Tag Archives: Catherine Ethier

Aug 4 2013

Build an energy program

Since the ENERGY STAR program started in 1992, EPA has worked with business, industry, and government leaders to chart a proven path to financial value and greenhouse gas reductions through strategic energy management. So don’t reinvent the wheel. If you’re just starting out, the ENERGY STAR resources below can give you a big head start in the right direction.

Image of a star formed by people making peace signs with their hands
The ENERGY STAR Guidelines for Energy Management
Based on decades of best practices, the seven steps outlined here form the philosophy that underpins the entire ENERGY STAR program for commercial buildings and industrial plants. Put them to work for you
.Image of business people in an office shaking hands.
The business case for energy efficiency
Cut costs. Increase asset value. Manage risk. Attract business. Stay competitive. Check out all the reasons for why your organization should build an energy program with help from ENERGY STAR
.Image of a calculator with a pen and paper.
Strategies and incentives to finance energy efficiency projects
The buck often stops when the time comes to finance a new program. But it doesn’t have to. Overcome obstacles and find solutions to financing energy efficiency initiatives here.http://www.energystar.gov/buildings/about-us/how-can-we-help-you/build-energy-program?s=mega
Related articles
Aug 2 2013

Your Passport to Sustainability

Sustainability

Sustainability (Photo credit: ap.)

  Your Passport to SustainabilitySustainability, it’s a journey we are all going to take.

The only question is – “How equipped are we to take it?”

Sustainability brings added profitability, competitive advantage and innovation.

Organizational learning is at the core of these advancements.  Only problem – organizations don’t learn – people do.

So get a head start this summer.  Take an ON-Demand Sustainability Course (save 50% or more) and start the final quarter with new insights and a roadmap for sustainable competitive advantage.

Offer Expires: August 31, 2013

On Demand Courses

2013
Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Reporting (2013 Update)

GHG Measurement, available ON-Demand, anytime, 2013 Update Now Available

(ON-Demand Course, Available Now)

By the end of this course you will be able to develop your company’s GHG management plan and understand how to quantify, report and verify your total GHG emissions.

Based on the Carbon Disclosure Project, ISO 14064 and Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

Register Now or for More Information
 Sustainable Procurement 101 (ON Demand)

New – Sustainable Procurement 101 (ON-Demand Course)
  •  New in 2013 – ON-DEMAND Workshop, delivered in 4 sessions at 1.5 hours – edited video webinar format
  • Available Anytime
  • Gain Free Membership to SLC Community of Practice for this course
  • Featured: Sustainable Purchasing Toolkit in Word Format
  • Past Attendees Include: TD Bank, University of Califonia, Cenovus Energy, Connexions Consulting and others

For More Information or To Register
Green/Sustainability Project Management (ON-Demand)

Green/Sustainable Project Management New Dates

 

 

If you are a Sustainability Project Manager or Project Manager in a company with a sustainability strategy, this program is for you.

Professionally develop your sustainability and project management skills, enhance your career flexibility, and improve your Project Management competency.

For More Information or to Register

 
Integrating ISO 26000 into your Management Systems (On Demand)

Learn about this Sustainability Management System

In this course we will show you how ISO 26000 provides practical guidance to the standard measurement and operationalization of Social Responsibility within your company and your supply chain.

We will also demonstrate its value in providing guidance for stakeholder engagement, CSR reports and claims. Business wants guidance on the best metrics to help benchmark, signal commitment to sustainability, and identify areas that need improvement. In this program we will show you how ISO 26000 can provide this guidance.

For More Information or to Register
Employee Engagement for Sustainability (ON-Demand)

Learn about Community Social Marketing, a Learning Engagement Module for Sustainability and Volunteer Programs

Join a “living laboratory” in this ON-Line Employee Engagement Workshop.

Understand the research and science behind successful principles and practices for employee engagement for sustainability.

Design a program for your company or Green Team and assess your current program against best practices while learning from peers.

For More Information or to Register
Facilitating Transformational Change for Sustainability I (ON Demand)

“The quality of an intervention is dependent on the interior state of the intervener”, Bill O’Brien.

In this program, Facilitating Transformational Change towards Sustainability (Part I), we share the first 4 of the 9 personal capacities: 1) Being Present, 2) Suspension and Letting Go, 3) Intention Aligned with Higher Purpose, and 4) Holding Paradoxes/Ambiguities and Multiple Worldviews.

We share authentic leadership concepts, self and group facilitation reflection questions, readings and practices for developing your capacities. Essentially, we explore insight to becoming an authentic, effective sustainability leader, from the inside out.

For More Information or to Register
Facilitating Transformational Change for Sustainability II (ON Demand)

Dana Pearlman from California is our instructor for this course.

