To anyone in the general Boston area: we will be showcasing our kW-Field product this evening at MIT’s Startup Showcase. Come check us out and get a glimpse for how much this can benefit you.

Facilitating building assessments. http://mitvcconference.com/showcase.htm

DESIGN ISSUES: Huge savings over the life of buildings.  Design starts with appropriate subdivision. Very difficult or impossible to correct once bad design is set in concrete.

• Architecture: Building design and orientation, structures, special structures, construction, systems, weather, daylight, mechanical & electrical equipment, people, circulation, relationships and synergy between components and codes.
• Urban Planning: Macro-architecture, may create or assist “heat islands”, micro-climates, wind tunnels, etc.
• Landscape Design: Building landscapes, solar access, shading, wind control, natural cooling etc.
• Interior Design: Interior finishes, surfaces and colors. Significant ramifications in psychology and medical science as well as fire safety.
• Fire Science:  Increasing energy efficiency may drastically decrease fire safety.  Little to do with fire code compliance. Fire engineering focuses on safety in case of a fire. It is better to decrease the likelihood and severity of fire by building design as well as increase escape time for occupants.
• Transportation Systems: Transportation is a significant energy consumer and GHG producer.  Addressing internal as well as external transportation is critical in some cases.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

• Environmental Science: The implication of resource use.  Pollution is the measure of how well resources are utilized.  Pollution prevention is achieved by increasing efficiency, changing operations and finding new ways to utilize resources. Thus increasing efficiency integrates all aspects of a facility’s operations.
• Energy Data Analysis: Many audits fail to make even a rudimentary attempt at analysis.  Many erroneously conclude that there are no significant findings.  It is not uncommon to identify cost reductions in related areas greater than the energy bill.  Any audit that fails to include a full data analysis as a first step has not done a complete job and will miss many potential savings.
• Renewable Energy Technology: Must maximize the use of renewable energy sources.  Begins with good solar design and includes technologies for energy creation that can replace non-renewable sources.
• Greenhouse Emissions: Largely produced by energy consumption (about 70% in 1995).   Any audit must address it in its entirety.
• Greenhouse Emission Trading: World agreements worked out in Buenos Aires in November 1998. May be a significant source of funding for energy management programs.

CONSTRUCTION ISSUES

• Construction Technology: Embodied energy of buildings may be more than the lifetime operational energy.  The materials, systems and construction impact on energy consumption.
• Historic Preservation: Energy performance renovations to historically significant buildings require knowledge and sensitivity to the historic structure.
• Material Science: Material performance and durability affect energy performance.  Forensic architecture studies building failures resulting from poor design, equipment and material decisions.  Thus recommendations for renovations need to be made with a background in that field.

ENGINEERING ISSUES

• Mechanical Engineering: Principles, design and application of mechanical equipment ie, boilers, chillers, ductwork, etc. Grew out of architecture as mechanical equipment replaced natural processes.
• Electrical Engineering: Principles, design and application of electrical equipment ie. Electrical distribution, lighting, motors, etc. Also from architecture.
• Chemical Engineering: Principles and application of chemistry.   Generally applicable to fuels, combustion and some manufacturing processes.

BUSINESS ISSUES

• Leadership/Policy: Vision and commitment can be the greatest preventor of waste. Increasing energy efficiency and reducing wastes and costs must begin with a commitment from management to integrate efficient and effective policy into the corporate vision.
• Management: Employees directly and indirectly affect the consumption of energy.   Thus best practice in energy management requires the proper management of people.  Tom Peters, “ In Search of Excellence” discusses the qualities of excellent management in US companies. A basic tenant is the respect employees are given, and how that affects their morale and involvement in company productivity. “The One Hundred Best Companies to Work for in America” (Robert Levering, Milton Hoskowitz and Michael Katz, Addison -Wesley, 1984), describes companies who provide working environments employees most cherish.  Mostly the same companies Peters notes as examples of excellent management.
• Personnel: The employees, like the customers are volunteers.  With the proper relationship, employees make recommendations for improvements.  In “Lean and Clean Management” (Joseph J. Romm, Kodansha International, 1994) Joe Romm documents many cases where improvements in environmental performance, increased productivity and staff morale were inter-linked. “In 1985 (Canon) employees submitted almost 900,000 improvement suggestions,…. Canon received 78 suggestions per employee.  One employee submitted 2,600.  Canon paid out $2.2 million in prizes, but saved over $200 million as a direct result of the suggestions.”

Don’t be too impressed by Canon- twelve other Japanese companies outperformed it.” (p53)

• Occupational Health & Safety: The health and safety of workers must take priority over energy, but in some cases the more efficient system will be the better on all counts and an integrated approach will be require tofind it.
• Management Systems: Business systems can assist a company to work more efficiently. Appropriate standards and procedures should be created to improve resource efficiency.

