Earth Day is celebrated worldwide on April 22nd, and this year will be no exception. But, have you ever done anything special as an energy professional to celebrate it? You should!
Especially if you work in a business that involves energy efficiency.
Why? Because you’re helping to ensure a better, greener and more conscious planet. Today, we give you 5 ideas that you can do to celebrate Earth Day!
What is Earth Day?
Earth Day or International Mother Earth Day has been celebrated since 1970 as a date to increase awareness and push individuals (but also organisations and companies) to take action in addressing global environmental problems. Earth Day was born in the US, receiving support by the Earth Day Network. Today, it is a global event supported by even the UN.
After COP26 at the end of 2021, this year Earth Day could be more important than ever to anyone working in the energy industry. Initiatives like the one celebrated April 22nd have put climate change, environment and energy consumption, and other eco-friendly tactics in everyone’s agenda.
So, since you are an energy professional, why don’t you join this celebration? We’re deciding to spread the word about how energy efficiency companies could help governments, companies, and individuals tackle climate change.
Here’s our list of 5 ideas to support Earth Day as energy professionals!
5 Things Energy Professionals Should do To Celebrate Earth Day
1. Increase the Awareness of Energy Efficiency
We know that sometimes it is hard to explain what energy efficiency about. It’s even harder to convince your company or other companies to invest in energy efficiency.
That’s why we think it is so important to use these national dates, like Earth Day, to share something related to your everyday work. In addition, numbers suggest that this is a common problem for energy professionals.
Are you in this situation? Well, my best tip for you is to increase the use of reports within your organisation.
Most energy management software platforms include tools to define, set up, and automate the creation of reports. The Earth Day is a great day to set up a special report with all the savings you have generated (for your company or for your clients, if you’re an ESCO) and the emissions that you have reduced this year.
Share it proudly with your organiSation. At DEXMA, our communication team loves to receive these kinds of insights. Why? Because they can use these figures with media to increase the presence of our work in the industry. You can probably do the same.
Another key target for this kind of report is your CFO or financial team. They love numbers, and they are always looking forward to reduce costs (while keeping the company’s profitable and competitive of course). Have you ever shared a report about energy savings with them? If not, use Earth Day as the “perfect excuse” to start the communication between both areas of your company.
A final word about reports. If you don’t have a reporting tool, I want to recommend our Energy Management Platform DEXMA. You can watch our video demo here.
2. Get inspired
We talked some time ago at DEXMA’s blog about great TED Talks about Energy Efficiency that any energy manager would benefit from watching.
These talks will not only help you stay updated, but they will also give you a boost in self- esteem that will help you continue with your hard work.
Earth Day is a great date to take some time and watch a couple of these inspirational videos.
My productivity tip here is to use the “Pomodoro” technique. What is that you may ask? Don’t worry. It’s super simple to understand and can be done by following these steps:
- Take your smartphone out.
- Set up your timer for 25 minutes.
- Go to TED Talks page and do a search (no longer than 5 minutes).
- Start watching the talks.
- Stop when you reach the 25’ minutes limit.
3. Get Ideas to Generate More Savings
Saving energy equals reduced emissions harming the planet. If you think that you have reached your limit with your energy plan, it’s time to get some new ideas.
How? We always recommend reading other businesses’ stories. These case studies or success stories are one of the materials that energy professionals find more valuable when it comes to learning how to make energy savings recommendations.
You can start by browsing DEXMA’s case studies (free-to-download and with examples from several different industries).
4. Join the Social Conversation
Follow #EarthDay hashtag on Twitter and join the conversation. Share your ideas and comment on others.
This year, the UN is set to galvanise climate action: Its mission is to halve emissions before 2030 through exponential climate action and solutions and thus, to finance the transition to net zero emissions. There are many conversations about the topic out there in social media happening right now. But people are also talking about fossil fuels, company problems with fixing energy regulations, and even asking how to save money on their company’s energy bills.
You just need to find where they are.
Have you ever checked Quora to solve other people’s worries about energy efficiency or the energy business? I strongly recommend you to take some time to browse around and solve a couple of questions. There will probably be some debates on Quora about the usefulness of Earth Day. What’s your opinion about it? This platform will give you huge visibility as an energy expert!
5. Actually, Celebrate it!
Earth Day is a perfect time to get your team outside of the office and do something out-of-the-box together.
This could mean just gather around to have some drinks and talk about what both the company and individuals in the company are doing to help the Planet.
If you have the time and your company is a bit more pro-environmental in its actions, a great idea is to organise a volunteer group. Why not clean a river together, or give a talk to your local school to explain to kids the importance of conservation? The possibilities are endless in the fight to save the planet.
If you’re in the US, there’s a great source for upcoming events related to Earth Day. Most can be found on the Earth Day Network page. Check out what’s coming up this year. Maybe, you can join a group close to you and do some networking!
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