Energy Flows and Management Practices in Organizations

Abstract

This chapter considers the ways energy is used and lost within organizations, as well as the ways in which managers have a tendency to ignore those energy losses and associated costs. What is provided with an energy purchase is not a primary but a secondary benefit, a complication with utility purchases. Different use patterns are highlighted for different sectors. Types of energy audits are briefly described as methodologies for understanding major energy users. Financial information flows are compared to utility flows, and the benefits of energy management using monitoring or control systems are discussed. Utility energy efficiency programs are mentioned as a cost and a source of funding. A brief reminder of the importance of including people in the decision and process completes the chapter which provides a structure for understanding energy use in an organization in the context of that organization itself, starting to build a base for the Framework to be more fully presented in Section III.