S.M.A.R.T goals

As facility engineer, my main goal for the plant is to reduce our energy consumption and therefore our utility costs for 2008. I got this position after a significant downsizing in September.

My boss comes to me yesterday afternoon telling me that we are missing our 1st quarter forecast for utility costs, we're over by about 30%. Our forecast for 2008 was established at the end of last summer, August 2007. That is why we went through the downsizing... after they crunched numbers looking into this year.

I started looking at the numbers and whomever put them in place did something interesting. They assumed a reduction in our utility usage of 43% over last year.

I had put a lot of work into a sizeable project that was assuming somewhere in the rage of 20-25% savings.

So, our delta to the target is a little off... I'm wondering - when you have a project dropped in your lap, how much say do you have in the goals. How do you present it to your boss that the goals are not S.M.A.R.T.

Specific

Measureable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

The Attainable and Realistic portion of the conversation is what's at debate.

I need drink and it's mid-day on Tuesday. It's going to be a long week.

SMART goals are in theory a very good way to stay on track and measure performance. I have seen the most idiotic bull$sh1t from management regarding SMART goals. That's a big reason for my departure. The goals typically set for management in our company are Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely, but absolutely unrelated to the success of the company. For example, one of the HR mgrs had a goal to provide training for all employees on team work, etc. I think she had to have a % attendance to get credit for the goal (and collect her bonus). I missed the local training because I was out of town. She wanted me (and this was supported by my boss) to fly to CA for 4 hrs of training. I offered to review the content of the training, read material, etc, but she NEEDED my attendance, so wanted to spend ~$1000 to get her %. Other STUPID goals are related to introduction of new product. If it is scheduled to be at a certain tradeshow, it WILL be at the tradeshow, "come hell or high water". The result is that half-baked rushed designs end up being released for production. I could go ON AND ON, but I don't want to rant all day. My opinion of "SMART" goals is that they are generally stupid. But, it seems to be one of the buzzwords that many corporations are latched on to.

You can participate in Earthhour on March 29th from 8 to 9 PM.

Dear State Employee –

I am pleased to announce that the State of Illinois is participating in an exciting climate change awareness event called Earth Hour on March 29th. During Earth Hour, the State of Illinois will join thousands of other public and private entities worldwide and “turn off the lights” from 8 pm to 9 pm.

The goal of Earth Hour is to demonstrate that, by working together, each one of us can make a positive impact to help combat the effects of global warming.

Earth Hour, created by World Wildlife Fund, is being held in more than 30 cities across 6 continents. Chicago is the flagship Earth Hour city in the US, and we will be joined by Atlanta, Phoenix, and San Francisco for this historic event.

What is the State of Illinois doing for Earth Hour?

As part of Earth Hour, the State of Illinois will turn off the lights in state occupied buildings in Chicago’s “Loop,” including the James R. Thompson Center, the Michael Bilandic Building, and 401 S. Clinton from 8 pm to 9 pm. This includes all non-essential and decorative outside lights. We will be joined by the City of Chicago and hundreds of local businesses, residents, and organizations in conserving energy and demonstrating our commitment to combating climate change.

All street lights and lights vital to public safety will remain on.

What Can You Do for Earth Hour?

We encourage you to participate in Earth Hour from your home as well. We want people to see how easy it is to take action against climate change. You don’t have to turn off your refrigerator, for example, but we do encourage you to join other Illinoisans and your friends around the world by switching off your lights, changing to energy-efficient compact fluorescents and thinking of ways you can change your habits in the long-term to reduce your carbon dioxide emissions.

For more information on the history of and how to most effectively participate in Earth Hour visit the Earth Hour website at: www.earthhourus.org. For more tips on how to combat climate change and reduce your carbon emissions visit the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s website at: www.epa.state.il.us.

^^ I figure I must be participating in Earth Hour every night when I go to bed...

Well, as long as you don't count my night light. Hey! There could be monsters out there in the dark!

During Earth Hour, the State of Illinois will join thousands of other public and private entities worldwide and “turn off the lights” from 8 pm to 9 pm.

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Yes... Let's focus our energy to shut off electricity in unoccupied spaces during off-peak hours for 1 hour. How sacrificial to give that much effort.