In this program, Facilitating Transformational Change towards Sustainability (Part I), we share the first 5 of the 9 personal capacities: 5) Compassion , 6) Personal Power, 7) Whole System Awareness, 8) Whole Self Awareness and 9) a Sense of Humour.

We share authentic leadership concepts, self and group facilitation reflection questions, readings and practices for developing your capacities. Essentially, we explore insight to becoming an authentic, effective sustainability leader, from the inside out.

For More Information or to Register
Developing Green Habits for Sustainability (ON Demand)Using sustainability examples we will examine:

Learn how new “sustainable habits” are formed.
  • how the brain works to establish and use habits in our daily lives
  • the elements and workings of the “habit loop”
  • the power of belief-and the importance of social groups in helping create belief for successful habit transformation
  • how deliberate group leadership can shape the habits of organizations
  • how keystone habits, at the center of our personal lives, are pivotal when it comes to larger organizations and how the greatest keystone habit of all: willpower can best be cultivated
  • how social movements, such as sustainability, tend to follow a three-part process to establish new habits.

For More Information or to Register:

The Sustainability Learning Centre is a learning & networking hub for sustainability.

Ask us about Customized In House Training & Green Team University Certification

Don’t forget – students get 50 % off in our student scholarship program. Select Student Option when Registering.
Related articles
Jul 31 2013

Eating and Dreaming

By Jack and Suzy Welch

Since there is such a bias in the markets for short-term results, how can managers prepare for the long term?

In a word, that’s management. Balancing the demand for quarterly results with the pressure for a profitable future is what good managers do for a living. What do you think you were hired for? You were hired to wrestle a paradox-and pin it to the mat. And not just once, but over and over again. You have to eat, and you have to dream.

Look, anyone can manage for the short term. Just keep squeezing the lemon, wringing out costs until there’s nothing left but the pulp. And anyone can manage for the long term. Just keep telling people: “Be patient. Our strategy will pay off in time.” The mark of a leader is someone who has the rigor, vision, and courage to do both simultaneously.

Take the example of managing people, a true short-long balancing act. Of course you want to motivate your team to deliver immediate results. You can do that with incentives and rewards, clear goals, and a passionate attitude about winning-the more passionate the better. But you can never stop thinking about developing your people, too. That means sending them to internal training programs or outside courses, giving them different experiences and stretch assignments, and encouraging them to take risks. Those activities may not deliver instant results, but they’re an investment in the future that you must make.

It’s the same story with managing R&D. Obviously, you need to fund projects that will improve and expand your existing products. That’s usually money well spent, with relatively quick and certain returns. But some portion of your budget also needs to be earmarked for the kind of research that will deliver results in several years. Now, how much should go to each investment bucket? Your call, boss.

Perhaps the most common managerial balancing act has to do with marketing. With one phone call, you can take the easy way out and cut your advertising budget 20% to 50%. That will drop the savings right to the bottom line, with no sales impact for a quarter or two and no blood spilled in terms of programs or people. But what about the long-term hit to market share and brand? That’s the judgment call, and you’re the judge.

Jack Welch is Founder and Distinguished Professor at the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University. Through its executive education and Welch Way management training programs, the Jack Welch Management Institute provides students and organizations with the proven methodologies, immediately actionable practices, and respected credentials needed to win in the most demanding global business environments.

Suzy Welch is a best-selling author, popular television commentator, and noted business journalist. Her New York Times bestselling book, 10-10-10: A Life Transforming Idea, presents a powerful decision-making strategy for success at work and in parenting, love and friendship. Together with her husband Jack Welch, Suzy is also co-author of the #1 international bestseller Winning, and its companion volume, Winning: The Answers. Since 2005, they have written business columns for several publications, including Business Week magazine, Thomson Reuters digital platforms, Fortune magazine, and the New York Times syndicate.

A version of this column originally appeared in BusinessWeek Magazine.

Photo: Image Source RF/Cadalpe via Getty Images

Related articles
Jul 31 2013

Product Lifecycle Management

Siemens logo

Siemens logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. Siemens PLM Software offers the following new webcasts to help in your steps to improve PLM at your company.

NX Nastran / NX CAE Solutions Forum – Shock response with NX response simulation
August 15, 1 p.m. (Eastern)
Shock spectrum simulation (also referred to as the response spectrum method) is a simplified method for performing transient dynamic analysis on structures without having to perform costly time domain integrations. It is often used for analyzing the response to earthquake or blast loads. This shock spectrum method has been implemented in NX response simulation and its usage will be explained and demonstrated in this presentation.

