Facility managers should tackle their future energy planning not as a series of ad hoc initiatives but instead aligning such planning with their organization’s other long-term goals, according to an article from Building Operating Management on the FacilitiesNet website.

That means establishing a baseline of “existing conditions” that can serve as context for longterm planning. And that longterm planning is most successful when all stakeholders recognize that reaching an organization’s goals likely requires an effort over several years.

While, of course, long-term energy efficiency planning is essential, it’s also true that you are managing assets and serving organizations in an environment of ever-accelerating change. 

Planning for improved energy performance can easily fall into the trap of seeming mundane and even out-of-date. After all, facility managers have been focused on energy conservation since the energy crisis of the 1970s. 

Energy standards and goals, and the pathways available to realize energy best practices, are evolving. Remaining static and relying upon past achievement to carry the day is misguided at best, and freighted with competitive risk in the extreme. 

A static approach to energy management risks an asset’s competitive position in an increasingly discerning marketplace, risks failing to meet occupants’ workplace aspirations, and creates asset value risk, even career risk.

Read the article.