The City of Joondalup - linking energy and water data into Council's asset management systems

Planet Footprint held a workshop at the City of Joondalup in June 2010, where there were more attendees from more departments within council than we’ve ever had at any other Planet Footprint workshop – including Asset Managers, Facility Managers, Finance, Purchasing and Sustainability Managers.

Planet Footprint is now working across Council, assisting multiple departments to develop individual and relevant reports for facility managers, asset managers and sustainability managers. We are working to link Planet Footprint data into Council’s existing asset management database.

Joondalup is also interested in how they can better track performance against budgets, and is also pursuing more transparent reporting of their performance to the community.

The City of Gosnells - building the effectiveness of Council's property database

Planet Footprint is working closely with the Asset Management team at Gosnells, and among our tasks is to work with Council to integrate cost and consumption data with property information so that the Facility Managers have a good understanding of what is happening at each of their properties (financially and environmentally).

The day-to-day operation of individual assets inevitably requires the consumption of both energy and water, which costs the Council money, depending on the size and type of each asset. Gosnells Council recognises that keeping track of the whol costs of the asset (including maintenance costs, insurance, budgets, electricity, gas and water use, and other costs relating to its operation) is made easier when done from a central database. Planet Footprint Operations Team is currently in the process of updating Gosnells' data with unique asset codes, which is the first step towards merging the two datasets. Once finalised, this will save a lot of time for Council when looking at the entire Council expenditure on individual properties. Both Planet Footprint and Gosnells Council staff are keen to see this in place and up and running in the near future.

The Town of Cambridge - using Planet Footprint data to track costs against budgets

The Cambridge sustainability team is pleased that they do not have to source and manage energy and water data themselves, as this absorbs too much time and resources, taking away from their capacity to act on performance and drive on-the-ground action. Cambridge is using the Planet Footprint service to focus on their top six properties to see if they are within their monthly budgets and to highlight what areas to focus on to achieve the greatest reductions.

To optimise efficiency, the Finance team is also keen to utilise the service by automatically uploading Planet Footprint energy and water information into their financial management database.

Council is working to reduce the quantity of imaging equipment, so they will be using Planet Footprint to independently assess the trial of a lighting retrofit, service virtualization and multi-functional photocopiers shortly.

The City of Melville - identifying utility bills that they have been paying, but which belong to others

A new Planet Footprint subscriber, the City of Melville is particularly interested in aligning Planet Footprint data to their asset database. Melville is working with Planet Footprint to look at maintenance cycles of different assets in terms of energy efficiency and upgrades. They are also being guided by Planet Footprint on how to identify accounts that are no longer the responsibility of the City, but for which they are still paying utility bills.

The Town of East Fremantle - stopping energy and water waste through Planet Footprint's anomaly reports

Like all small Councils (and even the majority of larger ones!), the Town of East Fremantle have limited time to spend on the day to day management of energy and water data; they want to focus their time and attention on pursuing opportunities to improve their environmental performance and save the Council money. 

Council's first port-of-call for these easy wins is their Anomaly Report, which highlight accounts that have had unusual consumption patterns. During our meeting with East Fremantle Council, Council staff were able to sit down with Planet Footprint and discuss the accounts appearing in their anomaly report (which were displaying significant increases in electricity and water use). Being a small Council, staff could easily identify all of the properties appearing in their anomaly report, but couldn't justify why certain sites had increased by so much.

By working with Planet Footprint, Council can also use 'anomalies' to create more awareness for energy and water use across the organisation.

The Town of East Fremantle do not have the time or resources to manage performance data and is pleased to have an independent company doing it on their behalf.

Council’s building maintenance manager was present at our meetings in June, and for the first time he was able to see the financial results of his improvement projects. For example he repaired a faulty air conditioning unit on the admin building and as a result, energy consumption went down. This was all visible in Planet Footprint's reports for that property.

Council is now taking a much closer look at its Anomaly Reports, which summarise any discrepancies or spikes in usage and as a result encourages staff to investigate reasons why an anomaly has occurred.

The City of Fremantle - using Planet Footprint to measure progress towards carbon neutrality

The City of Fremantle uses Planet Footprint for regular reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and reconciliation of accounts. Its ICLEI data will soon be aligned with Planet Footprint’s, ensuring consistent reporting across multiple frameworks. Planet Footprint has previously assisted Council with their carbon neutrality process, acting as independent scorekeepers.

The City of Rockingham - drawing on Planet Footprint to build a culture of environmental awareness among staff

When Planet Footprint visited Rockingham in June, we met with staff across Buildings Maintenance, Finance, IT and Sustainability, and attendees were able to gain an understanding of how Planet Footprint is an integral part of the day-to-day management of all Council operations. Planet Footprint is not just about environmental management and sustainability, but more about achieving financial and environmental outcomes through integrating expertise across all business units and departments in Council.

Council acknowledges the need to educate its staff members more on energy and water conservation. They are keen to start reporting regularly to their Executive Management Team, especially highlighting the financial impacts of anomalies in the use of electricity, gas and water. Together with Planet Footprint, they will develop a memo to engage and educate staff members about what approach they will be taking to address consumption anomalies, which is the first step towards building Council’s reputation for adopting smarter resource use.  They are also running a switch off campaign using Planet Footprint promotional material throughout Council buildings.

The Town of Vincent - using Planet Footprint to analyse interval meter data

A pro-active Council, Vincent is conducting activity monitoring, looking at their highest energy consumption sites and installing smart meters on each of these. They will use Planet Footprint’s performance analyst to help look at this data once the meters are installed.

Council is particularly interested in communicating the performance of their top sites to the community, and will be receiving banners in the admin building and aquatic centre showing the community what they are doing to improve.