  • Siemens development presentation: “Shock response with NX response simulation”
  • Customer presentation
  • Q&A

Mobilize your product knowledge to win more Engineer-to-Order business
August 22, 1 p.m. (Eastern)
Join Jim Brown, President of Tech Clarity, Kip Alexander, Vice President of Technology at Babcock & Wilcox, and Brian Grogan, Director of Rulestream Product at Siemens PLM Software as they discuss proposal lead time compression, error reduction, margin variance and other requirements, best practices and industry insights in the world of Engineer-to-Order (ETO).

Below are unique opportunities for software trials and online training.

Feel the power of NX CAE
Fridays through September 13, 1 p.m. (Eastern)
Take a closer look at NX CAE and learn how to use it by joining live webinars. Register once for access to all sessions and their replays. The next four topics are:

  • August 2: boundary conditions
  • August 9: solutions and solutions processes
  • August 16: mesh quality and post processing
  • August 23: advanced connections techniques

NX for Manufacturing Tech Tips
Every other Tuesday, July 16 through September 24, 12 noon (Eastern)
Take a closer look at specific CAM, CMM inspection and CAM data management capabilities with NXTM – and learn how to use them by joining live 20-minute webinar demonstrations. Register once for access to all sessions and their replays. The topics in the next 30 days are:

  • July 30: how to fit your 5 axis tool paths to any geometry with tilt and projection options
  • August 13:  how to build your own machine tool models for NC simulation
  • August 27:  how to customize NX CAM’s machine tool simulation

And you might also find valuable these on-demand webinars (available immediately):

We provide this Siemens PLM Software webinars calendar every two weeks, providing information and registration for upcoming webinars. For a complete list of events, including on-demand webinars, visit our Events Web Page.

If someone forwarded this email to you and you would like to continue receiving the Siemens PLM Software Webinars Calendar emails, please subscribe.

If at any time, you no longer wish to receive these, you may unsubscribe from our Siemens PLM Software Webinars Calendar emails.

Questions?
Email Siemens PLM Software
or call 1-800-498-5351.

Jul 29 2013

Homes

Energy-Efficient Homes

 

Homes

Maintaining your house is a big investment, and your energy bills can be among your greatest monthly expenses. Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency can help you make your home more comfortable and reduce your energy costs.

Home improvements

The existing housing stock in Canada has significant energy-saving potential. Even if you are not applying for a grant in your province or territory, you can obtain an energy evaluation of your home through the EnerGuide Rating System (Existing Homes).

New homes

When buying or building a new house, you should consider your energy efficiency options early in the process. You and your builder can use the EnerGuide Rating System to design energy efficiency upgrades during construction. ENERGY STAR® for New Homes promotes new homes that are more energy efficient than those built to minimum building codes. R-2000 homes meet an even higher standard for increased energy efficiency, indoor air quality and environmental responsibility in home construction.

Jul 29 2013

Energy Star

Energy Efficient Products

EnerGuide is the official Government of Canada mark associated with the labelling and rating of the energy consumption or energy efficiency of not only household appliances and room air conditioners, but also heating and ventilation equipment – such as gas and propane furnaces, air-to-air heat pumps, central air conditioners and gas fireplaces as required by Canada’s Energy Efficiency Regulations.The Regulations establish energy efficiency standards for a wide range of energy-using products, with the objective of eliminating the least efficient products from the Canadian market.

The ENERGY STAR® symbol goes one step further and identifies specific models that meet or exceed premium levels of energy efficiency. The ENERGY STAR symbol can also appear on an EnerGuide label on qualified products. Today, the ENERGY STAR symbol can be found on about 50 types of products, including major appliances; electronics; heating, cooling and ventilating equipment (residential); lighting; office equipment; windows doors and skylights; and commercial products.


ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2013

Jul 29 2013

Energy use calculator

Energy Use Calculator

Calculate your plant’s energy consumption by fuel type

Modified from Energy Consumption Benchmark Guide: Cement Clinker Production, Natural Resources Canada.

Quantity Used for Year – 250,000 businesses report energy consumption annually through the ICE survey. This would be a convenient source for determining your quantities of energy used.

Conversion Factor – Source: Quarterly Report on Energy Supply-Demand in Canada, December 12, 2002 (Statistics Canada – Catalogue no. 57-003-XPB)

Coal (tonnes) – We have used British Columbia bituminous coal for the energy conversion factor as this is the largest source of coal produced in Canada.

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/industrial/technical-info/tools/energy-use-calculator.cfm

Jul 29 2013

Energy Benchmarking

The Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC) and its associated partners have developed two benchmarking programs for Canada’s industrial sectors:

Similar industrial companies may compare their energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and best practices using standard indicators for their industrial sector.

