Managing your energy use

Monitoring the different ways in which your business uses energy helps to highlight the best energy saving opportunities. Use this information to set clear, measurable targets for reducing energy use. Think about expressing objectives and targets in ways that encourage staff throughout the business to participate in energy saving measures.

Examples of energy saving targets

There are a number of ways in which you can express energy saving targets, such as:

• reducing energy consumption, either overall or by a particular department or process
• reducing emissions of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e)
• increasing the percentage of the energy budget invested in energy saving measures
• improving the return on investment from energy efficiency activities
• increased staff awareness
• increasing the number of staff given energy efficiency training
• measuring an increase in energy saving actions by staff

To be achievable, targets need to be:

• realistic
• based on a thorough understanding of your current energy consumption and of the potential for savings to be made