Bridging Sustainability and Efficiency: Practical Approaches to Smarter Energy Management

In the first blog post in this series, I discussed the important elements of an energy management plan and how to best go about establishing a plan of your own for your facility. In today’s post, I want to discuss taking it up a notch and elevating your plan to the next level by incorporating sustainable initiatives and concepts that will not only help conserve precious environmental resources but also make your dollar go further so you can get the most out of your maintenance budget. Let’s take a look at some of these approaches and the important technological tools that are available to help currently and in the future.

Integrating Sustainability Initiatives

Sustainability initiatives are integral to energy management plans. Key actions include:

• Efficient Lighting and HVAC Systems: Reducing carbon footprint and emissions.
• Water Conservation Measures: Implementing low-flow fixtures and metering devices.
• Recycling Programs: Promoting waste reduction.
• Education and Training: Raising awareness and fostering a culture of sustainability.

Upgrading your HVAC systems can save energy and reduce your carbon footprint.

Sustainability starts with aligning your goals. Your energy objectives have to match the broader goal of sustainability. Ask yourself questions like, “Are you saving energy and reducing your carbon emissions and minimizing waste at the same time?” Changes like upgrading to more efficient lighting and HVAC systems can reduce your carbon footprint. Implement water-saving measures like low-flow fixtures, if they haven’t been added yet. If they are already in the facility, then use metering devices that reduce the amount of water that a certain fixture uses. Reducing waste by promoting recycling is another great way to integrate important sustainability initiatives into your plan.

Education and training are certainly a big part of the discussion, as the concept of sustainability initiatives may be new to some people. Staff need to be educated on sustainability practices and energy conservation so they become accustomed to the new way of doing things and make it part of their culture. With any program that you implement, there’s got to be monitoring and reporting so you can track the progress and are able to see that your plans are achieving what you’ve set out for them to achieve.

Overcoming Challenges in Promoting Sustainability

Common challenges in promoting sustainability include budget constraints, operational disruptions, and lack of awareness. Here’s how I address these issues:

• Highlighting Long-Term Savings: Emphasizing the return on investment and available grants and incentives.
• Planning During Low Activity Periods: Minimizing operational disruptions by scheduling projects strategically.
• Training Sessions: Educating staff and stakeholders on the benefits of sustainability initiatives.

Budget constraints are a challenge almost everybody can relate to. The solution – how you overcome it – is to highlight the long-term savings and the return on investment. There’s grants available. There’s incentives to offset the cost. I think that has to be the focus.

A big challenge that secure facilities, such as those in the justice sector, face is operational disruptions. Detention and correctional facilities are mission-critical in nature and operate 24/7.  For that reason, it’s best to plan projects during low activity periods and also consider implementing your changes gradually instead of all at once, thereby minimizing the impact on operations.

Lack of awareness can be a huge problem. The best way to address this is to conduct some training sessions to communicate the benefits clearly. Effectively measuring impact is another solution that can help address these key challenges to sustainability. Having the proper monitoring tools and reporting systems in place will help you track the key metrics you need to help demonstrate tangible progress to your stakeholders so they can clearly understand that what you’re doing is working.

Measuring Effectiveness of Energy Management Initiatives

Effectiveness of energy management initiatives is measured through:

1. Establishing Baselines: Collecting data on energy consumption, costs, and environmental impact.
2. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Tracking energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, and maintenance downtime.
3. Continuous Monitoring: Using smart meters and building automation systems for real-time feedback.
4. Periodic Audits: Evaluating effectiveness and identifying new opportunities for improvement.
5. Reporting: Generating detailed reports to demonstrate progress and maintain accountability.

To establish baselines, collect data on energy consumption, cost, environmental impact, and your key performance indicators from energy consumption, and then compare that to the baseline to see how well you’re doing. Monitor those energy costs and see where you’re at. Your carbon footprint can measure the reduction from greenhouse gas emissions. Smart meters are one way that you can measure effectiveness. Metering devices can show the before and after of water consumption. Building automation systems that control energy usage can give you continuous feedback on system performance.

Periodically logging temperatures and pressures on water systems will help evaluate effectiveness and allow for adjustments and improvement.

In addition, it is important to conduct periodic audits to evaluate the effectiveness of your energy savings to see if there’s adjustments that are necessary or new opportunities for improvement. You have to go out there and inspect it. Reporting is one of your key resources. It is necessary to generate reports and highlight the progress so that there’s transparent accountability for stakeholders that are trying to achieve a certain goal. You have to be geared towards continuous improvement. Gather feedback from stakeholders on how they think you’re performing and make the adjustments when you feel like your data could be better. Lastly, benchmarking your facility against industry standards to compare your performance and your best practices is important in order to gauge its effectiveness against other like buildings that are out there in the industry.

