Industry:
Water & Wastewater Management
The Client:
OCWA is a trusted partner to municipalities, First Nations communities, businesses, governments and institutions across Ontario, providing total solutions in water and wastewater.
Ontario Clean Water Agency: Planning for Sustainability with 360 Energy
OCWA partnered with 360 Energy to implement a Sustainable Energy Planning process, achieving cost savings and environmental benefits by optimizing energy management strategies and operations.
The Challenges
Need to advance current energy-saving initiatives and ensure that an emphasis is placed on changing behaviours and internal processes for managing energy.
The 360 Solution
Analyze the current energy management situation and formulate a customized, sustainable energy plan with long-term energy reduction targets.
The Results
Improving Energy Management in Water and Wastewater Systems
As an operator of water and wastewater facilities, the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) investigates all opportunities to provide better value to water and wastewater system owners. Managing key process consumables such as energy is essential to ensuring good value for their clients.
A Good Starting Point
For OCWA, approximately ¼ of the cost of delivering water and wastewater services relates to the consumption of energy. With an annual energy expenditure of approximately $20 million for the South Peel operations alone, even a modest energy cost avoidance of 2% would result in annual savings of $400,000. This can also be compounded once you take into consideration potential incentives for greenhouse gas reductions.
The Region of Peel is one of OCWA’s largest clients and is a recognized leader in municipal energy management. Peel Region, as well as many other clients, have come to expect OCWA to enhance its energy management strategies and to reduce its impact on the environment.
In an effort to advance their energy-saving initiatives, OCWA enlisted the support of 360 Energy Inc. and their Sustainable Energy Planning process.
OCWA’s Manager of Corporate Planning & Communications, Glen Lang, spearheaded this new initiative and married 360 Energy’s knowledge in the energy industry with their internal expertise on water and wastewater operations.
Organizational Change
While OCWA already had plans to purchase more efficient equipment and monitoring devices, the 360 Energy model ensured that they also placed an emphasis on changing behaviours and internal processes on managing energy. As Lang pointed out, “360’s program is not simply a monitoring tool or an evaluation matrix; it is a framework for organizational change.”
Results Matter
After completing their work with 360 Energy, OCWA is now implementing new opportunities to both reduce and alter their energy use patterns. They are also working towards improving the integration of energy procurement and operational usage at their facilities.
Sustainable Energy Planning
360 Energy knows that the first step towards reducing an organization’s energy footprint is to develop a plan. The 360 Sustainable Energy Planning first focuses on understanding how different departments factor energy into their daily functions and what opportunities exist in energy management based on current practices.
This is followed by exposure to fast-paced, interactive workshops where participants are exposed to over 60 worldwide best practices, and are given the tools and templates to develop their own customized energy plan with 360 Energy assistance. After creating the plan, 360 Energy provides assistance in presenting the plan to senior management and ensures that the resources are available for the organization to reach its goals and energy reduction targets.
“360’s sustainable energy planning session gave our organization a running start on our plan. It provided the right stimulus for us to think about our energy use and procurement in a fresh way and also provided a well thought out framework to develop and implement our plan."
