Originally posted on 2018

Greetings from an energy manager!

My name is German Hernando, I am an energy manager, and I work since 20 years in the field of the environment, 10 of them in the area of energy efficiency. In this time I implemented a corporate energy department from scratch, its structure, functions and interrelations with the rest of the organization. I have trained the local leaders and I have advised the departments which some kind of relation with energy (purchasing department, technical department., etc.).

Helping other colleagues and share experience.

The objective of this blog is to share and debate knowledge and experience on energy efficiency. I intend to cover a gap of information that I have not found searching in internet. The information on energy efficiency is interesting but too general and of high level. Mostly at governmental or international level and covering matters such as legislation or regulations but without reaching a practical level.

You are an energy manager or want to become one.

My target audience is an energy manager who works for a company or a corporation. A person who has to start from scratch without having a specific department of energy efficiency. Who has to become familiar with the energy information soon and design a complete savings plan.

Energy manager profile.

He or she does not have to be a specialist in any field but must be multidisciplinary and have the ability to communicate with the specific departments. Must raise awareness about savings at all levels of the organization. He or she has also to identify the main stakeholders and determine what means to use to get their support and collaboration. Must motivate the organization and, especially, the main actors. Hast to find additional benefits (non-energy benefits) for these players apart from the energy savings. As a nutshell needs a good balance of technical and managerial skills.

Interfaces with other departments.

Has to establish relationships outside the organization with other interested parties such as industries or external consumers, suppliers and distributors, engineering companies, official bodies, etc. Has to know what are the requirements or motivations of these partners to propose mutually beneficial projects.

Energy estimations.

Has to be an expert in calculating energy savings or expenses within the organization and its processes. This is the first step to estimating the economic viability of a saving project.

Good communication. 

He or she must be a good communicator to transmit the objectives and inform about the status of the savings plan and the projects. Has to motivate the colleagues to present ideas and projects supporting them during the different steps of the energy saving process.

Coordinate data with all departments.

Has to standardize the energy information so that it is compatible and uniform with other factories or centers of the corporation. This is key to be able to establish benchmarking and detect deviations in consumption. And to understand similar productive processes. Thus ideas and savings projects are simpler and faster to implement. Risk is also minimized by being able to start and scale projects.

Energy performance indicators and baselines.

Should implement energy performance indicators which are reliables, measurables and valuables. Has to be able to manage considerable data and automatize its processing. Must set a baseline to compare the real values and detect deviations. Once the deviation is identified should help the energy team to detect the root cause of it and document all the details of the deviation (identification, solution, etc.). Thus, data analysis is definitely one attribute that has to master by applying all the different mathematical and statistical techniques and tools.

Build a sustainable energy management system.

Finally, has to integrate all the actions into an energy management system which guarantees that it is done in a sustainable way. This can be part of an integrated management system or an ad-hoc one. This management system has to be reviewed and updated regularly.

I hope to fulfill the objectives that I have set. Share useful information with other colleagues or people who wish to be part of the world of the energy efficiency.

Welcome on board!