PORTLAND, Ore. — November 19, 2014 — Energy Trust of Oregon has launched a set of videos to inspire office and commercial facilities to save energy by participating in its Strategic Energy Management, SEM, initiative.

SEM helps commercial buildings gain significant energy savings through a focus on modifying practices and creating culture change around how the facilities view, save or waste energy.

Energy Trust provides support, technical resources and training to improve operations and engage employees. Through SEM, employees develop skills to identify operations and maintenance changes that can make a big difference in a building’s energy use.

The videos feature case studies from three Oregon building operators who have implemented SEM successfully within their own facilities. Managers and employees from Oregon Convention Center, Legacy Health Systems and the City of Portland share their own stories of how they worked with Energy Trust to improve their energy management plans and learn to save energy and money by focusing on operations and behavior change.

Oregon Convention Center was looking for a comprehensive approach to energy management so it enrolled in SEM to learn how to capture operations and maintenance savings, as well as invest in capital energy improvements. By making energy a topic of discussion with the entire staff, the center earned nearly $21,000 in cash incentives from Energy Trust for energy-saving improvements and realized $113,000 in energy cost savings.

Legacy Health had been working on energy management for some time, and enrolled in SEM to provide the structure, methodology and discipline needed to develop a system-wide energy policy and achieve lasting energy savings. Energy Trust provided more than $50,000 in cash incentives for Legacy’s energy-saving improvements, which have delivered nearly $200,000 in energy cost savings.

The City of Portland wanted a new approach for saving energy in its 46 buildings while operating with a constrained budget. SEM provided tools to look at energy management in a systematic and strategic way so the city staff could track and monitor their progress in the first 10 buildings identified with the biggest potential for savings. The city has achieved $120,000 in energy cost savings and earned nearly $24,000 in cash incentives from Energy Trust.

According to Energy Trust, the SEM initiative is well-suited for buildings with complex energy systems, customers with a large portfolio of buildings and a range of building types, and campuses with multiple buildings and building types.

Energy Trust of Oregon is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping utility customers benefit from saving energy and generating renewable power. Our services, cash incentives and energy solutions have helped participating customers of Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural and Cascade Natural Gas save $1.7 billion on energy bills. Our work helps keep energy costs as low as possible, creates jobs and builds a sustainable energy future. Learn more at www.energytrust.org or call 1-866-368-7878.