impacts

In addition to the impacts from pollution, transportation has other social and environmental costs such as road crashes, traffic congestion, and damage to natural habitats and biodiversity. Water runoff from roadways is polluted by oil, rubber residue, and road salts. Roads dissect wildlife habitats, causing habitat fragmentation, which leads to a decrease in biodiversity among species.

Transportation management

Approaches to managing the energy and environmental impacts of transportation include:

  • Reducing the number of miles traveled
  • Operating vehicles more efficiently
  • Using low-carbon fuels
  • Creating or adopting new and improving existing vehicle technologies

The approaches to transportation management listed above cover a range of activities. To get an idea of what’s involved, take a look at a few examples of transportation-related projects:

  1. Managing transportation logistics to reduce fuel requirements. Use logistics to plan and create more efficient routes (speed caps and routing to minimize driving through city traffic) to reduce fuel requirements and emissions.
  2. Selecting building site near public transportation. Identify and consider transportation distances when selecting office or distribution sites.
  3. Encourage environmentally friendly or reduced travel. Educate the workforce to prioritize modes of transportation to have the least environmental impact. Encourage employees to ride share and carpool.
  4. Incentivizing use of public transportation. Adopt benefit programs that provide employees with incentives to use public transportation and reduce individual car travel such as pre-tax flex-spending or subsidy benefits public transportation and free transit passes. Provide incentives for use of local car/bicycle share programs and companies to enable public transportation commuting by making cars and bicycles readily available for transportation requirements during the workday.

Energy basics

Energy is essential to a thriving economy and the continued advancement of society. It has been fundamental to the development of civilization and underpins every aspect of modern life. Energy is needed for domestic and commercial heating and cooling, electricity, public infrastructure, transportation, agriculture, and commerce.

Various sources of energy include:

Non-renewables

  • Fossil Fuels – Coal, Oil and Natural Gas
  • Nuclear Energy

Renewables

  • Solar Energy
  • Wind Energy
  • Biomass Energy
  • Geothermal Energy
  • Hydro Power and Wave Energy

From an environmental standpoint, the amount and type of energy we use can have serious implications for the natural environment. All energy sources have some impact on the natural environment, whether on air and water quality, wildlife and habitat loss, or climate change. But by most measures, fossil fuels – coal, oil, and natural gas – do substantially more damage to the environment than renewable energy sources – solar, wind, and hydro.

Since the Industrial Revolution, the increasing use of energy resources, particularly non-renewables, has produced a number of unintended consequences. Climate change, for example, is accelerated by the burning of fossil fuels and poses a serious risk to humans and natural systems.

Because energy is so vital and often so negative in its use impacts, energy management is an important aspect of sustainability.

Resources