What to look for when choosing your carbon management software solution
In this article, we'll share key features you should expect to find in a carbon management software solution, along with an explanation of the benefits those features provide.
We'll focus on aspects that reduce organisational risk, inform better decisions through high-quality data, help you drive positive change within your organisation and save you time.
Your time is valuable, use it to drive positive change.
And that leads us to our first benefit to look for: The carbon management software tool you choose should, of course, save you time, reduce climate overwhelm and make your life easier.
It should make tracking and storing emissions data from a wide range of sources over long time periods an absolute breeze. Data loading should be streamlined and if possible, outsourced. Your carbon management software provider should be able to setup links to your utility and service providers, and offer data entry services so your energy and carbon information can be imported on a regular basis.
It should be intuitive to use, and allow you to quickly drill down into your data to help inform future sustainability decisions.
Instant support, from real people.
Your carbon management software provider should have a help desk you can call at any time during business hours, so you can get the answers you need, when you need them.
Speaking of answers when you need them, automated reporting functions are critical. They allow you to choose reports specific to your organisation, that are sent to key decisions makers and team members on a regular basis, so everyone is kept informed and situations can be monitored closely.
Share your sustainability journey with key stakeholders
You may also want the functionality available to share your sustainability data with a wider audience like Unitec do with their interactive public dashboard...
That which is measured and monitored, improves.
Data should be granular.
High quality data leads to better quality decisions, greater efficiencies and cost savings. Your carbon management software solution should pull data direct from suppliers, not from your financial reporting system (as is often the case) as this misses the detail that allows you to uncover common issues like billing inaccuracies and faulty meters which occur at a surprising rate and lead to cost blowouts over time. This feature alone can save organisations huge sums each year in reduced energy costs. Especially if you manage several different meter sites.
Tip: Look for a system with a built in monitoring and targeting functionality. Effectively tracking your energy usage at the meter level is estimated to avoid costs of 5% (on average) and up to 20% in some cases.
Is this carbon management software solution trusted by others?
Software solutions generally mature over time, as small bugs get ironed out, and more importantly, as the existing user base improves the system through constant feedback.
If you are going to select a system to manage your energy usage and carbon emissions, you want to get it right first time. Go with a company that has a track record of helping organisations just like yours. Be wary of new players that have just entered the market.
Combining energy and carbon.
The best carbon management systems understand that energy and carbon work together. Understanding your energy use along with emissions from other sources puts you in the best position to reduce emissions and save on energy costs.
What e-Bench® monitors
e-Bench® can monitor all types of energy and carbon emissions data, including electricity, reticulated gas, water, diesel, gasoline, steam, LPG, medical gases, coal, biomass, solar, photovoltaics, waste and vehicles. You can capture energy data directly from your suppliers, such as energy consumption, hours used, occupant numbers, heating and cooling degree days, sunlight hours, construction and materials.
e-Bench® benchmarks your energy usage and carbon emissions against KPI’s, letting you verify how successful energy efficiency and utility management measures have been and identify where you can make new improvements.
Identify issues early and make informed decisions
e-Bench® will help you identify issues early and easily – by appliance, floor or building – and make informed decisions to reduce energy use and carbon emissions. Receive automatic alerts when usage is higher than expected and get recommendations from the CarbonEES® team, so you can set a new course of action.
Insight and expertise
e-Bench® automatically aggregates your data into easy to analyse and meaningful reports that anyone in your organisation can understand. With all your information online in one place, there’s no need to manage multiple spreadsheets, reports or invoices. You can even use e-Bench® to share your sustainability data internally, with key stakeholders, or your wider customer network.
As well as saving you time and money, the CarbonEES® team will be on hand as your expert energy guides, providing local insights and support to suit your needs.
