Energy Audits
An old saying in the energy industry is “If you can’t measure it, you can’t save it”. Like many old sayings, it contains some truth but not necessarily the whole truth.
Analyzing existing energy usage is a key element in any Energy Efficiency Plan. A great deal of information is available from the ‘interval’ data that utilities use to generate power bills, which is YOUR data and must be made available to you (sometimes for a small fee). Applied Energy can analyze your historical usage and extract a considerable amount of useful information from it.
For energy audits, more detailed information may need to be gathered on-site by direct measurement. Historically, the cost of measurement has been substantial and couldn’t always be justified. With modern metering devices, however, it’s much easier to capture operational data inexpensively today using small digital logging devices about the size of a pack of cigarettes, which can measure power consumption (volts, amps and kilowatts), temperature, pressure, flow rates, humidity, vibration, hours of operation etc.
Tier 1 is a high level (“10,000ft”) audit and results in a short report highlighting the major energy-consuming systems in your facility and identifying areas where energy is being wasted and significant potential for savings exists. At this level, no detailed engineering calculations are made to accurately quantify the savings or the cost of implementing fixes.
Tier 2 is a more extensive audit of 1 or more energy-consuming systems that have been identified as having significant savings potential. This level of audit requires measurement of energy consumption by each system, engineering calculations of wasted energy, research into likely costs for fixing the problem(s), and broad payback estimates under different scenarios.
Tier 3 is an “investment quality” audit reserved for major projects where a substantial investment in refurbishing or replacing equipment is required, and an RFP is needed to obtain several quotes. This level of audit requires onsite logging of energy data, production data, and possibly temperature/pressure/flow data, sometimes over a long period. A Tier 3 audit would also be necessary for most investments in alternative fuels or renewable energy projects.