Accelerate Decarbonization With An Energy Roadmap

Collaboration and buy-in from management are key components to implementing lasting change in a plant sustainability program.

A sustainability strategy begins by implementing small changes while considering the full value chain for end-to-end solutions.

By Stacy Eller, Shell Energy

The push for lower emissions has become an important goal worldwide, and facility managers are uniquely positioned to make changes within their organizations. However, as facility managers strive to balance the shift toward a lower-carbon future and manage costs and operations, it is important to implement a sustainable energy strategy that can help manage emissions and costs.

The first step to delivering and accelerating an effective strategy is to establish clear sustainability goals at an organizational and facility level, making informed decisions possible when exploring solution options. This assessment should consider what needs to be measured (emissions, energy savings) and how, i.e., the most effective ways to measure and record progress toward sustainability goals. For example, many organizations are now transitioning from measuring megawatt hours to measuring carbon intensity to achieve accurate sustainability assessments. 

It is important to note that smaller companies often face resource constraints and competing priorities, which may hinder development of a robust decarbonization roadmap. No matter the scale of an organization, facility managers can create a plan that makes progress toward these goals and should consider solutions big and small to make those goals achievable.

Solutions To Consider 

For some organizations, creating a decarbonization plan may be overwhelming. Start a sustainability strategy by implementing small changes while considering the full value chain for end-to-end solutions. Facility managers can help drive short-term solutions no matter the stage of a facility’s journey. One of the most cost-effective ways to reduce energy consumption is to transition to more energy-efficient upgrades. By making changes on-site, a facility can manage costs and energy use without making significant structural changes. Energy-efficient upgrades to consider include:

• Switch to smart LED lighting: While lighting may not be top of mind when it comes to operations, switching to LED lighting significantly reduces energy use, especially when combined with intelligent systems that optimize the use of lights and lighting to save money and increase safety and worker productivity. These upgrades can enable lifetime savings and can be applied to various facilities across industries, from warehouses to office buildings, to retail outlets, distribution centers, and manufacturing sites.

• Optimize refrigeration systems: Refrigeration is a significant cost for operations in many industries. Implementing component and system upgrades in refrigeration units reduces energy consumption, balancing efficiency and environmental performance for operations.

• Enhance HVAC and mechanical systems: Heating and cooling are critical considerations for nearly every facility. Businesses can enhance overall efficiency and reduce costs by identifying and optimizing energy-intensive areas, such as leveraging advanced sensors in HVAC systems.

For organizations considering a comprehensive long-term strategy, facility managers can assist by incorporating knowledge of processes and identifying opportunities to implement solutions. By integrating this information into a sustainability strategy, a facility can accelerate the process of decarbonization. Long-term solutions for facilities to consider include:

• Combine energy-efficiency upgrades: Energy-efficiency upgrades such as LED lighting, refrigeration, and heating and cooling can be implemented together for a cohesive and impactful approach across a facility. Facilities can achieve significant results by addressing multiple aspects of energy waste and cost management. 

• On-site renewable-energy generation: On-site renewable-energy generation is a solution that can provide a supporting power supply to a facility while reducing its dependence on the power grid. By introducing on-site energy such as a solar array or battery storage, a facility can optimize costs and avoid price spikes during peak energy demand. Renewable power generation also provides an opportunity, in certain markets, for facility managers to drive additional revenue from the excess energy produced at their facility.

Communicate The Importance 

While sustainability targets are an increasingly prominent topic for business owners, convincing others in your organization of the importance of decarbonization planning may be challenging. However, collaboration and buy-in from management are key to implementing lasting change. For this reason, facility managers should also consider tactics to internally communicate the need for a sustainability strategy, actionable steps for its implementation, and cost savings.

Sharing the potential benefits of your overall strategy, such as how sustainable solutions can reduce costs and emissions, can play an important role in winning over key decision makers. An additional point to consider is the potential value of government incentives and access to funding for businesses to reduce emissions and energy use. Recently, government incentives have been gaining popularity in many cities and states as a strategy to encourage sustainable business practices. 

At the Federal level, the Inflation Reduction Act offers federal tax deductions for businesses that implement sustainable solutions, including renewable energy systems (https://tinyurl.com/ms3jdn9a) and energy-efficiency upgrades. In fact, according to EnergyStar.gov, “Buildings that increase their energy efficiency by at least 25 percent will be able to claim this deduction, with bonuses for higher efficiency improvements.” Facility managers can make an investment in their decarbonization journey by exploring potential opportunities at the federal, state, and local levels to look for savings for sustainability initiatives.

Collaboration Is Key 

Developing a decarbonization roadmap comes with its own unique set of challenges and opportunities, and navigating the energy landscape may be unfamiliar and intimidating for facility managers juggling other responsibilities crucial to operations. Collaborating with an energy partner can ease many of the stresses of building a decarbonization roadmap and realizing energy goals. By leaning on experts to streamline the process, facility managers can gain insights and support to facilitate organizational change.

Solution programs with partners such as Shell Energy foster a collaborative approach by co-developing a strategy best suited for your facility’s needs. Shell Energy offers integrated energy solution programs, allowing seamless collaboration and data sharing within the energy solution programs to empower businesses with tailored sustainability roadmaps. 

As organizations move toward more sustainable practices, facility managers should remember the power they hold to implement significant changes that can deliver cost and energy savings for more efficient and sustainable businesses, whether the solutions be short term, long term, or both. Facility managers should encourage and embrace collaboration internally and externally and keep an open mind as they progress toward their organization’s goals. 

Stacy Eller is the Americas Customer Solutions General Manager at Shell Energy (shellenergy.com). Her team is responsible for developing and maintaining a portfolio of behind-the-meter products and structuring bundled energy solutions tailored to customer needs. Eller has a PhD and MA in economics from Rice Univ. and a BA in economics from the Univ. of Texas.