I often hear that "Energy audit costs money, but saves no energy". This is true and not true at the same time. Here is why: Any experienced plant manager knows that their plant wastes utilities. No shame in this. Every plant wastes energy. Few plant managers know where exactly this waste occurs and even [...]
When assessing energy savings, the use of math is not a substitute to engineering common sense. Math is an enhancement tool: if engineer has made in error – math will not correct it; math will make it bigger. Never mind just calculations, statistical analysis or even artificial intelligence, if result does not make engineering [...]
Use of average electricity cost can be misleading when assessing financial impact of energy efficiency measures. What counts is the cost of the last kWh comprised of Global Adjustment (Ontario), demand charges and energy cost. If average cost per kWh is used during project approval, it may become a challenge to show savings to [...]
It occurred to me that meters relate to energy monitoring in the same way as screws relate to birdhouses. How is that? Some manufacturing plants start energy management from installation of meters. Too often the process ends with meters too. However costly, this result is predictable. I will explain why on an example of [...]
Energy audit takes time and costs money, is it worth the effort? How do I know if it will uncover enough saving opportunities? To quickly estimate how much money can be saved on utilities, we have devised an express tool - Energy Management Score assessment™. EMS is based on a premise that the way [...]
What is energy audit? Energy audit is a consulting project that finds out how your plant can maintain stable production and quality, while using less utilities - electricity, natural gas and water. An audit worth its fees relies on extensive direct measurements, detailed interviews with production and maintenance managers and comparison of energy consumption [...]
Various terms are used in relation to collecting and processing of energy consumption data. Some of the more common terms are submetering, energy management information system, monitoring and targeting (M&T), measurement and verification (M&V). Although these terms relate to overlapping activities, they are not equivalent in content, cost and, most importantly, in value for business. [...]
In this post we shall conclude describing how 3M has achieved outstanding energy cost reduction results. These publication has resulted from interview with Andrew Hejnar, Energy Manager of 3M Canada. This post completes the story started in previous publications: Part 1: How does 3M take big energy decisions Part 2: Energy standards increase savings Part [...]
In this post we shall continue describing how 3M has achieved outstanding energy cost reduction results. These publication has resulted from interview with Andrew Hejnar, Energy Manager of 3M Canada. This post follows previous publications: Part 1: How does 3M take big energy decisions Part 2: Energy standards increase savings Part 3: 3 pillars of [...]
In this post we shall continue describing how 3M has achieved outstanding energy cost reduction results. These publication has resulted from interview with Andrew Hejnar, Energy Manager of 3M Canada. This post continues the story started in previous publications: Part 1: How does 3M take big energy decisions Part 2: Energy standards increase savings Part [...]
