Energy Management and Auditing to Boost Profits

by Marco Pulega

Energy Management and Auditing to Boost Profits Nowadays, energy efficiency is a widely used term. In a technical context, “to make efficient” means “to make more efficient” or “to increase the performance” of something. It can apply to human resources, a technological plant or a transportation system. In recent years, due to the ever-increasing use and cost of energy, energy efficiency has been increasingly associated to the energy sector, thus taking on a broader significance and including a great number of concepts. When the term is used for manufacturing companies, it certainly means “to reduce costs to parity with production”. Such reduction can be achieved by working on a number of factors.

CPL Concordia has been active in the energy sector for 50 years and has always paid attention to the correct use of the “energy” resource by implementing management and remote reading systems first of all in their offices and plants.

The Italian legislation, by means of Legislative Decree 102/2014, has required all energy-consuming companies or “large companies” to carry out periodical audits in order to show that the company itself monitors the energy-consuming aspect and implements energy policies to ensure the reduction of energy consumption by a minimum percentage every year. This has allowed CPL to export its technology and expertise to external companies, supporting them in the difficult startup phase of the energy efficiency process.

What are, in reality, the main techniques and procedures to be followed if energy efficiency is the goal to be achieved?

Let’s analyze them briefly. The following phases can be identified: 1. Gathering of information 2. Measurement and remote reading 3. Identification of waste 4. Realization of the requalification project 5. Implementation and check of changes made 6. Realization and implementation of the energy policy 7. Management of the energy system GATHERING OF INFORMATION Common sense and experience suggest that, before making any consideration or change, it is necessary to have a knowledge of the current situation. In absence of such knowledge, we could end up changing things that actually work well while leaving out critical issues.

In the quest for energy efficiency this is essential. In fact, more often than not, we may not be aware in advance of where to intervene and to which degree.

The first action to take is therefore to gather all information regarding the company’s energy process both with regard to recent times and to previous years. The latter will help to get to know the energy evolution of the company and at the same time provide additional information on the current and future conditions (at least in the short term).

Such data will not only include consumption-related information, but will necessarily feature production, environmental and technical data. It is clear that a higher or lower power consumption can be related to a larger or smaller

electricity-powered equipment – while a different gas consumption for heating purposes is influenced by external temperature and by the temperature kept in the technical rooms. In the same way, all consumption data are proportional, at least partially, to the number of employees.

This means that it is never possible to use consumption data “as they are” when we approach the energy efficiency process. It is necessary to “normalize” them and make them absolute, by creating performance indicators” that can be benchmarked with other realities.

By benchmarking with indicators taken from similar companies, it is possible to get information on one’s own state of energy efficiency.

Other fundamental data include information on technological plants (like heating plant, cooling plant, lighting, generators): the efficiency degree of the plant is crucial as it strongly impacts energy waste.

Often it is not easy to obtain the necessary data as specific skills are needed to analyze layouts or to “read” equipment’s manufacturing data. An energy operator like CPL can make the difference. Its experience is a real plus when it comes to gathering and classifying data. When all information is available, it is possible to build a “theoretical energy map” of the company and have a clearer picture of the situation.

MEASUREMENT AND REMOTE READING After having completed the measurement phase, the energy vectors in use have become known, as well as the most energyconsuming activities.

This allows to provide the first indications as to where to intervene to reduce energy waste. However, before we start to operate, it is recommendable to further process data through measurement. Real conditions such as consumption, environmental data, etc., often do not match the values obtained from data gathering. This may be due to a number of factors: electrical plants could have been modified in the past and the relative changes might not have been recorded in electric layouts; equipment could have lost its efficiency because of time or wear-and-tear or the building occupants do not comply with appropriate usage.

In order to achieve the certainty of the data acquired, it is necessary to carry out measurements by means of suitable instruments – meters or environmental sensors – that must be positioned in critical points within plants or buildings. CPL Concordia has internally built some new types of meters considered strategic for tackling the market, ensuring low purchase prices and high performance, besides having selected and tested the best billing devices currently available.

