Legrand North America has kicked off Energy Marathon 2.0, a company-wide, energy reduction competition designed to save as much energy as possible through ready-to-implement technology and process changes, and to reshape energy usage behaviors. Based on the first Energy Marathon held in 2014, this year’s marathon will have more locations participating and increased employee participation and innovation.
As a manufacturer, Legrand is aware that energy efficiency is crucial to maintaining economic competitiveness and to reducing carbon emissions. Based on the idea that a marathon is 26.2 miles, the Energy Marathon brings energy efficiency to the forefront for a focused, 26.2-day period.
“The concept of the Energy Marathon grew from an event in 2012, when Legrand asked more than 2,500 employees to ‘Power Down’ for a single, 24-hour period,” says Susan Rochford, VP, energy efficiency, sustainability and public policy, Legrand North America. “Our employees met that challenge and achieved a nearly 25 percent reduction in energy intensity across the company. But as the saying goes, it takes 21 days to create a habit, so we decided to take our one-day event and evolve it into a marathon.”
Through friendly competition, facility managers and employees are motivated to find innovative ways to save energy. The goal of this nearly month long energy reduction competition is to establish and sustain energy behavior changes, develop energy savings best practices that can be adopted for long-term conservation practices.
“The success of the initial Energy Marathon in 2014 encouraged us to continue this tradition in the hope of saving more energy, further reducing our environmental footprint, and creating lasting behaviors for our employees in the office and at home,” states Jim Young, Legrand North America’s corporate energy manager.
Energy Marathon 2014, with 18 participating corporate sites, had a total savings of 588,540 kWh and $46,732.00 on their electric bills. This year, with 22 participating locations across North America, the company expects to see some record-breaking numbers in energy savings.
New for 2016 are three winner categories for Best Performance within Manufacturing, Distribution, and Office spaces. All three categories will compete to be the winner of their business class by reducing their electricity use against a September 2016 baseline. Energy Marathon 2.0 winners will be announced in November 2016.
To foster energy reduction habits beyond the initial 26.2-day event, Legrand will continue to monitor the three building class winners as they compete for the top title of Energy Marathon 2.0 Champion. The winner among the three will be the site that sustains its energy savings performance over the following several months. The Energy Marathon 2.0 Champion will be announced on Earth Day 2017.