The time has come for South African organisations to include energy management in their business strategies.
Key trends in the sustainability and energy management space include green buildings, environmental awareness and CO2 emissions, peak demand, punitive tariffs, and load shedding.
On this note, Dimension Data, in partnership with ITWeb, is conducting an online Energy Management survey to gain insight into the energy management strategies of South African organisations.
The main objectives of the survey are to understand the energy management landscape in SA; to assess the maturity of energy management adoption among corporates; and to understand the business drivers that are forcing companies to initiate energy management within their organisations.
In addition, the survey will reveal how seriously organisations consider addressing sustainability, as well as identify key trends in the sustainability and energy management space.
Wolf Stinnes, Dimension Data's solutions architect for converged real estate, says the lack of a single point of accountability, as well as a lack of incentive to achieve the savings derived from improved energy efficiency are factors that could contribute to the failure of an organisation's energy management solution.
Regarding South African organisations' overall success in implementing energy management solutions, Stinnes says: "Some level of success has been achieved by South African organisations, but very few (other than large mines and manufacturing) have succeeded in embedding energy efficiency into their business operations."
Dewald Booysen, Dimension Data's technology and solutions manager for advanced infrastructure, points out that outsourcing energy management solutions, as opposed to using in-house abilities, is not yet a viable alternative as there are currently very few outsourcing options for energy management available in SA due to limited offerings and capabilities in the market.
"There are specific trends in South Africa with regards to energy management preferences and development," he continues. "GBCSA green star for offices for new buildings has had an impact and has driven sub-metering. We can expect a similar trend once the operational rating comes into effect."
Stinnes advises organisations to apply KPIs at the CXO level as a step to improve an organisation's overall energy management strategy and not to overlook the importance of measurement, ie, apply the 80:20 principle of management.
Click here to complete the survey and stand a chance to win an Apple iPad Mini 16GB.
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