An event hosted by the Energy Solutions Center (ESC) in June provides an opportunity to connect with leaders in the natural gas industry. Hosted in Toronto, Canada, from June 25-27^th, the National Account Workshop brings together national account customers and thought-leaders in the natural gas industry to share their expertise in the developments and opportunities shaping the national energy landscape.

With natural gas playing a larger role in the energy mix, and with price increases likely in the future, now is the time to ensure you have all the facts you need to make good decisions about gas. Ecova’s own Brad Ouderkirk will present at the event, focusing on strategic management of energy consumption.

Learn more about Ecova’s solutions Facility Optimization and Strategy & Engagement Solutions to find out how you can strategically manage the energy needed to run your business.

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Need a proactive, strategic, and actionable plan to tackle rising commodity prices, changing regulations, and new consumer demands? Sounds like you need an energy manager ― but where do you find someone with the diversity of skills and experience it takes to be successful in this multifaceted role? You have two options:

1. Hire an internal leader who knows your organization.
2. Hire an external trusted advisor, backed by a panoply of subject matter experts.

INTERNAL LEADER

Finding a candidate with the skills necessary to succeed can be challenging. You may have an internal leader in mind, or you may want to search for a new hire. Either way, if done right, an in-house corporate energy manager can be extremely beneficial. An internal resource can facilitate access to capital and internal resources, gain commitment and buy-in from executive leadership, and have the ability to effectively foster cross-functional engagement. Organizationally, corporate energy managers are most successful when they report directly to the CEO or COO. Positioning the corporate energy manager deeper into any organizational department dilutes authority and the ability to execute successful programs.

EXTERNAL TRUSTED ADVISOR

When looking for an external trusted advisor, partnering with an organization with diverse service offerings brings experience, cross-industry knowledge, and an unparalleled breadth of subject matter experts―all of this without adding headcount to your organization. A third party can also bring utility and vendor relationships to help empower internal leaders to be energy champions and work together to build and sustain short-, medium- and long-term energy plans.

GETTING STARTED ON YOUR ENERGY PLAN

Whether you hire internally or partner externally, to be effective the corporate energy manager must be able to connect cross-functional teams and engage disparate departments, including operations, finance, facilities & engineering, marketing, and other industry-specific groups to execute energy programs. The corporate energy manager will interact with a range of outside stakeholders. The position needs the endorsement of the CEO and executive leadership team.

The corporate energy manager will lead your energy strategy from social, environmental, and economic standpoints. Activities may be wide ranging and include program development, project management, and the coordination and delivery of energy management products and services as part of a total energy and sustainability solution. The corporate energy manager should be prepared to:

Making a corporate commitment is the first step; choosing a corporate energy manager is the second. Still not sure where to start? Check out our upcoming webinar, Why Every Company Needs a Corporate Energy Manager.

Stay tuned for more posts on the role of the energy manger and how this important role can add value to your business. In the meantime, learn more about the work of Ecova's energy managers.

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Did you know that approximately 85% of U.S. households have clothes dryers? You might be surprised to learn that clothes dryers account for 6% of residential electricity consumption and cost consumers about $9 billion every year. Despite this, they are the only major household appliance without an ENERGY STAR^® label or utility financial incentive program.

The Super Efficient Dryer Initiative (SEDI), launched in 2010 by the New Jersey Clean Energy Program, brings together dryer manufacturers, government agencies, utilities, and appliance retailers in the U.S. and Canada to promote the introduction of advanced clothes dryers into the North American market. Other collaborators include the Collaborative Labeling & Appliance Standards Program (CLASP) and the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC). Since its launch, SEDI sponsorship has expanded to 13 energy efficiency programs across the U.S. and Canada. ^[1]

Drawing on lessons learned from TopTen’s experiences introducing heat pump clothes dryers into Europe, SEDI conducts technical research, promotes policy measures, and coordinates stakeholder engagement to pave the way for this advanced technology to transform the U.S. and Canadian market towards higher energy efficiency and cost savings for consumers.

Under SEDI, CLASP and its consultant Ecova recently published a study demonstrating that European clothes dryers using heat pump technology are 50-60% more energy efficient than the conventional electric dryers used in North America. Moreover, their peak consumption is approximately one-fifth that of North American dryers, significantly reducing power demand. The study provides the technical evidence necessary for state and local utilities to promote new technology through financial incentive programs that will make new super-efficient dryers more affordable to consumers.