Adapting Strategies Based on Evaluations

As referenced in Part 1, one of my most notable projects was the Clayton County Justice Center, a 726,500-square-foot facility comprising a detention center, sheriff’s office, and courthouse.

I’d like to share an example from Clayton County Justice Center that illustrates how adjustments based on performance data can enhance effectiveness. After implementing new lighting, water conservation, and even boilers, we monitored energy measuring devices and found that these implementations were yielding significant energy savings. However, we found in the performance that the boilers, particularly in the winter months, weren’t operating as efficiently as we thought they should. They were short cycling, staying on longer than they needed to. And in certain cases, even though there was significant savings, it could be better. So we went in there and had to make some adjustments on distributing the load. After doing that, we analyzed the data a couple of months later and found out that the boilers were now operating at optimal levels. The cycling had gone away. While we were in there, we actually added an additional layer of insulation to some of the building pipes on the inside of the central plant, and it helped reduce the heating demand even more during the peak times. The outcome was that we got almost a 10 percent larger reduction during the winter months by making those changes. Adjustments are a necessary part of any project that you go into that has to be monitored and evaluated for effectiveness. Making those adjustments is key.

The Role of Technology in Energy Management

Technology plays a crucial role in modern energy management strategies. As crucial as that role is today, it’s going to become even more prevalent as we go forward. Key tools and systems include:

• Building Automation Systems (BAS): Integrating HVAC, lighting, and security for real-time monitoring and control.
• Energy Management Software: Providing detailed analytics on energy consumption and identifying inefficiencies.
• Automated Controls: Smart thermostats and lighting controls that adjust based on occupancy and demand.
• Renewable Energy Sources: Utilizing solar panels and other renewable energy technologies.

Newer building automation systems and building management systems take certain things like your HVAC, your lighting, and your security and they provide real-time monitoring and control of that energy and that usage from one single computer. It brings all that together for you, which plays a big role. There’s energy management software out there now that provides detailed analytics on your consumption and when that consumption takes place, helping to identify inefficiencies and track progress. Automated controls, like smart thermostats, have been out there for a while, as well as automated lighting controls and metering infrastructure that adjust energy usage based on occupancy and demand. For example, controlling the sensors that cut your lights out, which can significantly improve efficiency in buildings. Renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, are something that certain facilities have used well, and that will be more prevalent in the future. Energy-efficient equipment and HVAC systems, whether it be boiler systems or heating and cooling systems, have a significant impact on your energy management plans and reducing that cost.

Future Trends in Energy Management

Emerging trends that excite me include:

• Smart Building Technologies: AI-driven analytics for optimizing energy consumption and predictive maintenance.
• Renewable Energy Sources: Increased efficiency and use of solar panels and other renewable technologies.
• Sustainable Building Materials: Growth in green building materials and stricter energy efficiency standards.

‘Smart building technologies’… ‘artificial intelligence’… they’re words everybody’s hearing right now, and while it’s somewhat new – it’s been around for a little while and it’s starting to become more prevalent. It’s something I think will be utilized extensively in the years to come.

You’re going to have AI-driven analytics that can not only optimize your consumption but can predict patterns and adjust your systems automatically without human interference having to do it. It can monitor your lighting and monitor your water consumption and make those adjustments on its own as it learns what your building does and how your building operates.

Through mobile applications, maintenance professionals can access all the information and training they need to perform preventative or corrective maintenance right at their fingertips.

Solar panel efficiencies and renewable energy sources will certainly be more prevalent in the future. Sustainable building materials for construction will grow. It’s been around for a while, but as we evolve in LEED certification and in green building materials, you’ll see more and more options out there of what can be used and how to use it.

I do think that in the future, this will all result in stricter energy efficiency standards. There will be new regulations that will drive energy efficiency standards even higher for buildings and equipment. As a result, you’ll probably see more and more benefits for sustainability handed out, whether that be subsidies or incentives.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, I encourage embracing the changes in energy management and sustainability. By adopting new technologies and practices, facilities can achieve significant energy savings and environmental benefits, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable future. Embrace these changes, and you’ll be better poised to benefit from the advancements that are coming in the future.

Change is inevitable, it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, it’s coming. It’s a new way of doing things, but like anything else, once you get accustomed to it, you’ll see the advantages of all the technology that’s coming and the energy savings that impact not only your facility, but the planet itself, and that is something that everybody should welcome.