Establishing your organization’s energy baseline will allow you to make useful comparisons of current energy performance to energy performance prior to making energy performance improvements. By establishing an appropriate baseline for each energy performance indicator (EnPI), you’ll be able to more easily set goals, evaluate the progress of your efforts, and monitor the overall performance of your energy management program.
Advancing from Foundational Level 1 to ISO 50001 Level 2 for Step 2.8
Baselines were established for foundational energy management (Level 1) as a basis of comparison for determining energy performance. EnPIs are a typical energy performance metric and are compared to the baselines that your organization determines are relevant. For ISO 50001 (Level 2), the energy baselines are recorded and regularly reviewed to ensure they remain appropriate for your organization. Process changes or changes to EnPIs may require that the baselines be modified to ensure a meaningful measure of energy performance. Also for ISO 50001, your organization must specify the conditions that determine when a baseline is adjusted.
You can set a baseline for your organization, your building or facility, or an individual system or process. When establishing your baseline, consider these two factors:
Data availability: You will not be able to set a baseline if reliable data isn’t available for the time period you would like to set as your basis for comparison.
Allowances for useful comparisons: A well-established baseline allows for useful comparisons that help show whether and how your organization’s energy performance is improving as a result of actions taken. It may be most useful to establish a baseline period immediately prior to performing energy performance improvement actions.
Taking the above factors into account, establish a baseline for each of the EnPIs you determined in Step 2.7.1.
2.8.2 Compare EnPIs to the baseline(s)
Now that you have established baselines, you can now compare your EnPIs to baseline EnPIs to measure energy performance improvement progress toward your goals. For example, if your EnPI is measuring kilowatt-hour (kWh) electricity consumption per building occupant (i.e., kWh/occupant), you will compare the kWh/occupant ratio for the baseline period to the kWh/occupant ratio for the period of time you want to measure an energy performance improvement. By performing a simple comparison, you’ll be able to determine whether energy performance has improved, deteriorated, or remained unchanged.
Often charts or graphs are used to report on EnPIs and baselines. Some of the EnPIs and their associated baselines may be used to report energy performance to top management. Refer to tool DOE Energy Footprint Tool.
It’s important to record your choice of baseline, which makes it easier to compare and also facilitates choosing a different baseline period whenever appropriate.
Resources & Examples
DOE Energy Footprint Tool: This tool helps you organize your organization’s energy-related data. The Energy Footprint Tool allows you to enter data on a monthly basis for up to 10 years for a variety of variables.
EPA ENERGY STAR Guidelines for Energy Management: Contains a step-by-step road map for continuous improvement, based on best practices as compiled by the EPA ENERGY STAR Program. Refer to Step 2.2, Step 2.3 and Appendix 4 of the ENERGY STAR Guidelines for guidance specific to eGuide Step 2.8.
Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) Energy MAP: SEAI’s Energy MAP tool provides a step-by-step guide to creating a best practice action plan for energy management. Refer to Step 8 of the SEAI Energy MAP for helpful guidance specific to eGuide Step 2.8.