In addition to market measures, SEDI has also worked with U.S. EPA to promote energy efficient clothes dryers via ENERGY STAR. In 2012, EPA announced its selection of clothes dryers as a category for ENERGY STAR’s Emerging Technology Award. SEDI provided technical comments to EPA to ensure that the award requirements were set at levels that only highly efficient technology could achieve. An award recipient is expected to be announced later this year.  

SEDI expects a manufacturer to introduce a 30% more energy efficient clothes dryer into the U.S. market in 2013.

For more information about this initiative, download the report or you can contact me directly.

^[1] Current SEDI Sponsors: British Columbia (BC) Hydro; Connecticut Light & Power; Connecticut Natural Gas; Efficiency Vermont; Long Island Power Authority; National Grid; New Jersey Clean Energy Program; Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance; Pacific Gas & Electric; Sacramento Municipal Utility District; Silicon Valley Power; Southern Connecticut Gas; United Illuminating. Current SEDI Supporters: Cape Light Compact.

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An overview of Ecova’s energy dashboard was recently highlighted in Energy Manager Today. The article discusses dashboard types, how they differ, and how companies can choose the right one for their needs. Facility and energy managers need to understand their site portfolio’s energy use, but unfortunately, not all dashboards are created equally.

DASHBOARD EVOLUTION

The article describes the evolution of dashboards, paired with the needs of the user. Dashboards can be very simple and still serve end user needs, or be incredibly complex, with multi-variable algorithms built in to compare and measure corporate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

The most basic energy dashboards can be built on an Excel spreadsheet. Set up correctly, it can provide insight into energy use by site, region, or any other variable that can be populated into your data set and manipulated with a pivot table. And while an Excel spreadsheet can be a useful tool, it typically requires time to digest, as it can often be more cumbersome than an intuitive and graphically-designed dashboard.

Data is just that; data. What you do with the data unlocks its value. A dashboard is valuable for providing insight into energy consumption, equipment health and behavior by site personnel. If you don’t do anything with the data, it’s a dead end.

It is important to have a solid understanding of what you are looking for in order to find a dashboard that best fits your needs. For example, if you only have a handful of sites and you’re at the beginning of defining your energy strategy, gathering your historical utility bill data and analyzing it via Excel is a great first step.

If you have numerous sites that you need to roll-up into a portfolio or regional view, and want to identify outliers at a glance, a more sophisticated dashboard like Ecova’s new Meter Dashboard would certainly serve your needs. And if you have a strategic energy management program with company-specific KPIs, a custom dashboard solution would probably be the best route for you.

TEST DRIVE A DASHBOARD TODAY

I encourage you to read the Energy Manager Today article for additional information into the value of energy dashboards. If you’d like a demo of Ecova’s new Meter Dashboard, let us know.

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Currently, more than 3,000 companies, including 366 of the Fortune 500, disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project). Although reporting is voluntary, there are business rewards for companies that integrate climate change risks and opportunities into their strategy.

The CDP evaluates corporations on their climate change risks, opportunities, impacts, associated business strategies and performance. Not only does reporting assist companies in responding to growing stakeholder expectations (shareholders, current and future customers, supply chain partners, etc.), it also gives companies an opportunity to view risks and opportunities for future business strategies through a carbon lens.

REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT

While no federal legislative framework has been created for regulating GHG emissions, in 2011 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began regulating GHGs using the authority of the Clean Air Act. As of now, this nationwide program targets only the largest single-source emitters. Similarly, at the regional level, programs like California’s cap and trade system are also regulating only the largest emitters. So the bulk of U.S. companies today that are reporting to CDP have no regulatory mandate to report. Instead, most reporters choose to do so voluntarily.

WHY REPORT TO CDP?

Prior to 2010, companies earned a ‘disclosure score’ from CDP based mainly on the quality and completeness of their disclosure. Now, CDP also has a ‘performance score’ that ranks the actions of companies to integrate climate change risks and opportunities into their business strategy, including the development of specific emission reduction targets. This information is used by a mix of stakeholders as an indicator of corporate management strength and vitality, including investors, industry peers, reporting agencies such as Bloomberg and Google Financial, and Newsweek’s annual Green Rankings report.

Responding to the CDP questionnaire is very much a collaborative effort within an organization that typically involves cross-departmental team members from the energy, sustainability, marketing and legal teams. The teams are responsible for providing qualitative responses to a variety of questions alongside their emissions inventory and performance. There are many reasons to participate in CDP reporting, including:

If your company chooses to report your carbon emissions, you will be joining a forward-thinking group of businesses who are doing the same. Ecova’s Carbon Management team can help you get started with developing your inventory, forming CDP responses that best tell your organization’s story, and developing roadmaps toward a more efficient business strategy.

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