“How do we know how much we have improved?”
Ankur Thareja, CMVP, CEA, IGBC-AP
Email: ankurthareja@gmail.com
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May 2015 |
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| Energy Benchmarking: A Review “How do we know how much we have improved?” |
Email: ankurthareja@gmail.com
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A beginner in any
industry can easily be perplexed by the variety of technical jargons
being used. The energy efficiency industry is no exception. Moreover,
the scope of these terminologies have undergone years of evolution to
arrive at the current definitions. Through this article, I would like
to share some insights on “Energy
Benchmarking”. These views are based on study materials, which I
often refer to, available on the internet.
With rising concerns of energy usage across all sectors, there is a
manifold increase in the number of industries that are looking at
implementing measures to reduce the energy consumption in their
facilities. In their efforts to establish an efficient energy
performance plan, the energy managers often have to encounter questions
like “How are we doing currently?”
and after the implementation of energy reduction measures “How do we know how much we have improved?”
Methods and Standards such as ISO 14001, Energy Monitoring and Targeting, ISO 50001
are all aimed to improve energy management by setting targets. Energy Performance Tracking also known
as Energy Benchmarking is often the first step towards
achieving long term energy efficiency goals as it defines the
building’s energy saving potential. Simply put, a benchmarking is an ongoing
energy performance review to determine if a building is getting better
or worse in comparison to itself, other buildings in the portfolio,
and/or peers.
Monitoring, which is the regular collection of
information on energy use, is a key component of
energy benchmarking. Its purpose is to establish a basis of management
control, to determine when and why energy consumption is deviating from
an established pattern, and as a basis for taking management action
where necessary. Monitoring is essentially aimed at preserving an
established pattern.
Energy benchmarking is a powerful tool to identify strong opportunities
for reduced consumption and defining energy performance targets and
alongside monitoring improvements in energy efficiency.
Types
of Benchmarking
As per ECO-III(pdf) project there are two
types of benchmarks for Whole Building:
Internal
Benchmarking: Well documented historical data helps to
bring out energy consumption and cost trends months-wise/ day-wise.
Trends can be identified by examining energy consumption, cost,
relevant production features, specific energy consumption, etc. over
time, and can help identify the effects of capacity utilization on
energy use efficiency and costs on a broader scale. Internal
Benchmarking is mostly dependent on variable parameters and need to be
normalized for right analysis. Variable parameters are dependent of
type of facility e.g. for industrial it could be per production unit,
for hotels it could be weather and booked room nights, for offices it
is usually only weather, and for variable shift offices it could be
weather and operating hours, etc.
External benchmarking: Relates
to inter-unit comparison across a group of similar units. However, it
would be important to ascertain similarities, as otherwise findings can
be grossly misleading. Few comparative factors, which need to be looked
into while benchmarking externally are:
Current researchers and scholars further
divide benchmarking (Whole Building) based on level
of performance (Sometimes called ‘Action Oriented Benchmarking’(pdf))
into:
Portfolio or Whole Building level
benchmarks are normally sub-categorized into internal and
external benchmarks. These Whole Building benchmarks are sometimes used
by Federal Systems for assessing the compliance as part of their rating
system. Both Energy
Star and ECO-III
use this methodology. These are normally operational benchmarks without
emphasizing/normalizing on asset type.
Asset/System level benchmarking:
Includes more intricate details that help to benchmark at system level.
One example of a tool is EnergyIQ. EnergyIQ provides ways to quickly develop
standardized graphs to compare whole-building-level and system-level
energy performance.
Equipment/component level
benchmarking: Mostly use data from manufacturers or simulation
for cases based on DOE2
simulation engine. This level of benchmarking is currently not very
functional and requires more sophisticated data and methods.
As per CBERD report(pdf) on Benchmarking in
India accuracy and granularity has following relation,
which determines use of benchmarking in Energy Management.
Benefits of benchmarking:
Benchmarking buildings enable building managers to:
Challenges:
Typical challenges faced by energy managers while benchmarking are:
Conclusion:
Plenty of information related to this topic is available on public
forums. The intent of this post was to expose young budding engineers to terms and basics
of Energy Benchmarking. Some more study references are mentioned below:
About the Author:
Ankur Thareja is a Senior Consultant – Energy Solutions at Wipro Eco
Energy with a career span of almost 13 years focusing on delivering solutions for energy and
controls. His areas of expertise include Integrated Building Management Systems, Energy
Management Solutions, Remote Monitoring, Performance Contracting, and Intelligent/Smart
Buildings.
He is Certified Energy Auditor (CEA) from Bureau of Energy Efficiency
(BEE), Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP) by Efficiency
Valuation Organization (EVO) and an Accredited Professional from Indian Green Building Congress
(IGBC).
https://in.linkedin.com/in/ankurthareja
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