Achieving sustainability goals with energy management systems training
The Challenge
Polaris, a global motorsports manufacturer, has set ambitious sustainability targets to meet in the next 15 years. Meeting these goals will require a coordinated effort spanning from senior leadership to plant managers and staff.
The Solution
VEIC partnered with Polaris to help seven of their plants achieve 50001 Ready recognition. The 50001 Ready program provides facilities and plant managers with tools to establish an energy management system and set a path for continuous energy improvement. Capabilities: Program Solutions, Decarbonization Planning
The Impact
In 2022, Polaris achieved its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 5%. The year-long training initiative fostered collaboration and alignment between plants that will improve efficiency for years to come.
Bridging the gap between climate change mitigation goals and real carbon reduction for businesses
Polaris, like many large businesses, has ambitious sustainability goals. They are working toward 75% renewable electricity and a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. These clean energy goals are in response to global consumer pressure on businesses to show a commitment to reducing emissions. 88% of consumers now say that the sustainability of a product is a factor in some of their purchases. As an outdoor sports company, Polaris’s customers care about environmental stewardship and having a long-term positive impact on the outdoor spaces they love.
Polaris needed a company-wide initiative to meet these aggressive energy efficiency goals. They needed a program that would unify disparate plants and motivate all employees to look for effective energy solutions and opportunities to save energy and reduce carbon.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) 50001 Ready program gives businesses the tools to implement an energy management system that meets the ISO 50001 standards. The DOE recognizes businesses that self-attest to completing a 25-step checklist. This process sets businesses on a path for continual energy improvement and carbon reduction.
VEIC brings together Polaris facilities to learn and achieve energy savings
VEIC began partnering with the DOE in 2020 to train business cohorts to complete the 25-step 50001 Ready program. Since 2020, we have run cohorts with manufacturing plants, commercial buildings, multi-family buildings, and state and federal government facilities. Cohorts include between 5 and 20 individual plants or facilities that share common practices or technology.
Polaris’s Huntsville, Alabama plant completed the program in 2018. In 2021, VEIC approached Polaris’s leadership to suggest a cohort of Polaris plants, working together to achieve recognition and build on Huntsville’s success. The sites participated in monthly trainings with VEIC, along with individual consultation sessions for issues unique to each plant.
VEIC’s style of training fostered company-wide collaboration that had formerly been lacking. Previously, plant managers had few opportunities to compare notes between plants. Through the training sessions, they were able to share what was working and pass innovations across the organization.
“For years, we’d been doing the right things without cohesive goals. We tracked projects that were saving us energy, but we didn’t have a standardized way of talking about them or a target we were working towards. The 50001 Ready methodology gave us standard language to use across the organization when we’re identifying projects, talking about goals, and talking about individual site performance."
Deeper savings beyond the 50001 Ready program
The result was 50001 Ready recognition for seven Polaris plants, including recognition for the Huntsville, AL plant for a third year. Polaris met its 2022 sustainability goals, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 5% that year. Polaris knows that meeting the goals it has set for its consumers and its investors means pulling together as a company. VEIC’s 50001 Ready training experience allowed Polaris to develop a common framework. It helped connect the production team to the energy team so that every employee could start to think about their work from an energy savings lens.
For many businesses, the 50001 Ready program is a starting point. For businesses seeking additional savings opportunities after establishing this foundation, VEIC can help. Our energy experts can zoom in on a facility level and complete “energy treasure hunts,” in-depth investigations to uncover the most cost-effective practices to improve energy efficiency and lower energy costs. We can help navigate and access available rebates to bring down the upfront cost of efficiency products. Our technical experts are available to help you understand how much energy you’ve saved or the carbon emissions you’ve avoided. VEIC will be your partner as you start your clean energy transition and deliver the sustainability results your investors and your customers are looking for.