How to find and eliminate energy waste
Finding energy and utility waste, in general, is often not very difficult. Fixing the problem is usually more of a challenge because it often requires the input of people who are very busy with other tasks. The biggest challenge, however, is making sure that energy waste, which has been eliminated, is not allowed to creep back in, as to achieve this, in the first instance, requires a recognition that this is likely to happen, and secondly, it requires persistence.
A systematic process
Persistence is fine for a machine, but human beings tend to get distracted and sometimes lose interest, usually because another topic has become more pressing. So, what’s required (and this is a requirement of ISO 50 001) is a systematic process of checking actual consumption against expected consumption and a method of recording the outcome of these investigations.
Effort needs to be minimised
We developed the Energy Efficiency Programme (EEP), in conjunction with a prominent UK central government department in 2012 and then incorporated this process into ecoDriver, as the Audit Module, in 2013. Whilst the EEP was highly successful in finding and eliminating energy waste, it required significant effort to administer. Hence, the Audit Module and the CEEP (collaborative energy efficiency programme), which leverages the automation provided by the software, minimise the effort required to find and eliminate energy waste.
A record of all your energy efficiency activity in one place
By using the Audit Module as part of a CEEP, all issues that occur and the actions taken to resolve them are retained in one central database. Hence, it’s very easy to generate reports and perform analyses to ensure that maximum benefits are realised from your energy efficiency efforts. Good practices can easily be shared, and requests for records of sustainability activity are readily available.