Energy Performance Benchmarking

Energy performance benchmarking focuses on a comparative analysis of energy use per unit of physical production, otherwise known as energy intensity.

Typically, the steps involved in energy performance benchmarking are:

  1. Determine your plant’s energy intensity by fuel type. Our energy use calculator will make the job easier.
  2. Compare your energy intensity with that of your industrial sector by referring to the appropriate benchmarking guide. You may also want to refer to the sector energy data available through the Canadian Industrial Energy Efficiency Data and Analysis Centre (CIEEDAC), at Simon Fraser University and supported by Natural Resources Canada.
  3. Access the technical information available that will help you improve your facility’s energy performance.
  4. Select your CIPEC sector task force to obtain additional information specific to your sector.

Energy Performance BenchmarkingPlease make a selectionAluminumBreweryCementChemicalsConstructionDairyElectrical and ElectronicElectricity GenerationFertilizersFood & BeverageFoundryGeneral Manufacturing – Central DivisionGeneral Manufacturing – Eastern DivisionGeneral Manufacturing – Western DivisionLimeMiningOil SandsPetroleum ProductsPlasticsPulp and PaperRubberSteelTextilesTransportation Equipment ManufacturingUpstream Oil and GasWood Products

Energy Best Practices Benchmarking

Best practices benchmarking involves comparing operations and systems within your facility to best-in-class operations.

Generally, the steps involved in energy best practices benchmarking include:

  1. Identify the areas for improvement that will benefit most from the benchmarking study.
  2. Research and identify the key factors and variables you will use to measure the above.
  3. Determine if the data is already available or how it will be obtained.
  4. Analyze the data and identify the best practice/performance by selecting the best-in-class category (e.g., companies that perform each function at the lowest cost, with the highest energy efficiency).
  5. Determine the conditions under which the best practices can be achieved and specify the action(s) that must be taken to achieve the desired results.
  6. Implementation:
    • Set specific improvement targets and deadlines.
    • Develop a continuous process to monitor, review and update the data and analyze it over time. This will provide a basis for the monitoring, revision and recalibration of the measurements for future benchmarking studies.
Jul 29 2013

Awareness Toolkit

Employee Awareness Program: Toolkit

Free, ready-to-use resources that will help you develop and deliver an effective Employee Awareness Program (EAP).

The EAP toolkit includes the Team Up for Energy Savings guide, posters, fact sheets, slide presentations and a sticker. You can order these items from NRCan either individually or in the complete Employee Awareness toolkit.

You can also download electronic versions from this page in low or high-resolution formats for your company’s use and reproduction.

  • Low-resolution format
    Purpose: easy-to-use home / small business publishing
    Usage: Web/Digital
  • High-resolution format
    Purpose: to produce professional high-quality output for printing or to export the artwork for use in other applications
    Usage: Offset Printing

If you have any questions about this material or about how to get started with an EAP, please contact the Industrial Programs Division by telephone at 613-996-6891 or by e-mail.

Guidebook

The Team Up for Energy Savings guide uses an easy three-step approach to help you build an energy-saving culture in your workplace. Whether you are a medium-sized enterprise or a corporate giant, you can adapt all the steps in this guide to suit your organization’s needs.

The guide has three sections:

  • Assembling your team
  • Planning and implementing your EAP
  • Follow-up and evaluation to maintain momentum

You will also find communications tools, themes, tips and ideas that have worked in other Canadian workplaces, with some “real-life” EAP success stories included for inspiration.

Posters

You can display these 11″ x 17″ posters on bulletin boards, walls, hallways, lunchrooms, training rooms, and any other visible location. Choose from the general team poster or posters on lighting, compressed air, HVAC, Fans and Pumps, Steam & Condensate Piping, and Waste Heat Recovery, or display all seven!

Fact Sheets

These fact sheets include easy-to-use checklists with suggestions for housekeeping, low-cost and retrofit opportunities to help you reduce your energy consumption. Great for an EAP Campaign.

Slide Presentations

These slide presentations include speaking notes to help you quickly move ahead with your Employee Awareness Program. The presentations can be used in your campaign to encourage your employees to take action to reduce energy consumption.

To view the slides online, click on the presentation link below and select “Open”.

To view the slides and the speaking notes, right click on the mouse and choose the “Save target as” function. This enables you to save the presentation to your computer, view the speaking notes and modify the presentation to suit your organization’s needs.

Stickers

Stickers are an excellent way to remind employees to use energy-efficient practices at the source. Place these easy-to-use, low-adhesive stickers, throughout your organization where they will have the most impact – in such places as on/off switches, meters, and entry and exit points.