Most energy savings activities are undertaken without any prior planning or focus. This results in the “Optimum” savings not being achieved. Any energy savings activity should be focused on all possible activities and not only confined to investment on so called “high tech” solutions.
In most cases, installations only consider energy savings measures that cost them money and these are supposedly justified by ROI calculations. They fail to understand that “Optimum” energy savings cannot be attained by spending money alone.
Any energy savings activity can be classified into one of four simple groups. “Optimum” savings can be achieved if all four components are covered in any energy savings program.
1.Energy Culture- installations must plan and implement a comprehensive program to instil energy culture within their organization. All levels of personnel should be educated on the “Energy Policy” and “Energy Objective” of the installation. Additionally, knowledge on efficient energy utilization should be disseminated to all levels of staff at the installation.
2.Maintenance - the biggest contributor to any energy savings activity but taken for granted and not exploited in most cases. Equipment that are properly maintained run efficiently, thus consume the least possible energy. Maintenance activities are carried out in all installations but this can easily be extended to determine and implement a maintenance regime that results in achieving the optimum performance in terms of energy efficiency.
3.Technological Innovation- in their rush to get some energy savings, some installation only consider the implementation of technological innovation for attaining energy savings. While there are valid energy efficient and savings solutions like LED lighting and VSD, some installations get convinced into installing so called black boxes that are supposed to magically deliver energy savings.
4.Energy Management System - perhaps the glue that holds together any energy savings activity but most commonly overlooked. Energy Management Systems determine if all the other components of an energy savings activity is properly functioning.
With an Energy Management System in place, we can ensure compliance thru real-time monitoring, reporting and corrective action. Additional potential savings and problems can also be identified.
Only thorough consideration and implementation of energy savings activities that encompass all four groups, can the installation achieve “Optimum” energy savings.
Energy Management System is the main activity that ensures the successful implementation of the energy savings activity.
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