Energy is one of the greatest costs for businesses and as prices continue to rise there is a growing pressure to reduce inefficiency and drive sustainability throughout the business. Recording and monitoring energy usage is the first step towards effective energy management, followed by the challenge of fostering a culture of energy conservation.

Yet opportunities exist for businesses that take a ‘smart’ approach to energy management, and identify key strategies for moving towards the goal of long-term sustainability. Marketforce and Vodafone will be holding a webinar on 2nd October to discuss Smart Energy Management for Businesses.

The panel features Alex Pitman, Group Energy, Environment and Engineering Manager at The Co-operative Group, Goran Naslund of Vodafone and Keith Ford of LS Cable & Systems.

Key questions up for debate include:

• Managing a multi-site business: how best to monitor and compare energy usage on individual sites?
• Setting organisational baseline for energy consumption: what factors must be taken into consideration?
• Which energy management system features are critical to achieving savings and which are just a nicety?
• What data should be collected and with what frequency? How much data is too much data?
• Privacy and protection: how to ensure that data security risks are identified and addressed?
• Better tariff selection and avoiding incorrect payment: what are the financial benefits of more accurate bills?
• Isolating energy expensive equipment and habits: what are the advantages of increased visibility?
• Demonstrating CSR: how best to capitalise on the reputational benefits of improved energy management?
• Getting whole organisation buy-in: successfully fostering a culture of sustainability and energy conservation
• Embedding a permanent step-change: how best to ensure smarter energy management in the long-term?

To register for the free webinar, visit the website.

Summary of the Role’s Main Purpose:

To manage the Graphite Energy reduction programme and oversee environmental improvement projects across Sainsbury’s improving the company cost base, enhance corporate reputation and to ensure legal obligations for Energy are fulfilled.

Skills required:

• Commercial Decisiveness
• Analytical, process driven approach
• Planning and executing
• Networking and Team Building
• Project management skills
• Strong influencing and communications skills

For more details please go to Sainsbury’s Energy Manager.

Working with TEAM Sigma Software, Northern Rail is already close to hitting its target of a 15% reduction in gas and electricity consumption by the end of 2013, based on figures from 2009.

Working with TEAM Sigma Software, Northern Rail is already close to hitting its target of a 15% reduction in gas and electricity consumption by the end of 2013, based on figures from 2009. Using TEAM’s Sigma Software over the past 18 months to monitor energy consumption, Northern Rail has created targets and strategies to ensure they meet the overall energy saving objective across the whole company.

Gareth Williams, Energy Solutions Manager tells us “We chose TEAM Sigma Software because it is user friendly and has easy to navigate reports. We specifically wanted something which could work alongside our SAP system. We also felt comfortable that we could work with TEAM in the long-term. TEAM Sigma gives us better control of the financial processes, and ensures we are only paying for the energy we are using.”

To find out more about how Northern Rail use TEAM Sigma Software, read the energy reduction case study here.