NEW Brief: Six Strategies to Accelerate the Adoption of SEM in the Northeast
Globally, SEM has proven to be an effective tool to reduce emissions from these large facilities however the United States is behind the rest of the globe. This is likely due to a lack of awareness of the program, Informational and economic barriers inhibit companies from implementing SEM or participating in SEM programs. This brief outlines six strategies that could be used to accelerate the adoption of SEM programs in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region. Many of these strategies have been employed in other parts of the world and could be used here.
What is Strategic Energy Management?
Strategic Energy Management (SEM) is the holistic approach to managing energy use in (but not limited to) industrial, commercial and municipal facilities in order to continuously improve energy performance and achieve energy, cost and carbon savings over the long term.
SEM focuses on business practice change from senior management through ground level staff, improving organizational culture to reduce energy waste and improve energy productivity. SEM uses data-driven learning and behavioral science to teach companies how to create and perpetuate a culture that supports energy managmenet and energy reduction.
The Northeast SEM Collaborative
The Northeast SEM Collaborative offers stakeholders in the Northeast, including energy efficiency programs a pathway to achieving significant energy/carbon savings by accelerating the adoption of SEM.
Objectives
- Drive accelerated adoption of SEM, with a focus on SEM promotion through energy efficiency programs
- Enable collaboration across SEM stakeholders
- Develop and share effective SEM tools, programs and policies
Working Group Activities
- Quarterly webinar meetings
- Annual in-person Workshop
What is the 50001 Ready Program?1
U.S. DOE’s 50001 Ready program is a self-guided approach for facilities to establish an energy management system and self-attest to the structure of ISO 50001, a voluntary global standard for energy management systems in industrial, commercial, and institutional facilities. The 50001 Ready program offers:
- A self-paced approach for any facility to implement an energy management system without certification
- Guidance to identify and analyze facility-wide energy use and to develop action plans around energy performance improvements
- DOE recognition for U.S. facilities that self-attested to completion of the 50001 Ready Navigator, without the need for external audits
U.S. DOE’s 50001 Ready Resources list
- U.S DOE’s 50001 Ready Program
- U.S. DOE’s 50001 Ready Navigator Tool
- U.S. DOE’s Energy Performance Indicator Tool
- U.S. DOE’s 50001 Ready Program – Guide for New Users
SEM at Water/Wastewater Facilities
NEEP Report on adoption of SEM in the Municipal Water sector:
Fact Sheet on Water / Wastewater Facilities
Additional Resources
Northeast SEM Program Tracker
The Northeast SEM Program Tracker is intended to track and analyze leading SEM program efforts across the Northeast region.
For more information, please email us at sem@neep.org.
1 50001 Ready Program, U.S. DOE 50001 Ready Navigator: https://navigator.industrialenergytools.com/faq