Many business and facility owners that are looking to improve their bottom line through increased energy efficiency consider energy audits or conservation programs but don’t have anyone to take a leadership role on them internally. All is not loss, though, as there are many energy management education alternatives available.
While many formal energy management courses at colleges and universities require engineering training and a number of prerequisites, there are courses available that don’t require experience in this emerging field – just a desire to learn. One such course was recently developed and pilot-tested by the Canadian Institute for Energy Training (CIET), a group of energy consultants and Centennial College. It was partially funded by the Ontario Power Authority’s conservation fund, which supports innovative electricity conservation initiatives.
The Industrial and Building Energy Expertise (IBEX) certificate program had a variety of applicants, from college students to experienced professionals from other fields such as facility management, that wanted to enter the energy management field. Taken online at the individual’s own pace, the certificate is based on the U.K. Energy Institute’s Training in Energy Management through Open Learning (TEMOL) program. It was also supplemented with individual attention and mentoring. Carefully adapted to the Canadian context, the course combines technical knowledge with energy assessment skills and business practices: the core skill set for energy managers.
Energy management isn’t about the technical skills needed to fix or operate energy equipment; that’s the role of technicians. Energy management courses focus on the management aspects similar to other management functions such as health and safety, and quality assurance. The course was designed to groom individuals to acquire high caliber energy management skills. The comprehensive amount of educational materials and the need for students to learn most of it on their own time quickly sorted out those that were serious about learning the complexities of energy management and those that were not and quickly dropped out.
Students learned how to begin a continuous improvement process to reduce energy costs and prepare facilities to comply with Ontario’s Green Energy Act provisions, as well as how to work more effectively with energy consultants and vendors of energy technologies. They also learned about the latest energy and water efficiency technologies. As part of the training, students completed a project such as leading a mentored audit of a facility and making recommendations for it. Many facility managers have been thinking of ways to help their company save on energy costs but don’t have all the technical and business skills to make the case to the company’s leadership. To that end, training included how to access conservation incentive programs and achieve energy and water savings.
The course provided entry-level energy management education, which, combined with the appropriate number of years of experience, allowed graduates to seek certification as a certified energy manager by taking further courses offered by CIET and the Association of Energy Engineers. Other energy management books and courses can be found online. Some are tied to sales efforts by product vendors and others are for sale at various prices depending on the level of involvement of the vendors.
David Katz is president of Sustainable Resources Management, a leader in energy consulting and training, and one of IBEX’s (Industrial and Building Energy Expertise) partners and mentors. He can be reached at 416.493.9232 or dkatz@sustainable.on.ca.
