Many FMs participate in benchmarking programs to help set performance targets or goals for the next year or several years. In setting goals it is valuable to know what others are doing.
One area of high interest is energy, and many organizations are setting energy savings targets for next year and future years. Here are some questions to ask as you approach this issue:
- What is my current energy consumption and how does my facility compare with my peers?
- What is a reasonable energy savings goal for my organization?
- What are others doing and how would my energy savings goal be achieved?
- How can I justify the energy savings goals that I set?
To answer the first question you would need to assess your current organization’s usage and energy savings strategies that are in place. If your consumption is already in the first (best-performing) quartile compared to that of your peers, then your savings target might be a relatively small number. If you have achieved LEED certification then you may set even more aggressive targets for buildings that are commissioned and running efficiently. On the other hand, if your consumption is in the fourth (worst-performing) quartile, then you might set a more ambitious goal.
In Figure 1, the “subject” building energy consumption is shown in the fourth quartile, which may indicate a need to set a relatively aggressive energy savings target.
Figure 1: Energy Consumption per Gross Area. The subject building (yellow vertical line) appears in the fourth quartile, the worst-performing in terms of other buildings in the database of similar buildings, as determined by the user, who has applied filters to ensure that only comparable buildings are included. Note that the subject building is using nearly twice as much KWH per sq. ft. as the median building (shown by the horizontal red line). Chart provided courtesy of FM BENCHMARKING.
The question shown in Figure 2 is an example from the FM BENCHMARKING survey and collects information from benchmarking participants to identify their energy savings performance target and the methods they intend to use to achieve their results.
Figure 2: Example of energy-savings performance target. The 4% means that the subject company plans to reduce its energy consumption by 4% of the next year. The other numbers show that most of those savings are expected to come via operational changes through users (38%). Chart provided courtesy of FM BENCHMARKING.
After input of this data, we would analyze the output to see how the subject building compares to others. An example is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Energy-savings performance targets for comparable companies in the database. Note that the subject company’s target is less than those of all other buildings, including those who are not LEED-certified. Chart provided courtesy of FM BENCHMARKING.
This is very helpful information to answer the second question from above:
2. What is a reasonable energy savings goal for my organization?
In this example we can see that our plan of a 4% energy savings target is below the median of 5.2% for our peer group. Since our consumption is currently in the fourth quartile and our planned target is less than the median value, the data suggests that we implement a more aggressive strategy to reduce consumption.
Another piece of critical information is to see what others are doing to achieve their energy savings targets. These strategies are shown clearly in Figure 4.
Figure 4: How others plan to implement their energy-savings performance target. This chart shows that whereas the subject building plans to achieve its savings primarily through operational changes of the users (e.g., teaching them to turn off lights when not in use), the others plan to achieve many more savings through other areas than the subject company does. Chart provided courtesy of FM BENCHMARKING.
After analyzing this information, reviewing your building’s performance, and comparing your strategies with others, you will be in an excellent position to develop energy savings targets and justify your decisions to management. The key is to select your filter set of comparable buildings carefully; this will yield the most meaningful results.
More information about FM BENCHMARKING may be found at www.FMBENCHMARKING.com, including a free demonstration tool where you can input your facility data and see some benchmarking results.
