3 top tips to improve your organisation’s energy strategy
Rising prices have ensured that Energy has been a priority for businesses for a long time now, however the pressure on industries to decarbonise requires even further attention to energy management and energy purchasing. This means that optimising your energy strategy is crucial – so how can you ensure that you’re taking the right approach?
There are now so many elements to include in your energy strategy (such as on-site generation, energy efficiency, and compliance) that knowing whether or not it’s working as hard as it could be for your business is often complex. However, it doesn’t have to be – by following these top tips, you should be able to improve your energy strategy:
1. Utilise your insight
It’s vital to use any data you have on your organisation’s energy consumption when you’re building your energy strategy, because you need to have a clear picture of your typical usage in order to build a well-informed plan for the future.
Whether you have data at meter or sub-meter level, you need to analyse it to determine which areas you need to target for improvement first. This can take a lot of time, however SystemsLink’s software can make this process easier, as it provides you with a clear at-a-glance view of your usage and enables you to create custom reports from your data.
You should also use your insight to regularly review your energy usage, as your consumption data will tell you whether the measures you are implementing are working. It is imperative that you have a clear understanding of your energy consumption both before and after implementing energy efficiency measures. This will enable you to validate your investment, as well as support decision making for future investments.
You should also consider any external factors; it may be that your consumption is affected by outside temperature, production figures or some other metric specific to your business – ensure you are normalising your consumption against these factors.
2. Prioritise decarbonisation
As we move towards the UK’s target of reducing its carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, businesses are likely to face increasing pressure to decarbonise from the government, stakeholders and customers. So no matter which industry your business operates in, or how big or small it is, reducing your emissions should be at the heart of your energy strategy.
This means that any energy decisions you make should be considered from both a cost and a carbon perspective. Installing a gas CHP might reduce your energy bills by reducing your reliance on grid energy, for example, but it may not help you to reduce your carbon footprint. Opting for a low-carbon generation asset, such as solar panels or a biomass boiler, may therefore be a wiser investment as these types of technology can help you to reduce your emissions as well as your bills.
3. Think long-term
Our energy system is evolving, and as the way we use and generate energy changes it’s likely that your business will be presented with new challenges and opportunities. This means it’s important to think not just about the year ahead, but also five to ten years down the line. As electric vehicle adoption continues to grow, for example, could your business benefit from installing EV charging points on-site?
The generation sources that supply the grid are also generally less predictable, so the ability to flex either your demand or your own supply source, by utilising battery storage for example, may be rewarding.
By taking a long-term approach to your energy strategy, you can anticipate and prepare your business for any challenges that may arise and ensure you’re ready to seize any opportunities that lie ahead.
Get started with SystemsLink
Optimising your energy strategy may seem like a daunting task, but SystemsLink’s software gives you the insight you need to make well-informed, strategic decisions about your organisation’s energy future.
SystemsLink’s dashboard gives you a complete view of your energy consumption and enables you to create bespoke reports in just a few clicks. In addition, SystemsLink provides consumption analysis tools and a smart alarms feature – making it simple to identify areas for improvement and measure your progress on the road to net zero. To find out more, call us on 01234 988855.
