Electricity Waste Finder

Utility bill comprises of payment for energy (kWh) and for peak demand (kW). The easiest way to trim the bill is to keep off what’s not needed and avoid turning on many machines at once. This is easier said than done, since energy manager can’t afford to watch every machine all the time.

Electricity Waste Finder service is a quick and simple way to find when some of the energy waste may occur and suggest what causes it. This is not a substitution for Energy Audit or Energy Study. EWF will help find only some sources of energy waste.

How do we find waste of energy and money?

Through analysis we compress thousands of lines of consumption data into an easy-to-comprehend graph and table.

Now even a non-engineer will understand these results at a glance; this means CFO will understand it too.

Table and graph for demand profile

Where is waste here?

With this simple tool we can’t say for sure, though two areas are worth further attention.

Bottom 5%: plant almost never consumes less than 25 kW.

This translates into annual consumption between 48 MWh (if this load is ON during weekends and it is not needed) and 220 MWh (if this load is always ON and never needed). Is this load avoidable? If this is a holding freezer – no, if this is an air compressor, then the facility has 25kW worth of air leaks costing about $35,000 per year at Ontario rates.

Top 5%: Throughout the year demand spikes 11 times from a regular level of 446kW to 470-496kW.

These peaks occur too rarely for a regular production process and increase that month’s bill by by $250-500. Analysis can pinpoint the exact time when spikes occur, so maintenance manager and production manager can decide if the cost is justified by production necessity.

How can Electricity Waste Finder analysis be performed?

Electricity Waste Finder analysis is based on your interval electricity consumption data and it requires no hardware or software installation. It does not interfere with production process in any way. In case you company does not have smart meter installed for the whole facility, in Ontario utility companies are legally obligated to supply interval data on a request. Check the exact conditions with your utility company.

Client obtains the interval consumption data. We do the rest.