Energy management is a vital skill for any organization that wants to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and achieve sustainability goals. But how can you lead your team to optimize energy use and performance across your operations? Here are some tips to help you stay ahead of the curve in energy management.
The first step in energy management is to understand your current energy consumption and demand patterns. You can use tools such as energy audits, metering, benchmarking, and data analysis to measure and monitor your energy use and identify areas of improvement. By establishing a clear energy baseline, you can set realistic and measurable targets, prioritize actions, and track your progress.
There are some new implementations we can work on as Energy Managers for our organization when it comes to evaluating the Energy Baseline. 1. Upgrading the manual meters to intelligent data collection in real-time, all included: electricity, natural gas, and any other source. 2. Verify compliance with local or country-level energy management regulations and update measurement, audits, calculations, and action plan standards when necessary. 3. Implement tools such as automatic dashboards in Power BI or other visualizer for tracking, decision making, and specific review of events and consumption by energy end-use equipment. 4. Keep your eyes on the market for new tendencies, services providers, technologies and techniques implemented.
First Step of Energy management is monitoring the Energy consumption pattern of an organisation. Monitoring Energy Consumption by physical data collection or by Energy Management System This Energy measurement should be done by the production line / unit / shop to convert it into Specific Power consumption. It should include both Electrucal as well as thermal power consumption.
Consider taking advantage of Energy Management Information System (EMIS) solutions in the market. The evolving EMIS technology landscape offers a lot of opportunities to implement new technologies in buildings - this could range from Energy Information Systems (EIS) to advanced Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) solutions. Also to consider would be Automated System Optimization which is the ability to write back to a building's control system and optimize the performance through the use of a supervisory layer (FDD/EIS) that sits on top of the BAS.
Once you have your energy baseline, you can start implementing energy-saving measures that suit your organization's needs and goals. These can range from simple behavioral changes, such as switching off lights and appliances when not in use, to more complex technical upgrades, such as installing energy-efficient equipment, lighting, and HVAC systems. You can also explore renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, or biomass, to reduce your dependence on fossil fuels and lower your carbon footprint.
After the First step of assessing the Energy consumption pattern of your organisation & SPC (both Electrical & thermal ), you need to identify the opportunity available for the reduction in Specific Power consumption. Various Energy saving opportunities include - Improvement in Plant efficiency - Reduction in Electrical loads ie blowers, pumps, hearts, plant lighting, AC motors - Utility Equipment like Air compressors, HVAC System, Cooling Towers - Thermal Energy like a Boiler, Thermic fluid heaters, Insulation for Hot & Cold pipelines -Waste Heat recovery Opportunity - Renewable Energy After identification of all Opportunity & Saving potential, Target can be set
The scope, impact, and complexity of Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) to be implemented in your organization will vary depending on the type of industry. However, some projects have similar management and good understanding by the people at the company. A few examples are: - Use of Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) or speed controls in motors for compressors, pumps, blowers, HVAC systems, and material processing machines. - Upgrade to LED lighting fixtures and use of occupancy sensors for no common areas. - Install or maintain insulation for any utility equipment/piping surface with a difference of 20-25 °F/°C compared to room temperature. Keeping your eyes on new technologies for easy-done and fast-gain measures is always key.
Energy management is not a one-person job. You need to engage your team and stakeholders, such as employees, customers, suppliers, and investors, to create a culture of energy efficiency and sustainability. You can do this by providing training, awareness, and incentives for energy-saving behaviors, communicating your energy goals and achievements, and soliciting feedback and suggestions. By involving your team and stakeholders, you can foster a sense of ownership and responsibility for energy management and increase your chances of success.
To engage the team in different energy saving potential, awareness, daily monitoring, focus on deviation across the organisation is required. Impact of energy bills in the product cost, fosters team mebers to take the sense of responsibility & accountability. New developement in energy saving, different training program, involvement of CFT, apprication, enhances success in this journey. Power saving is the need of hour to remain un competitive market.
As it works for any successful project, teamwork and involving all stakeholders are crucial for keeping the Energy Management Strategy relevant in the organization. Benchmarking, different backgrounds, and multi-disciplinary teams will lead to being up-to-date with new implementations and have some boost of creativity and faster achievement of goals. Incentivizing education and the use of new tools in your energy management team will also guarantee to be at the forefront or one step ahead of new developments. Soon, every organization will need to have full-time dedicated Energy Managers to cost-effectively and efficiently achieve their goals in decarbonization and energy consumption reduction.
Energy management is an ongoing process that requires regular evaluation and improvement. You should review your energy data and performance indicators, such as energy intensity, cost savings, and emissions reduction, to assess your progress and identify gaps and opportunities. You should also compare your performance with industry standards and best practices, and learn from your peers and competitors. By evaluating and improving your performance, you can ensure your organization stays on track and adapts to changing energy needs and challenges.
To develop enough maturity in this phase of evaluation and energy performance improvement, is vital to follow the quality cycle, PDCA, for your EMS (Energy Management System). To keep updated your EMS is through ISO 50001 and other complementary standards such as ISO 50002, for energy assessments, ISO 50006, for energy baselines and energy KPIs, and I would add ISO 50008, for energy data management for buildings. Organizations can aim for more ambitious utility reduction goals depending on local laws, or by considering IEA's projections. However, the biggest gains are not in reaching the limit of baseline energy savings potential, but in setting up a culture of sustainability and energy intelligence that assures constant improvement.
Energy management is also a dynamic field that offers many opportunities for innovation and exploration. You should keep up with the latest trends and technologies in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and experiment with new solutions that can enhance your energy performance and competitiveness. You should also seek collaboration and partnerships with other organizations, experts, and stakeholders, to exchange ideas and experiences, and leverage synergies and resources. By innovating and exploring new solutions, you can ensure your organization stays ahead of the curve and leads the way in energy management.
After covering the basic measures and focusing on your primary uses of energy, a step forward as energy managers will be considering upgrades of your systems/equipments, implementation of smart technologies, and/or on-site generation with renewables. Cutting-edge energy management will consider some of these listed measures: - Centralized heat pump system for covering heating/cooling of your organization facilities. Singled AC or Heating units are lagging. - Smart Energy Control Systems for an entire facility are leading to higher utility reductions based on faster and data-driven decision-making. - Energy recovery never gets old. Reduce heat losses, and make energy integrations. - Select and build a customized renewable plant on-site.
Energy saving Potential needs to be explored with various angles like - Upgradation of machine to improve on SPC - Implementation of Industry 4.0 - Opprtunity to utilise process heat ie. Heat recovery Unit. - Renewable Engery Sources - Implementation Energy Management System