That's laughable. If people really wanted to make a difference there should be bigger things to worry about than just lighting. I guess it's a start, but 8-9PM? I'll make sure I'm sitting on the edge of my seat for it.

TouchDown said:

Yes... Let's focus our energy to shut off electricity in unoccupied spaces during off-peak hours for 1 hour. How sacrificial to give that much effort.That's laughable. If people really wanted to make a difference there should be bigger things to worry about than just lighting. I guess it's a start, but 8-9PM? I'll make sure I'm sitting on the edge of my seat for it.

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That was our thoughts too...any sort of savings will most likely be wasted on hundreds of posters thanking us for saving XX amount of $, like they did with the thermostat directive.

Hey... every 1 degree = approximately 3% heating or cooling savings (as a ballpark)...

TouchDown said:

Hey... every 1 degree = approximately 3% heating or cooling savings (as a ballpark)...

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But are you really saving anything if the AC goes on in the middle of winter because all the body heat raised the room temp a degree or two above the established limit.

TouchDown said:

As facility engineer, my main goal for the plant is to reduce our energy consumption and therefore our utility costs for 2008. I got this position after a significant downsizing in September.
My boss comes to me yesterday afternoon telling me that we are missing our 1st quarter forecast for utility costs, we're over by about 30%. Our forecast for 2008 was established at the end of last summer, August 2007. That is why we went through the downsizing... after they crunched numbers looking into this year.

I started looking at the numbers and whomever put them in place did something interesting. They assumed a reduction in our utility usage of 43% over last year.

I had put a lot of work into a sizeable project that was assuming somewhere in the rage of 20-25% savings.

So, our delta to the target is a little off... I'm wondering - when you have a project dropped in your lap, how much say do you have in the goals. How do you present it to your boss that the goals are not S.M.A.R.T.

Specific

Measureable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

The Attainable and Realistic portion of the conversation is what's at debate.

I need drink and it's mid-day on Tuesday. It's going to be a long week.

Click to expand...

I can tell you a 43% reduction is not smart. My company does energy audits and if we can find 15% savings for projects with a 3 year payback or less, we feel pretty good about ourselves. Anything above that is typically taking energy into consideration for product related upgrades. Of course this is all changing since energy costs are rising (I was at an audit today where gas was $1/therm and electricity was 0.07/kWh.

I noticed today was Earth Hour day because Google has gone black for it.

snickerd3 said:

...any sort of savings will most likely be wasted on hundreds of posters thanking us for saving XX amount of $, like they did with the thermostat directive.

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I think Earth Hour is more about raising awareness than saving a few $. For instance, did you know that 23% of energy used in commerical buildings is for lighting? And it is the second highest commerical energy use after space heating? See the Energy Information Adminstration for these statisics. (It's a kids page, but this was the most succinct page I could find for these statistics).

TouchDown said:

If people really wanted to make a difference there should be bigger things to worry about than just lighting.

Click to expand...

Since "just lighting" makes up the second highest energy use in commerical buildings, maybe turning the lights out could make a difference. I think this is exactly the kind of thing they're trying to point out with Earth Hour.

Note that for residential buildings, lighting only makes up about 9% of electricity use (and I'm sure much less as far as total energy use), so turning the lights out at home would not have nearly as much impact.

mudpuppy said:

I noticed today was Earth Hour day because Google has gone black for it.


I think Earth Hour is more about raising awareness than saving a few $. For instance, did you know that 23% of energy used in commerical buildings is for lighting? And it is the second highest commerical energy use after space heating? See the Energy Information Adminstration for these statisics. (It's a kids page, but this was the most succinct page I could find for these statistics).

Since "just lighting" makes up the second highest energy use in commerical buildings, maybe turning the lights out could make a difference. I think this is exactly the kind of thing they're trying to point out with Earth Hour.

Note that for residential buildings, lighting only makes up about 9% of electricity use (and I'm sure much less as far as total energy use), so turning the lights out at home would not have nearly as much impact.

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Yeah, but if you reduced it from 9% to 3 or 4%, that is still significant --> ~$100 per year for the "average american home"