Manufacturers Best Practice Guide
Planning an Energy Program: Measurement and Verification
A measurement and verification (M&V) plan is a set of agreed-upon metrics for an energy project that are used to establish baseline performance as well as to verify actual energy savings. In other words, the M&V plan defines precisely what "energy savings" means for energy efficiency or energy conservation projects. In contractual performance guarantees, M&V plans are particularly useful because they set clear, well-defined expectations between the building owners and the energy service company (ESCO). M&V plans also help to increase the level of confidence of financiers that an energy project will result in energy cost savings sufficient to fulfill debt obligations, which can make it easier to secure outside financing.
The U.S. Department of Energy, recognizing significant potential for energy efficiency investment, began in 1994 to work with industry to develop a set of best practices for M&V. This work led to the establishment of the International Performance Measurement & Verification Protocol (IPMVP). The latest version of the IPMVP, revised in 2002, includes input from a global network of professionals, including national organizations from 16 countries and hundreds of individual experts from more than 25 nations.
The IPMVP is used throughout the United States and internationally to help standardize concepts and options for M&V of energy and water savings. The State of California has incorporated the IPMVP into state energy performance contracting and energy efficiency programs. The IPMVP is also consistent with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers' (ASHRAE) draft Guideline 14P Measurement of Energy and Demand Savings and the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program. Almost all performance-contracting firms adhere to the IPMVP.
Operations, Management and Diagnostics
Operations and maintenance (O&M) refers to actions and planning related to the upkeep and control of a building and its equipment systems. A recent survey suggests that facility managers spend as much as 28% of their time on O&M issues, making it their number one professional responsibility. All too often, however, the focus of O&M is on the repair or replacement of broken equipment, not on upkeep.
An effective O&M program can reduce annual utility bills by 5% to 20% without any capital investment in equipment upgrades. Energy efficiency and water use efficiency measures undertaken as part of O&M tend to be no-cost or low-cost, and many can be easily implemented by in-house staff. Compared to capital-intensive equipment upgrades, O&M programs offer quick payback on investment and can be adopted with minimal executive oversight.
The benefits of O&M are many. Effective O&M programs tend to catch and fix equipment problems before building occupants notice and complain. This, in turn, reduces time facility staff must spend on callbacks. O&M also prolongs the useful life of equipment and minimizes downtime stemming from repair and replacement. Because building systems are optimized, compliance with environmental, health and safety regulations is easier to attain and the risk and liability associated with problems in indoor air quality are diminished.
The U.S. Department of Energy has developed a useful list of steps for planning and implementing an O&M program:
- Develop a master equipment list identifying all equipment in the facility.
- Prioritize the list based on importance to operations.
- Assign components on the list into logical groupings.
- Determine the type and number of maintenance activities required by periodicity using the manufacturer's technical manuals, machinery history, root cause analysis findings (Why did it fail?), and good engineering judgment.
- Assess the size of maintenance staff.
- Identify tasks that may be performed by operations and maintenance personnel.
- Analyze equipment failure modes and effects.
- Identify effective maintenance tasks or mitigation strategies.
Precise diagnostics to measure the condition of equipment and building systems is essential to effective O&M. Diagnostics can be carried out by qualified in-house staff or by outside contractors. In-house staff should contact their local utility to see what support might be available. The Tool Lending Library at PG&E, for example, offers an inventory of more than 4,000 diagnostic measurement tools free-of-charge to assist with short-term energy efficiency projects.
Tips for Energy-Efficient Operations
- Specify energy goals and objectives in contracts with any energy services company
- Keep building documentation up-to-date, like mechanical and electrical drawings, O&M manuals, sequence of operations and control strategies
- Train facility staff in energy efficiency and provide them with the tools and technologies they need to be effective
- In buildings equipped with enhanced automation, make sure that controls are fully utilized and have correct set points
- Periodically schedule building tune-ups or decommissioning to ensure that systems are properly integrated and functioning as designed
Leading by Example: Jazz Semiconductors
Jazz Semiconductor of Newport Beach, CA, a semiconductor wafer manufacturer serving high-performance applications, has built energy management into the heart of its company's culture and process design. Formed in March 2002, Jazz Semiconductor, is the only pure-play foundry left in the US that produces silicon wafers. The company's globally-competitive but energy-intensive operations run 24/7 in a highly renovated, 45-year-old, 100,000+ sq.-ft. plant. The results speak for themselves: consistent annual reductions in overall energy usage while maintaining strict production specifications, and millions of dollars in aggregate savings and cash rebates from retrofit replacement and new construction projects
An internal cost-reduction team helps Jazz collaborate for successful energy management with partner companies and vendors. Jazz participates in the Standard performance Contracts program from Southern California Edison (SCE) for retrofit and replacement projects, and in SCE's Savings by Design program for new construction projects. In one year. Jazz completed projects that improved the energy efficiency of air, water, and process and production equipment, thereby reducing consumption of water, compressed air, and electricity throughout its plant. These efforts earned Jazz a 4th annual Flex Your Power Award for energy efficiency.