Goals help provide our everyday lives with structure, and operate similarly at the institutional level, offering organizations a low cost method of encouraging motivation, communication and accountability. In short, goals help organizations to achieve a variety of ends—including the reduction of energy waste.
Energy efficiency improvement goals, also known as energy efficiency targets, are intended reductions in energy over a specified time frame that have been defined in a SMART manner. Targets are useful because they can encourage decision makers to improve the use of energy in their communities and operations. Moreover, energy efficiency targets can have short or long term timeframes and can be implemented on various scales, ranging from the national level down to individual buildings. Cities should explore both mandatory public sector targets and voluntary private sector targets to forge energy-efficient communities.
