As the leading provider of products and systems for electrical installations and information networks wherever people live and work, Legrand delivers an unequaled depth and breadth of innovative solutions. Everywhere electricity and information is flowing, Legrand is there to manage it from beginning to end. Our solutions are designed to help achieve the highest levels of building performance by improving energy efficiency, security, productivity, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability throughout lifetime operation.
This toolkit seeks to act as a Power Down Day resource. It is not intended to serve every contingency or provide prescriptive advice.
Why Conduct a Power Down Day?
Legrand has taken many steps to reduce our corporate energy intensity. In an effort to foster more employee awareness and engagement, we created an event to inspire our employees to make an even bigger impact. The result was a one-day friendly competition across our North American sites - to challenge employees to think of fun ways to save energy.
On November 29, 2012, Legrand North America asked more than 2,500 employees to power down. In one 24-hour period, our employees met the challenge and achieved almost a 25% reduction in energy intensity across the company.
Feel free to use this Toolkit to develop your own Power Down Day. It includes tools to Organize and Communicate your Power Down Day.
Legrand’s Commitment
Legrand is committed to sharing key tools and resources – including this Power Down Day Toolkit – that have been developed as part of a successful effort to significantly reduce energy intensity across our North American facilities. These resources can be used by manufacturing companies and other organizations to develop and implement energy and cost savings programs for their businesses. An important tool is the Legrand North America Energy Policy which defines specific guidelines for the consumption of energy throughout Legrand’s North American sites. Many of the
recommendations in this 18-page policy can be leveraged as part of your Power Down Day. All tools, including the Legrand North America Energy Policy, are offered at no cost and are available at www.legrand.us/sustainability.
Communicate – in this Power Down Day Toolkit you’ll see examples of how Legrand communicated Power Down Day including: • Power Down Day
Logo Example • Webcast Kick-Off
Slide Example
• E-mail Campaign Example • Power Down Day
Poster Example
• Power Down Day TV Monitor Slide Example
• Q&A Example Overview and Organize – use the following pages to
understand Power Down Day, start planning and organize your approach:
• A Power Down Day Fact Sheet provides the who, what, when, why, where and how of Power Down Day
• The Power Down Day Checklist highlights specific actions to ensure a successful event
• A Power Down Day Project Plan Spreadsheet includes various tasks to be completed before, during and after Power Down Day. This spreadsheet includes the following categories: volunteer distribution list, communications schedule, site energy tracking by percentage, and site energy tracking by intensity. This spreadsheet was included in the Power Down Day folder you downloaded from
Overview: Power Down Day Fact Sheet
What is Power Down Day?Power Down Day is a 24-hour focused effort to save as much energy as possible. This can be within one facility or across many facilities. We chose to focus on our Legrand North American facilities.
Why hold a Power Down Day?
Power Down Day allows for a 24-hour concerted focus to save energy within or across facilities. It allows employees to proactively look for ways to save energy – with all employees working together to save as much energy as possible.
When should a Power Down Day be scheduled?
You can schedule a Power Down Day at any time. You’ll want to start planning about 8 weeks in advance to fully prepare. In addition, you need to make sure you are able to measure energy before and after the event. Legrand chose to measure kilowatt hours (KwH) across its facilities. One month prior to Power Down Day, a baseline reading was established for comparison purposes.
Who leads Power Down Day?
You need three key leaders as part of Power Down Day:
• Your executive staff needs to be involved in supporting and launching this effort.
• A core leader – perhaps within your energy or facilities team – needs to be the day-to-day leader. This person handles all logistics including finalizing the site leaders, energy readings, gathering pictures and actions taken, communicating about the event and making sure tasks are completed. This person also leads a Core Team made up of local leaders.
• A local leader at each site will serve as the key liaison to the core leader and ensure the day-to-day events happen within a specific location. This local leader may want to form a small local team to assist in logistics, planning, tracking progress and recognition. We were successful in appointing an energy leader and communication leader at each site.
How can I prepare for Power Down Day?
• Recruit volunteers to create a diverse and proactive team who will help implement communications, provide guidance on logistics, ensure you are tracking energy correctly and more! This team could include representatives from Human Resources, manufacturing, finance and other areas that best fit your organization’s structure. • Determine a baseline day. Collect energy usage for that day.