But what are the main elements that require measuring? Amongst these there will undoubtedly be the energy collection administrative points and

the electric power /gas/water general counters, considering that they result into money that has to be paid. Other important points are the plant branches (in order to get to know “where the energy goes”). It is good practice to position divisional meters at each line junction, in some cases even before every single machine, if considered to be highly energy-consuming. The experience of an energy operator can help to choose the critical points so as to reduce installation costs without risking to lose important data. Other data that must necessarily be measured includes environmental data: temperatures (indoors and outdoors), brightness and state of occupation of the rooms. This information will actually allow to understand the habits of the building users in terms of energy policy and to assess suitability. As many values require measuring, it is not conceivable that one single person (for instance, the Energy Manager) may manually manage them by personally going every day to record values from every single sensor or meter.

What is key at this stage is remote reading , an electronic system for the automatic reading of data coming from counters and sensors, with relative storage in a database.

Fig. 1 Telecontrol system, typical structure

Automatic reading allows to receive data at a high frequency (every hour, every minute, every second) without any effort and to store it in a digital container, the database, that will make it possible to analyze them at a later stage. This system is essential if we are to correctly study the energy process as it allows to analyze, for each piece of information, the trend in time by comparing it with other relevant data. A good example is represented by the trend of gas consumed by the boiler with reference to day degrees, i.e., the difference between the internal temperature and the external temperature, or the relation between the state of occupation of rooms and the brightness or the power consumption of lighting. The number of meters and sensors to be installed is quite high. For this reason, CPL has developed its own “supervision system”, which allows to monitor any quantity and to interact with counters and sensors of different brands. in this way, we are able to re-use as much as possible what is already present inhouse and to install the most suitable sensors when needed, selecting on a case-by-case basis the data transmission technology offering the best price/performance ratio.

SPOTTING ENERGY WASTE By resorting to the database created by the remote reading system, it is possible to begin a phase of analysis and to start identifying possible energy waste points. The reduction of such waste is the first step towards energy efficiency. Energy waste can be of several types, even unimaginable when there was no good remote reading system available. Some real cases include, by way of example:

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Room temperature left at 21-22°C even during the night; Lights left on during lunch break or, even worse, during the night; Common areas always lit, even if often unoccupied:

Internal lights on, even in presence of a strong natural light; - Very high room temperature, up to 2526°C. We could make many more examples, but the goal is to

Fig. 2 Monthly power consumption

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understand that drafting a list of possible points of waste can be very demanding. To reduce the cost and the time used for this operation, a dedicated software was developed that aggregates data and automatically identifies the major energy waste points.

There are also other types of energy waste that are harder to detect, such as hidden loads, i.e. unknown energy users - (we are thinking about loads connected with the electrical plant in special situations, such as an abnormal winter, then gone “forgotten”) – or equipment that is no longer efficient due to mechanical wear-and-tear. These, too, can be detected by the dedicated software developed by CPL. In any case, it is wise to accurately list all types of waste identified in order to have a functional picture of the situation.

REALIZATION OF THE PROJECT OF REQUALIFICATION

Fig. 3 Details of the project requalified

Knowing the data of the plant, the theoretical consumption, the real measured consumption and having a clear situation of the existing waste, it is possible to realize a real “requalification”. This project allows to quantify, as precisely as possible, the necessary investments to improve the efficiency, and to monetize the identified waste, so as to realize a plan of return of the investments and identify a breakeven point, point from which you will begin to benefit in terms of economical profit thanks to the efficiency process. A good project is often divided in different levels of action, from the cheapest to the more expensive, so as to evaluate what to implement in chronological order in relation to the economic return estimated. A first level could be a simple replacement of old lamps with new ones at higher performance, or a sensitization

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campaign aimed at employees on how to properly set up the temperature and turn off the lights when exiting the offices.

