Manufacturers Best Practice Guide
Energy Use Basics
The California Energy Commission estimates that California's industrial energy consumption is currently 21% of all energy consumed in California, and will grow by another 12% by 2010. The industrial sector breaks down into a diverse array of sub-sectors, with a wide variety of facility and technology needs to match. Experts are predicting that with new laws in place, California will quickly take the lead in integrating energy efficiency into business development. Though the onus is on big energy users to be particularly proactive, success is measured in the breadth of industries that adopt efficiency measures.
Energy Use by SectorView Details.
California's Focus on Energy
With record energy prices and a host of new state efficiency programs there has never been a better time to invest in projects that improve energy efficiency. Publicly-funded incentive programs enjoy historically high funding levels and offer a broad set of tools: tax credits, purchase rebates, design assistance for new construction, engineering consultations, benchmarking guidelines, equipment testing and energy audits, and tool-lending libraries, to name just a few. These are available at the state and national level. To find rebates, incentives and services for your business, use Flex Your Power's Rebates Locator.
Title 24
Title 24, also known as the California Building Standards Code, was created in 1978 to provide California builders of residential and non-residential properties with coherent, mandatory building standards. Energy efficiency is one of many elements addressed in this code, found in Section 6.
This standards code is updated every three years. The 2005 updates outlined the California Energy Code's increasing standards for energy efficiency, particularly for lighting, building envelopes, HVAC systems and cool roofs in retrofits and new construction for residential and non-residential buildings.
California Green Building Initiative
The California Green Building Initiative, signed into law in December 2004, directed state attention to energy efficiency standards for state-owned and commercial buildings. This initiative charges the California Energy Commission to:
- Develop a simple building efficiency benchmarking system for all commercial buildings in the state;
- Develop commissioning and retro-commissioning guidelines for commercial buildings;
- Further develop and refine (Title 24) building standards applicable to commercial building sector to result in 20% savings by 2015 using standards adopted in 2003 as the baseline.
The voluntary Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings. LEED and California Green Building Action Plan supply benchmarking, building and retrofitting guidelines for state facilities.
California Solar initiative
The $3.2 billion California Solar Initiative is the U.S.' largest solar energy policy, second in the world only to Germany. This initiative commits California to placing 3,000 MW of new solar capacity online by 2017. It also mandates developers to offer solar as a form of home electricity generation in new construction.
California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32)
In September 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32). The law charges the California Air Resources Board with developing mechanisms to reduce GHG levels to 2000 levels by 2010, 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
California's industrial sector accounts for approximately 20% of the state's GHG emissions. When industrial facilities take the steps outlined in this guide to save money and protect the power grid, they will also be cutting their GHG emissions and fighting global warming.
Implementing Efficiency
Many resources exist to assist the industrial and manufacturing sectors with planning and implementing energy efficiency projects. Off-the-shelf, well-tested technologies are widely available to improve the energy performance of almost any equipment or building system. Several associations, organizations and institutions sponsor research and pilot projects that help industry peers innovate new ways to save energy and share best practices. Examples include the partnership between the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the California Energy Commission in industrial benchmarking, and between LBNL and Sun Microsystems, Intel, Cisco and 17 others in data center efficiency. Practical education and training resources abound, with many excellent services provided free-of-charge by local utilities.
Potential for Energy Savings
Many businesses choose to implement no-cost or low-cost measures first, since this gives managers the opportunity to evaluate the benefits of energy management and provides concrete evidence of savings to c-level executives. Costs savings can then finance additional, future measures that may be more capital-intensive. Remember, best practices often do not require equipment replacement or capital expenses for new technologies. Regular equipment maintenance, such as checking and repairing leaks in compressed air systems, yields big savings without necessitating installation of new equipment. Try to plan for continuous facility optimization, and schedule energy projects to work within budgetary and operational limitations.
Cost savings are also possible through rate management. This entails analysis of actual energy use, peak periods and equipment loads compared with different rate schedules offered by local utilities and other energy service providers. Plant operations and schedules are then adjusted to take full advantage of cheaper time-of-use rates through load-shifting or load-shaving strategies.