A Place at the Table

Abstract

Escalating and erratic energy prices and the omnipresent threat
of rolling brown-outs to black-outs have given us a new awareness of
energy and its critical importance to everything we do. The impact of
escalating motor fuel prices in 2006 offers one example as we assess
the greater costs of getting products from producer to consumer. This
awareness offers us an incredible opportunity to redefine what energy
managers should do, and what they should be.
Energy managers and energy management have historically been
short-changed. As noted in a companion article, “Revitalizing the En-
ergy Management Industry,” there was a mad scramble in the 1970s
to figure out what energy conservation measures saved energy. Out of
that chaos, we developed an equipment focus, which relegated energy
managers to the boiler room. Too many are still there.
It is time they crawled out. Today, more than ever, organizations
need energy managers at the management table. Every person in the
energy community has a vested interest in having “energy” take its
rightful place at the management table. From organizations’ business
needs and missions, to our economy and national security, it has become
an imperative.
The place at the table will not be given to energy managers though;
they will have to earn it. This article is designed to help energy manag-
ers take the necessary steps to gain that seat at the table.