Creating a Culture of Energy Efficiency

As National Energy Awareness month comes to a close, here’s our take on how your workplace can adopt a culture of energy efficiency. 

What does it mean to have a culture of energy efficiency? 

Organizations with a culture of energy efficiency emphasize the importance of reducing energy waste. These organizations set targets that align with broader sustainability goals, measure results, foster awareness, and encourage collaboration amongst team members.  

Here are some key markers of a culture of energy efficiency demonstrated by our industrial clients: 

• Energy efficiency is treated as a key organizational competency. Stakeholders from sites to C-suite gain role-appropriate efficiency expertise and continue learning from peers and outside experts.    
• Executives prioritize cutting energy waste as a strategy to reduce costs and emissions, and they allocate funding and resources to achieve results.  
• Energy management planning happens on multi-year timelines and is continually reassessed – it is never a flavor-of-the-month initiative. This planning flows from the C-suite, and site-level planning happens under the umbrella of the corporate plan.  
• The organization establishes energy waste reduction targets, rewards those who hit their goal, and identifies and supports those who are off-track. 

How to promote a culture of energy efficiency 

Cascade runs into many organizations that have established an energy management program but have not yet created a culture of energy efficiency. How does a program turn into a culture? 

A key step is to establish goals and message them widely. All stakeholders from site-level to the C-suite must believe the goals are achievable, trust the numbers, and understand the impact of hitting these goals. Top organizations with a culture of energy efficiency tie variable compensation to this performance.  

Organizations can support organic growth of energy efficiency through employee communications, internal peer-to-peer learning and cross-functional energy teams. For example, asking employees to submit suggestions to cut energy waste can lead to hundreds of cost- and emission-reduction opportunities.  

Successful organizations message waste reduction stories far and wide so efficiency results are as visible as solar panels or electric vehicles.  

Creating a culture of energy efficiency accelerates your organization’s progress towards achieving sustainability goals. Establishing goals, measuring progress, finding the bright spots, and communicating results are important components of culture change, and this is where Energy Sensei comes in. Energy Sensei tracks the cost and carbon impact of energy management efforts to support lasting culture change across your organization. 

Let us help you foster a culture of energy efficiency. Reach out to one of our experts today!