Management and methods...

The utility management process
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Attitude surveys
Employee attitude surveys are an essential first step towards engaging people in low-cost and no-cost energy-saving measures. The diagram on the right, taken from a recent project, shows that staff at the factory in question were overwhelmingly concerned with health and safety while energy enjoyed a very low priority. The case history explains how this diagram suggested ways of raising its profile.
It also illustrates how a survey can provide surprising insights, in this case not just into what would motivate people, but also what would have been a waste of money.
21 Apr 2006

Energy targeting for humidity-control systems
: if you manage energy consumption in a building with full air conditioning, you might need to take ambient humidity into account when monitoring for excess electricity consumption. This article describes a novel targeting method that has been successfully applied in two large sites of this kind. V.V. 10/11/05

Energy targeting tricks for industrial processes:
this article describes four scenarios in which it was not possible to use the simple straight-line activity-based targeting methods that would be used in some industries like papermaking and bread-baking. V.V. 31 Oct 05

Estimated bills:
Ideally, energy managers should not rely on energy and water bills as a source of consumption data: they should read their own meters. But bill data may be the only practical source for a large multi-site organisation, and according to Paul Martin of TEAM Energy, time spent chasing suppliers over estimated incorrect and missing bills is a major distraction (for users of all types and sizes) from the task of saving energy. View his article from this month's Energy in Buildings and Industry. (22/9/05).

Confusing terminology
Some terms like "target", "benchmark", and "energy audit" either have two legitimate meanings, or are widely misused read more. (V.V., 18/9/05)

"Cutting greenhouse gas emissions – a pragmatic view"
This article by Alastair Fells, Ian Fells and John Horlock cuts through the spin and lays bare what cuts are realistically feasible. From tce, July 2005. Reproduced by kind permission of Prof. Ian Fells (11 July 2005)

Accounting for the weather
Energy management leaflet 7 (PDF format) for readers who would like basic information about degree-day data to print out and file for reference. V.V., 3rd July 2005

It's not just the money
Saving energy can obviate capital expenditure, extend service life of equipment, and improve service quality (more...). 27 May 05

Energy monitoring & targeting software:
V.V. 10 May 2005. Not all M&T software is equally well-suited to the task of actively saving energy etc.. Click here to find out which are most compliant with good practice on waste avoidance

Justifying cost of additional meters
(V.V., 6 May 2005). If meters are not being fitted as a matter of policy, but as discretionary investment to improve a monitoring and targeting scheme, how do you decide where it's worth fitting them? Click here for an article describing my "Risk of Undetected Loss" method.

Free energy market intelligence reports
(V.V., 5 May 2005) - I just came across these reports from Optima Energy Management which will interest anyone who wants data on UK energy price trends. By the way I have also added them to my contacts page, which shows other organisations with something useful to offer online.

Automatic monitoring and targeting
If properly implemented, aM&T should be a lot more than just an automatic meter reading system feeding some pretty charts. Actual consumption needs to be assessed against predicted. Click here to see main article by Vilnis Vesma.

Meter-operation costs
From Kevin Cardall, 27th April 2005 (relevant to electricity customers in England and Wales - Ed.) Changing between meter operators can offer a financial saving for half-hourly supplies. Can be about Ł50 -Ł75 per year and offer an improvement in service, for instance provision of half-hourly data. When I was at Derbyshire County Council we even made a saving by staying with the same operator (Siemens) but bringing all the individual contracts into one contract. Typical contract seems to be over 5 years over which time they write off the costs of the new meter, thus if you stay with the same meter operator for more than 5 years you should receive a discount

Climate Change Agreements
Companies with CCAs have reporting requirements that are at odds with the requirement for effective energy management. Click here to see main article (V.V. 24 Apr 05)