Developing a Strategic Energy Management Plan
The Building Manager’s Guide to Developing a Strategic Energy Management Plan (SEMP)
Recently, I had the pleasure of presenting a seminar at PMExpo in Toronto. The goal of my presentation was to help Building Managers understand the need to develop a comprehensive Strategic Energy Management Plan. Here at Efficiency Engineering, we are a trusted solutions provider to our clients and help them realize energy savings in their building.
Reasons for Conservation:
There are many reasons for conserving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including:

- Altruistic. Global warming is real, and we are already seeing the effects of it.
- Financial. Undertaking Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) increase the value of the building, almost always more than the cost of implementation.
- Reduce Risk. Conservation reduces exposure to fluctuating utility costs. Some ECMs also make facilities more resilient to extended power outages and storms.
- Compliance. The requirements of the new Energy and Water Reporting Benchmark can easily be achieved with information from an SEMP.
An SEMP involves the following:

- Goals and Objectives. Must have a target and a timeline, such as “Achieve 15ekWh/ft2 by 2020”.
- Assess/Audit of Facility.
- Understand existing conditions, including:
- Thorough utility bill analysis
- Utility consumption breakout into different end uses
- Documenting all energy using equipment and systems, and energy loss systems (such as building envelope).
- Uncover ECMs, and:
- Accurately quantify savings.
- Accurately estimate installation cost.
- LCC Financial Analysis
- Understand existing conditions, including:
- Plan/Design. A package of ECMs with reasonable financial returns should be put forward so that less attractive ECMs aren’t ignored.
- Implement. Possible routes to implement are:
- Owner hires contractor directly. Works well on prescriptive type ECMs such as Toilet replacement projects.
- Design/Tender. Typically the lowest cost option.
- Design-Build. Typically shortest timeline. It is key to select a good contractor to partner with.
- Measurement & Verification. Options for M&V are:
- Option A – Partially measured retrofit isolation. Eg. Lighting, where the load reduction is measured and the hours are estimated.
- Option B – Retrofit isolation. Eg. Lighting, where load and hours are both measured.
- Option C – Whole facility utility bill analysis and comparison to baseline. Savings should be greater than 10% of total building consumption.
- Option D – Calibrated Simulation. Expensive and inaccurate, but may be necessary when measurements are difficult and savings are small.
- Optimize. The building should be continuously monitored in order to achieve sustained savings.
- Start Over. A Strategic Energy Management Plan should be a living document that is continuously uncovering and driving energy conservation opportunities.