• Make sure you have a comprehensive plan and assign tasks to various people. Utilize the Power Down Day Project Plan spreadsheet as a planning tool. It covers communication and scheduling, local leader contact list, and energy tracking. It helps you know what to do before, during and after Power Down Day. • Ask your senior leader or a person on your executive staff to launch the Power Down Day “competition”
to generate awareness, excitement and to stress the importance of this initiative. We prepared communications that were shared by our CEO during a company-wide Quarterly Web meeting.
• Hold ongoing meetings between the core leader and local leaders to evaluate progress and eliminate any barriers. TIP: The core leader can work with a small team of local leaders to draft communications, create posters, order prizes and more.
• Brainstorm ideas on how to save energy within your sites and communicate this information prior to Power Down Day.
How do you recognize employees involved in Power Down Day?
We suggest that your Core Team brainstorm recognition options. At Legrand, we awarded a trophy to the site that achieved the highest percentage savings in a 24-hour period. This site also received funds for a local recognition event. For the top three sites, Legrand donated funds to local food banks in each site’s community.
Organize: Power Down Day Checklist
Leadership Commitment£ Obtain leadership commitment regarding Power Down Day related to the following items: £ Who: which sites and employees will be involved?
£ What: will this be a friendly competition between sites? Or will you focus on individual sites?
£ Why: one reason to hold a Power Down Day is to raise awareness of energy consumption. Are there
other reasons you want to hold a Power Down Day?
£ When: will you hold Power Down Day within one 24-hour period, one week, other?
£ Where: will you identify all sites with capabilities to measure energy consumption (physical meter
reads, submetering, utility demand-response programs)?
Preparation
£ Set a date for both the Power Down Day and a baseline day.
£ Appoint a Core Team Leader who will drive communications and event progress.
£ Use the Power Down Day Project Plan spreadsheet to track progress and responsibilities. This
spreadsheet covers communication planning and scheduling, a local leader contact list and energy tracking.
£ Create a master list of participating sites including site contacts and pre- and post-energy savings. £ Establish a Core Team to include one person from each site who will lead local communications,
events and recognition.
£ Each Local Leader will identify local volunteers and create any needed distribution lists.
Volunteers include:
• Site specific energy volunteers will read energy data on site (or access demand response program with utility)
• Communication volunteers will post posters, collect energy saving ideas prior to and during Power Down Day and lead recognition after Power Down Day
• Hold weekly meetings with the Core Team to review status and progress
Communication
£ Consider designing a graphic or logo.
£ Identify who will communicate within each location and how you will communicate. Some examples
include e-mail, posters, monitors in common areas, corporate/organization-wide meetings and small group meetings. Include these venues and meeting dates in your project plan spreadsheet.
£ Gain momentum in your organization by collecting energy saving ideas before Power Down Day and
incorporate these ideas into your communications.
£ Start communications one month prior to Power Down Day.
• See details about how we communicated Power Down Day on the Power Down Day Project Plan spreadsheet. See specific examples in the Communication section of this Toolkit.
Prizes & Recognition
£ Purchase a trophy or plaque for the winning site.
£ Make prizes and recognition that are meaningful for your organization. Legrand created three prizes
categories:
• A charitable donation to a local food bank for the top 3 sites • A trophy presented to the winning site
• A small celebration with the dollar amount tied to the percentage point reduction in energy consumed
Follow-up
£ Review the results of the winning sites. Probe to understand best practices used during Power Down Day. £ Share the results of Power Down Day within the organization as soon as possible.
£ Leverage best practices and suggestions for improvement throughout the organization. £ Review strategies and initiatives that were successful and areas of future improvement. £ Begin planning for the next Power Down Day!
Communication Examples
Power Down Day Logo – here is the logo Legrand designed for Power Down Day:
Webcast Kick-Off Slide Example – this slide was used by the CEO during a leader webcast to kick-off
Power Down Day Poster Example – Power Down Day Posters were posted in various locations:
Power Down Day TV Monitor Slide Example – TV monitors are in many Legrand locations.
Q&A – a communications tool to share information about Power Down Day with leaders and employees:
Additional Tools & Resources
Good luck with your Power Down Day! Legrand is committed to sharing tools and resources we have developed on our sustainability journey. Take a look at the Energy Management Handbook and Project Evaluation Tool – both aimed at saving energy! To access these and additional resources, go to www.legrand.us/sustainability.