A next level might be the installation of small local automatisms to automatically adjust the systems: for example light and presence sensors, to activate the lighting only in presence of personnel, or thermostats that can turn off the heating/cooling system when set temperature is reached, reducing it automatically at night at a lower value. An even more evolved level could contemplate the installation of remotely controlled automatisms and a supervision software system able to control in real time environmental data and adjust power of the systems accordingly, eliminating the human error and ensuring a state of maximum efficiency. These systems are also accessible remotely and allow to the single Energy Manager to manage remotely multiple buildings, providing tools and reporting to make comparisons or deeper analysis. In the realization of the project it is of vital importance the experience of those who realize it: it is useless, in fact, to replace a system with an innovative one if

you are not able to evaluate the differences at a technical level. This is where an energy manager as CPL can use its own knowledge in the energy, technology and plant fields for the realization of a complete and detailed project, and above all effective.

IMPLEMENTATION AND VERIFICATION OF THE AMENDMENTS After choosing the level of desired efficiency, it is possible to proceed implementing all the needed amendments and verifying their functioning. Instrumental verification is the univocally way to verify the effectiveness of the actions that have been carried out, and the same remote control already used for the measurement comes in our help.

After the activation of the new plants, it is advisable to wait for a significant period before evaluating the results: in the first month of using you should already observe savings in economic terms, but it is only after 12 months that we can draw the first conclusions. After this period you can, in fact, achieve an annual analysis, normalize the data according to the methodologies described in the previous paragraphs and compare them with those of the year previous

Fig. 3 Internal temperature compared between two offices

to the efficiency improvement.

The experience of CPL has shown that the results, unless particularly unforeseen events, are always positive if not excellent, confirming without doubt the usefulness of the efficiency process. It often happens that the entrepreneur, even in companies with good margins, consider this process as an useless investment without evaluating its return. In almost all cases, especially in companies with obsolete buildings, it is always possible to save energy and the modest initial investment is paid back within 2 or 3 years, transforming the economic savings into profits for the following years. Whereas general trend of the energy costs is of growth, increasing savings may be assumed.

REALIZATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ENERGY POLICY After the construction it is recommended to maintain this efficiency during the time and stimulate new opportunities to improve efficiency in other areas or in future areas of interest. Here are the reasons why achieving its own energy policy, apply it and verify its observation. An energy policy is indeed a procedure that takes into consideration the particularities of the company at a constructive, productive and geographical level, and that dictates the minimal rules to follow to reduce waste and consequently increase the efficiency in production. The realization of this policy may not be trivial and must take into account many factors related to each others; for this reason it should be implemented in collaboration between the company itself and an external consultant with experience in processes, in plants and in maintenance service. During 2014 the same CPL Concordia realized its own energy policy and obtained the ISO 50001 certification,

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so as to evaluate “on its own skin” the energy efficiency process, and achieve the necessary expertise to propose itself to its customers by providing a positive result. It is important to emphasize that a good setting for this policy will bring, in the following years, to obtain better results with gradually lower investments.

MAINTENANCE OF THE ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Last, but not less important, are the checking and the maintenance of the realized system. This last step, if well set up, is very easy to manage and is based, largely, on the remote control and remote reading system. Thanks to this, in fact, it is possible to constantly monitor the evolution of consumption in relation to production, environmental end

employment factors, signaling in real time (through extemporaneous “alert” and dedicated reports) anomalies on consumptions or on plants, enabling timely intervention to stem the anomaly in due time and eliminate the likely waste. These tests also give a not quantifiable added value, for example the possibility of preventing some anomalies and to even act in advance, or to verify the level of the efficiency of the machinery with respect to the declared data factory, or more. To meet the demands and needs of its clients, in 2014 CPL realized a Control Room operative 24/24h able to give continuous assistance with specialized services, so as to relieve the Companies from this challenging analysis phase. In conclusion, it is clear that an energy management system should be mandatory for every company,

to increase the marginality within a few years without having to revolutionize its structure. The described process has been successfully applied in the headquarters of CPL Concordia: the insertion of automatic remote reading and regulation systems, together with the placement of environmental sensors and automations, has allowed to obtain an environmental comfort for the workers, reducing consumptions and controlling them. The initial investment has been paid back in a few years of operation, so as to convince the management to realize all the new building with the same criteria. To control their own energy consumption is one of the best strategies that a company can apply for the simple reason that it is economically profitable and it allows.

Marco Pulega is responsible for the Service of “Electronic Equipment” of CPL Concordia

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