Try these

environmental

KPIsMeasure and improve your use of

energy, water and waste

Try these environmental KPIs - measure and improve your use of energy, water and waste 2

Good measuring and monitoring highlights the

changing patterns of behaviour that can lead to

wasted profits – and keeps you in control.

Just the act of measuring and monitoring can have an impact.

As one of the twentieth century’s leading business gurus once

famously said “What’s measured improves.”

The legions of people now up and out of their office chair to go

walking and ‘step counting’ every day, thanks to the explosion in

the market for fitness activity trackers, are perhaps an even

more visible testimony of this ‘what gets measured gets done’

phenomena.

Resource Efficient Scotland has lots of free support, resources

and tools to help you measure and monitor your business’s

resource use. And these example KPIs will help you get even

more value from them.

What’s

measured

improves

"

"

Peter F. Drucker

Try these environmental KPIs - measure and improve your use of energy, water and waste 3

What are KPIs?

KPIs, otherwise referred to as key performance

indicators, are a metric used to evaluate factors that

are crucial to the success of your organisation.

Think of it this way - imagine you only monitor and act on basic

energy consumption data (kWh). Last month you notice a drop

in energy use. Is that good? Has your performance improved?

Is your business becoming more energy efficient? Or could it

just be that sales were down last month, or a lot of staff were on

holiday, and that drove down energy use?

KPIs differ from setting to setting. For businesses, KPIs like net

revenue and customer satisfaction levels have always been

important to measure and monitor. Increasingly, environmental

KPIs are being added to the measuring and monitoring

activities of leading businesses.

Increasingly,

environmental

KPIs are being

added to the

measuring and

monitoring

activities of

leading

businesses

"

"

Try these environmental KPIs - measure and improve your use of energy, water and waste 4

What environmental KPIs should you use?

When choosing environmental KPIs, you need to

consider the activities of your organisation that drive

resource use.

While it is good to track fluctuations in your basic

energy use, KPIs are needed to reveal the underlying

performance of your business. This level of

understanding is vital if you want to make

improvements and stay in control.

Characteristics of a good KPI for your

business

Measuring and monitoring business performance is

critical, but focusing on the wrong key performance

indicators can be detrimental. So can poorly structured

KPIs, or KPIs that are too difficult or costly to obtain

and monitor on a regular basis.

Good KPIs should follow the Six ‘A’s…

Good KPIs follow the Six ‘A’s

AlignedMake sure the KPIs you are choosing align with the

strategic goals and objectives of your organisation.

AttainableThe KPIs you choose to measure should have data that

can be easily obtained.

Acute KPIs should keep everyone on the same page and

moving in the same direction.

AccurateThe data flowing into the KPI should be reliable and

accurate.

Actionable The KPI should give you insight into the business that is

actionable.

Alive Your business is always growing and changing. Your

KPIs should evolve as well.

Try these environmental KPIs - measure and improve your use of energy, water and waste 5

To help you get started

applying KPIs to your

business’s measuring

and monitoring activities, here are some standard KPIs

that should meet the Six ‘A’s

criteria for your business…

Try these environmental KPIs - measure and improve your use of energy, water and waste 6

Type of

business

Factors that are likely to be driving

your business’s resource use KPIs you should try and track

Fo

od

Resource use will be

driven by number of

covers served.

Number of hot drinks

will also drive energy

use.

Energy

• kWh per cover served

• kWh per hot drink sold

Water

• m3 per cover served

Waste

• Tonnes of recycling per cover served

• Tonnes of general waste per cover served

• Tonnes of food waste per cover served

such as:

cafés,

bars,

restaurants,

canteens,

clubhouses.

Try these environmental KPIs - measure and improve your use of energy, water and waste 7

Type of

business

Factors that are likely to be driving

your business’s resource use KPIs you should try and track

Ho

tels

Resource use will be

driven by numbers of

occupied rooms and

number of guests.

(If you provide catering facilities, you

should also use the KPIs for a food

business)

Energy

• kWh per occupied room

• kWh per guest

Water

• m3 per occupied room

• m3 per guest

Waste

• Tonnes of recycling per occupied room

• Tonnes of recycling per guest

• Tonnes of general waste per

occupied room

• Tonnes of general waste per guest

Try these environmental KPIs - measure and improve your use of energy, water and waste 8

Type of

business

Factors that are likely to be driving

your business’s resource use KPIs you should try and track

Man

ufa

ctu

rers

Resource use will be

driven by number of

units produced and

number of shifts

worked.

Energy

• kWh per unit produced

• kWh per cycle/shift

Water

• m3 per unit produced

• m3 per cycle/shift

Waste

• Quantity of raw materials purchased per

unit produced

• Tonnes of recycling per unit produced

• Tonnes of recycling per cycle/shift

• Tonnes of general waste per unit produced

• Tonnes of general waste per cycle/shift

Try these environmental KPIs - measure and improve your use of energy, water and waste 9

Type of

business

Factors that are likely to be driving

your business’s resource use KPIs you should try and track

Offic

es

Resource use will be

driven by the number

of staff working in the

office.

Energy

• kWh per number of staff working in the

office

Water

• m3 per number of staff working in the office

Waste

• Tonnes of recycling per number of staff

working in the office

• Tonnes of general waste per number of

staff working in the office

Try these environmental KPIs - measure and improve your use of energy, water and waste 10

Type of

business

Factors that are likely to be driving

your business’s resource use KPIs you should try and track

Re

taile

rs

Energy use will be driven by

the number of hours open.

Water use will also be driven

by the number of hours open

and the number of staff

working.

Waste will be driven by the

volume of deliveries of new

stock.

(If you provide catering facilities, you

should also use the KPIs for a food

business)

Energy

• kWh per number of hours open

Water

• m3 per number of hours open

• m3 per number staff working

Waste

• Tonnes of recycling per volume of

deliveries

• Tonnes of general waste per volume of

deliveries

Try these environmental KPIs - measure and improve your use of energy, water and waste 11

Type of

business

Factors that are likely to be driving

your business’s resource use KPIs you should try and track

En

terta

inm

en

t ven

ues

Resource use will be

driven by footfall

(attendee numbers)

and number of

showings/events.

(If you provide catering facilities, you

should also use the KPIs for a food

business)

Energy

• kWh per footfall/number of attendees

• kWh per number of showings/events

Water

• m3 per footfall/number of attendees

• m3 per number of showings/events

Waste

• Tonnes of recycling per footfall/number of

attendees

• Tonnes of recycling per number of

showings/events

• Tonnes of general waste per

footfall/number of attendees

• Tonnes of general waste per number of

showings/events

12

Further support

Resource Efficient Scotland can give you

expert, one-to-one support to help you improve

your resource use and save money.

All our advice for SMEs is completely free,

independent and confidential. Give us a call today

on 0808 808 2268.

Check out our free measuring and

monitoring training, templates,

instructional videos and guides at:

http://www.resourceefficientscotland.com/res

ource/measure-and-monitor-resource-use

Try these environmental KPIs - measure and improve your use of energy, water and waste