Given the competing priorities and rigorous return on investment criteria for many businesses, the commercial and industrial sectors represent a challenging space for energy efficiency programs. The CEE Strategic Energy Management Initiative addresses these challenges by:
Using an SEM approach, efficiency programs assist their customers in identifying and addressing their most relevant energy objectives. SEM elevates efficiency programs as a key partner for US and Canadian business, with energy as a core avenue for continuous improvement informed by SEM strategy.
CEE members participating in this initiative find that SEM is a customer-focused, long-term strategy that empowers participant capacity to achieve continuous improvements to energy intensity and iterative enhancements to process, operations, and management practices. By applying energy monitoring and reporting to a rigorous management system approach, SEM offers greater visibility of the energy impacts of customer actions, including capital and operational decisions, employee behavior, and management practices. When practiced effectively, SEM generates energy savings and organizational value for participants by remedying inefficient operations and behaviors and facilitating the implementation of capital improvements.
Even after a decade of successful operation, the CEE Initiative follows the SEM model of continuous improvement by actively exploring avenues for further expansion and enhancement tailored to address the ever-evolving needs of member programs and support the priorities of their customers. In October of 2024, the CEE SEM Initiative published additions to the CEE SEM Minimum Elements designed to guide programs seeking to supplement their energy efficiency programs with decarbonization measures.
Alongside these continuous efforts to improve Initiative offerings, the CEE SEM Committee operates as a forum for program-to-program knowledge transfer by bringing together DSM program administrators to discuss SEM program design, delivery, and evaluation. CEE also collects detailed program experience in the annual SEM Program Summary—a source of valuable information about specific program approaches and results, intended to inform SEM program designers and managers, whether they are CEE members or not. Finally, CEE actively works with leaders within and without the DSM program industry to address new challenges and opportunities, including technology support for SEM, demand response integration, dual fuel strategies, and cost-effective solutions for small businesses.