The added bonus of energy management is that it will make it easier to implement policies that will be more sustainable in our changing world — both environmentally and economically.
Why Businesses Should Care About Energy & Energy Management
Megan Ray Nichols | Schooled By Science
In today’s market, it is crucial to note that renewable energies are not simply the concern of environmentalists. In fact, the role sustainability plays in the workplace is vital to the transition away from and reduction of greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change. Businesses everywhere should take a good long look at their energy management plans — if they haven’t already — to see how they can be more energy efficient.
The biggest problem, however, is most businesses aren’t exactly sure where to begin. Well, the first step to improving your company’s system is to understand what energy management means and how it can affect your profitability and sustainability.
What Is Energy Management?
There are multiple definitions of energy management, but principally concerning its importance in the business sector, energy management is about the monitoring, control, and conservation of energy within the building structure and organization as a whole.
It isn’t just about saving energy. Energy management also refers to energy awareness, meaning understanding the importance of using less energy.
Why Is It Important?
All organizations should recognize energy management is vital to saving energy throughout the organization, which benefits the company financially and also contributes positively to the global need to save and transition to renewable energy. For example, this could be an upgrade to a more efficient computer system.
The environmental conditions of power stations demand industrial-grade computer devices, so having a properly outfitted monitoring system leads to huge advantages for your company. For starters, you save money. Secondly, it provides better accuracy and allows you to gather data efficiently. Proper energy management also contributes to the prices of energy, reduction of emissions, and even has an impact on various legislative actions at a national and global level.
Best Practices in Energy Management
Now that you understand what energy management is, and why it’s essential to a more sustainable economy locally, nationally and globally, the natural next step is to know best practices you can implement in your own management programs.
Usually, you can begin by monitoring — that is, metering — your company’s energy consumption and compiling that data. The information collected from that data will help you identify areas where you are performing well and where you can improve. You’ll use the data to understand understand energy usage and where waste occurs, what equipment can be switched out to improve energy consumption, and how your employees can also contribute to increasing company efficiency.
It’s Not Just About Saving Money, Though
Of course, saving money and cutting costs while improving profitability is always an important aspect of business. However, while excellent energy management contributes to this, it isn’t the only reason that efficiency and transitioning to more renewable forms of energy is necessary. A sustainable planet is largely dependent on the choices businesses make — waste and energy are large contributors to CO2 emissions.
We, collectively as businesses and individual persons, can reduce the negative impact we have on our planet. This is becoming more and more urgent each year. The world is at a crossroads, and contrary to what some critics of climate change say, the evidence of rising temperatures and increased extreme weather phenomena can no longer be ignored.
But that doesn’t mean that you’ll have to sacrifice profitability by transitioning to more sustainable and environmentally friendly business practices. In fact, you stand to have an advantage in the long term if you implement energy-saving and environmentally responsible business practices. Some companies are even bypassing traditional ways of buying energy and going straight to the source.
Google, for example, has made the march toward clean energy by purchasing it directly through power purchase agreements. This moves the trend away from doing ‘business as usual’ and also helps pave the way for more companies to see the advantage of transitioning to more renewable and more sustainable forms of energy.
By Reducing Energy Consumption, Your Company and the Planet Win
Energy management is vital to running your company efficiently and at its full potential. However, the added bonus of energy management is that it will make it easier to implement policies that will be more sustainable in our changing world — both environmentally and economically.
You’ll reduce costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and mitigate future risks associated with remaining dependent on dirty and depleting fossil fuels. By transitioning to a more energy-efficient workplace, you set up your company to be more sustainable and profitable over the long term.
There is no way we can continue to do business the way we have done in the past. The evidence of a continually altering planet due to negligence is evident.
There is a responsibility as a business owner to do your part in combating irreversible effects on the planet for future generations. But remember, environmentally responsible is not mutually exclusive to economically profitable. In fact, you would do well to remember the future has paved a way for those two to work hand in hand.
The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of AltEnergyMag
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