A few years ago, my wife and I applied to adopt a child from overseas, and were approved by two national governments—the United States and the Philippines. So when we filled out the paperwork to adopt a kitty from our local animal shelter, we thought we knew all there was to know about adoption. We were wrong.

A few days later we got rejected by the animal shelter. The official ruling? “Unfit to raise a cat.”

Sometimes you think you know all you need to know. But when it comes to utility bills, it doesn’t hurt to review some basics.

Here are six fundamentals of utility bills:

Let’s say you’re the energy manager for a multi-site company.

One of your tasks is to reduce energy use by company employees. But this isn’t easy. The building controls reside with the employees in different states. You can only be in one place at one time. Your job performance is in their hands. To be successful, you have to change their behaviors.

According to Harvard Medical School, change is a process, not an event. Lasting change doesn’t happen quickly or haphazardly. Sure, you can try to change—do something different for a little while—but unless you plan the change process, it will probably fail.

So what can you do? Here are 8 steps to inspiring change in your organization.

It shouldn’t take a superhero to manage energy.

But suppose it did. What would be his superpowers? Meet Energy Captain.

He’s the defender of the energy budget, an enemy of waste, and protector of the bottom line! Energy Captain fights full time to keep energy use in check, and in his tireless pursuit of energy efficiency, he saves his company a financial bundle.

Using super skills and an awesome technological arsenal, Energy Captain is able to turn any crisis into green savings—financial and environmental. He’s ready to spring into action at the first sign of trouble from those evil ewogs (energy-wasting hogs), no matter what form they take.

Here are five of his favorite skills and tools.