The rising costs of energy and equipment operation, as well as EU and national legislation, are pushing organisations towards energy-saving measures, thereby reducing the environmental impact of their businesses. It is worth knowing what opportunities are available to businesses in this area in order to be well prepared for the coming energy transition. Climate change is accelerating this transition and brings with it inevitable changes in energy production and consumption patterns.
Energy management is one of the most important issues emerging in the context of the new energy use paradigm. This is a general introduction to a series of articles on energy management. In future articles, I will expand on the themes introduced today.
Energy management, or rather energy consumption, is defined in various ways.
Some examples are:
Regardless of the definition adopted, it can be assumed that the main reasons for undertaking energy and energy resource consumption management activities are:
Reducing energy consumption is one of the few 'reductions' that does not have any negative effects on stakeholders - neither the business owner, the employees, the environment. The direct and indirect benefits of effective energy management in a company are shown in the table below:
|
DIRECT BENEFITS INDIRECT BENEFITS |
|
reduced cost of energy consumption improved control of the company's main processes leading to increased efficiency and greater reliability of these processes |
| reduced environmental impact due to energy consumption and reduced CO2 emissions in many cases noise reduction |
|
reduced negative effects of rising energy prices improved comfort levels in buildings, including temperature, ventilation, light levels, etc. |
|
increased efficiency of certain processes in the company (example: reduction of compressed air consumption in one process, allows its surplus to be used elsewhere) reduced maintenance costs of equipment/machinery resulting from their better functioning, |
|
increased production/service productivity reduced downtime, |
|
improved productivity of equipment/machinery in the company |
Indirect benefits may vary slightly depending on the company's industry, but there is almost always a non-financial value derived from energy savings, often exceeding the financial value of the energy saved.
In order to bring about the expected benefits, an organisation’s energy management strategy should be implemented in five sequential stages.
ENERGY POLICY - is set by senior management, and defines the general direction of action to improve energy efficiency and other energy policy objectives.
PLANNING - identifying the main sources of energy consumption and potential energy saving opportunities. Prioritise energy saving measures, identify targets and develop action plans in line with the energy policy.
IMPLEMENTATION AND MAINTENANCE - involving staff in implementing individual targets and ensuring better energy use becomes part of daily routine in processes such as purchasing, repair and maintenance, designing energy-efficient procedures, etc.
CONTROL AND CORRECTIVE ACTION - monitoring all relevant processes and activities that cause energy consumption. Taking preventive and corrective action.
CONTROL BY MANAGEMENT - management periodically checks the status of the implementation of the plan and individual targets and the results of the performance audit to ensure that the process remains constant as part of the overall commitment to progressive improvement in energy management.
"The majority of companies with modern energy management have reduced their energy bills and, as a result of this management, have reduced water consumption and improved waste management. They have improved the overall efficiency of their facilities and increased their competitiveness. In addition, they have gained easier access to external financing through increased investor confidence. In the long term, energy management standards guarantee the sustainability of the improvements made and ensure continuous improvement in energy management resulting in annual cost reductions through optimised energy consumption.*"
The implementation of energy management is done through specific techniques and tools.
The key techniques are:
· energy audits
· monitoring
· benchmarking
The key tools are energy management systems and related standards.
Now let’s look at the main standards defined by the ISO 500001 standard, the benefits of audits and the use of an energy management system.
Energy management in a company cannot be treated as a one-off project. If a company really wants to improve its energy efficiency, it needs to continuously monitor its operations in order to identify opportunities for ongoing improvement. One way to do this is with energy management systems.
An energy management system is a technology that is rapidly gaining popularity around the world. The activities behind it are getting better and better, and solar energy and small-scale batteries are becoming more cost-effective.
There are many products of this kind on the market and their implementation will vary depending on the company and its needs. At present, it seems most beneficial to choose an intelligent system that offers real-time monitoring of utility consumption, allows the generation of reports and historical summaries, and offers the possibility of automatically controlling repetitive processes to relieve the burden of these activities on employees.
An example of such an intelligent energy management system is Lerta Energy Intelligence which enables a company to:
· measure exactly how it uses energy
· where energy is ‘escaping’
· identify areas for improvement
· determine what needs to be done to increase energy efficiency
· automate some of the processes associated with, for example, controlling heating or cooling
An additional advantage to Lerta Energy Intelliegence is its integration with Lerta's Virtual Power Plant. A virtual power plant allows an organisation to benefit from the possibility of additional profit through participation in energy manangemnt programmes such as the power market or the the DSR programme. This can result in the gain of up to several hundred thousand <insert currency> by simply being willing to reduce energy consumption in the event of a call for energy reduction. If there is no call, the money is paid out anyway.
You can read about the benefits of monitoring energy consumption in the text: Smart metering. Smart metering - the future of industry
When planning the implementation of energy management, it is worth considering making the system compliant with the ISO 50001 standard. For some companies, especially those that consume large amounts of energy, such certification will be beneficial. In other cases, the declarative compliance of the system with the standard may suffice. However, this does not provide any formal confirmation of this by an independent certification body.
As with other management systems, certification of an energy management system is voluntary and can be done at any time after the introduction of planned energy management.
Any introduction of a system (certified or not) has specific benefits. The knowledge gained will contribute to improving the efficiency and competitiveness of a company's output. This will result in a reduction in environmental impact, e.g. through reduced emissions.
Regular audits and reviews also help detect failures and anomalies in equipment operation faster Better organised measurement can also help assess their costs.
*Based on a study by Decarb Europ, chapter Energy Management. by Dr. Bernard Gindroz, Chairman of CEN/CENELEC Sector Forum on Energy Management.
