It’s important to communicate basic energy management awareness to employees and others who affect your organization’s energy uses and consumption. In Step 2, your organization identified what equipment consumes the most energy and established an action plan(s) to improve energy performance. In this step, you will motivate the right people to work together to achieve the intended results. This can be accomplished through awareness and training activities.
Sustaining project improvement is dependent on effective communication with all personnel. The Project Action Plan template is designed to help you communicate with everyone in your organization who has an impact on the continued success of the project's energy performance improvements. Be sure to involve all personnel when communicating your project’s desired actions, goals, and success. Providing feedback by telling everyone about any energy performance improvements also helps to maintain momentum for further savings.
Advancing from Foundational Level 1 to ISO 50001 Level 2 for Step 3.4
In transitioning from foundational energy management (Level 1) to ISO 50001 (Level 2), you are expanding your energy management efforts to include other activities and address other issues. In Level 1 you addressed the competencies, training and communication needed to execute the action plans and sustain the energy savings achieved from project completion. For ISO 50001, you will continue to address the needs related to projects and their associated action plans. However, you also will address the competency, training and communication needs associated with your organization’s significant energy uses (SEUs) and energy-related legal and other requirements, as well as daily energy management system (EnMS) operation.
Some of the changes needed to transition to an ISO 50001 EnMS include:
Defining the competency needs of personnel performing work related to your organization’s SEUs and identifying and addressing any competency gaps through training or other actions;
Identifying and addressing training needs related to EnMS operation, including compliance with energy-related legal and other requirements;
Ongoing internal communication about your organization’s energy performance and EnMS, and implementation of a suggestion or comment system; and,
Specific decisions related to external communications about your organization’s energy policy, energy performance and EnMS.
The personnel assigned to perform the tasks laid out in the action plan must be capable of performing the outlined tasks. In addition to salaried full-time staff, these personnel can include hourly, part-time, and temporary employees as well as onsite contractors, suppliers and consultants. Competency broadly includes things such as education, training, skills, and experience. There is no requirement to adhere to, but rather take care that all personnel assigned to actions have the sufficient technical capabilities needed to complete their assignments. For example, if your action plan calls for a new piece of equipment to be installed and operated, make sure that the person assigned to this task knows how to install and operate the equipment or receives the proper training to do so.
3.4.2 Ensure training and awareness
Identify the positions and individuals whose decisions and activities affect energy consumption for your organization. For each job function, consider the following questions when developing your message on energy awareness to employees of your organization:
How are they involved with energy consumption? If they are not involved, how can they get involved?
What will encourage them to change their behavior?
How do they influence energy consumption for specific energy uses?
How will energy performance improvements help them?
How will energy performance improvements help the organization?
How will they know that the actions they are taking will provide results?
What positive results are expected?
For organizations considering technical training on energy systems, the U.S Department of Energy (DOE), Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) has created a program focused on delivering comprehensive training on system best practices and use of AMO tools. AMO courses offerings are available through instructor-led classes, workshops, and self-paced interactive e-learning courses. To learn more, click here. To learn more about building-related workforce development, click here.
3.4.3 Communicate internally
The important messages contained in your action plans should be communicated in several steps in order to be successful. Your coworkers will generally be willing to help and take appropriate actions if they know what those actions are and how those actions will improve energy performance. Consider the following communication steps:
Establish expectations of all employees
Ensure that questions and concerns are addressed in a timely manner
Communicate in-progress and achieved results
Ask for input on next steps and share them, when developed
Use all available communication tools within your organization, including but not limited to, employee recognition, team meetings, safety meetings, communication boards, email, newsletters etc. As you follow the above communication steps, be aware of the following situations that could hinder communications:
“It’s not my job”; “I haven’t got time”; “Nobody told me about it!” – This is a common reaction for any new effort within an organization. Be sure to allow for questions and to provide routine updates. Review the action plan and roles and responsibilities.
Starting from scratch – Build on existing knowledge rather than starting from scratch. Adding information into existing materials and programs helps to provide context and reduce the stress of “another new program.”
Making it too complicated – Always follow the Keep it Simple principle. People do not respond well to complex systems—think in simple terms and steps. Break things into manageable pieces that those responsible can complete. Do not forget, this isn’t their only responsibility! It has to fit within their other responsibilities. Be sure to recognize those involved for their efforts and celebrate everyone’s success.
Forgetting to include people who can help make connections – Think broadly when reaching out to coworkers to help you implement your action plan. For example, including purchasing and maintenance staff from the beginning helps with buy-in and identifying improved methods of accomplishing some of the tasks.
Assuming that communicating once is enough – It is important to communicate in many different ways to make sure everyone has heard about the improvements and understands his/her involvement. Hearing from top management as well as department managers and direct supervisors will only reinforce the understanding and importance of the plan. To help reinforce the message, consider using different delivery methods such as email, memos, and agenda items in staff meetings, posters, and graphs.
Resources & Examples
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 5.3 of the ENERGY STAR Guidelines for guidance specific to eGuide Step 3.4.
Energy Management Package for Small Commercial Buildings: Best practices guide and energy management package for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) contractors to deliver energy management services to small commercial buildings. Refer to Element E5 of the Package for guidance specific to eGuide Step 3.4.
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 14 and Step 15 of the SEAI Energy MAP for helpful guidance specific to eGuide Step 3.4.