SOCIAL ISSUES

• Psychology: We mistake temperatures for comfort.  People can be “comfortable” at widely varying temperatures if other cues are right.
• Education: Probably the most cost effective measure which can be made.   Much misinformation exists and many well educated and well intentioned people are doing the wrong thing while trying to do the right thing.
• Medical Science: Significant relationships between energy consumption and medical and social problems outside of OH & S.  There are opportunities for improving inhabitants well being, while maximizing energy efficiency. There are also dangers of causing problems if one is ignorant of these relationships.
• Economics: Payback is an inappropriate concept.  Twice the “payback” time doubles the original capital.  Capital doubles when interest rate times time in years equals 72; ie 10% for 7.2 years.  Thus a one-year payback equals a two year “doubling time” and is equivalent to a 36% compounded interest rate. See “Doubling Time” (C. Haines, AIE Journal, 5/97)
• Accounting Accounting systems reflect and frequently determine values.  Environmental accounting, such as triple bottom line is critical for companies to recognize the true costs of externalities in their operations

OPERATIONAL ISSUES

• Productivity: Energy use and productivity share common elements.  Issues of morale, attitude, teamwork, etc. are relevant to both efficient energy usage and productivity. Many well documented cases where increased productivity was worth eight to ten times the energy saving.
• Industrial Technology: Every facility has specialized operations with special equipment or specialized uses of equipment. The broad approach maximizes opportunities for cross fertilization between industries thus maximizing creativity and opportunities for improvements.
• Maintenance: Poorly designed but well maintained equipment will generally operate more efficiently than well-designed but poorly maintained equipment. Maintenance here refers to the whole range of operations from files, schedules and purchasing to cleaning and preventative or predictive maintenance programs with actual repairs only needed occasionally.   Building maintenance services have documented energy cost improvements of well over 20% solely from proper maintenance programs.

-Christopher Haines, VP of Engineering – kWhOURS, Inc.

Traditional Energy Audits have had many quantifiable benefits:

1. Reduced Overhead – Energy costs would typically be reduced by 15% to 20%
2. Increased Profits – Cost reductions went directly to profit margins
3. Highest Returns – Energy efficiency would typically outperform other investments
4. Low Financial Risk – In energy, the higher the return, the lower the risk

Unfortunately, they have also had many faults including:

1. Narrow Scope – The identified savings were frequently only a fraction of what was possible
2. Lost Opportunity – The client was unaware of what wasn’t included.  Missed items would rarely be caught later
3. Narrow Support Base – Because the audits were technical, they were of little interest to others outside of the engineering/maintenance departments in the company and thus gained little support from the company as a whole
4. Low Implementation – Many companies failed to implement recommendations, perhaps due to the narrow support base
5. Low Professional Standards – Many companies providing audits had little real knowledge in the energy efficiency field
6. Impractical Recommendations – Recommendations were frequently impractical due in part to the pre-packaged nature of the product
7. Failed Recommendations – Many technical fixes failed in the real world

…What about the REAL ISSUES?

The reason for both the benefits and failings of energy audits is that energy management has been strongly influenced by technical interests.  While technical elements are important, the focus on technology has tended to minimize or ignore the broader context.  The real issues of energy management are the wider context and ramifications of resource use, operations, environmental performance and company management. These include multiple relationships among buildings, environment, energy systems, people, and the organization.

Addressing these issues will not only dramatically increase energy savings but will provide improvements and savings in related areas that may be greater than the energy bill.   This perspective includes knowledge from design, environment, construction, engineering, business, social issues, and operations.

BENEFITS OF THE REAL ISSUES APPROACH:

Widening the search – Start by seeing energy efficiency as a barometer of operations efficiency. While an energy audit may be about saving money and improving energy efficiency, if that is all it is about, an enormous opportunity is being lost

Understanding people’s role in energy usage – While energy is actually consumed by mechanical and electrical equipment, people, directly and indirectly control what the equipment is, and how, where and when that equipment operates

Widening the context – The building form, materials, organization, orientation and the site it occupies all impact on energy consumption

Widening the perspective on technical issues – For example, understanding that fire safety is the flip side of energy efficiency, both concern heat transfer, fosters the realization that each impacts the other

Widening the support base – Most people have very little interest in technical details.  Thus including other concerns widens the base of people that could become involved and assist with the efforts

At kWhOURS, we focus on the real issues.  That is one of the main reasons we make our software flexible enough to incorporate many of the typical and atypical issues that comes up during an energy audit.

Stay tuned for a series of related posts.  Visit us at www.kwhours.com

-Christopher Haines, VP of Engineering @ kWhOURS, Inc.