Title Assessing capital investment on energy improvement projects from a global energy management perspective : a tri-generation

For multi-national companies, assessment of energy improvement projects across a global site-base requires a thorough understanding of the driving factors affecting energy consumption on each site. Traditionally, assessment is performed on the basis of single site-level audits. These audits provide quantitative metrics for the implementation of energy improvement projects such as economics (capital cost, operating costs, return on investment, net present value) and energy/greenhouse gas reductions. However, audits do not typically assess, holistically for all sites, metrics concerning the three levels of abstraction namely system, facility and global. In order to improve effectiveness of capital spending in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, business continuity and return on investment, it is necessary to develop standardised approaches for auditing sites across a global sitebase. Within this context, Boston Scientific, a leading multinational medical device company with a diverse global presence, is currently in the process of implementing a global energy management system (GEMS) in order to improve corporate decision-making on capital energy efficiency spending. The paper will illustrate, from a site’s perspective, the interactions between a typical energy project life cycle and the GEMS corporate energy management system.