Cost Effective Ways to become Energy Efficient
Cost Effective Ways to become Energy Efficient
AE Smith’s seven step Environmental Sustainability Program |
| 16 Feb 2010 |
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| While many building owners and asset managers are looking to achieve their NABERS rating or to increase energy efficiencies to prepare for Mandatory Disclosure legislation, concern has been voiced around the cost of making such changes. “We’re hearing from buildings owners concerns over the cost of becoming more energy efficient, but there are simple and cost effective steps that can be put into place to improve a NABERS Energy rating or increase the efficiency of energy use,” says Doug Binns, General Manager of AE Smith Emerald Sustainable Performance. A seven step program designed by AE Smith’s Emerald Sustainable Performance team of energy and environmental management specialists work with customers to help reduce energy consumption without the need for significant and costly upgrades to plant and equipment. Emerald's seven step "Environmental Sustainability Program" (Emerald ESP) identifies good housekeeping practices that have already delivered energy savings of up to 25% for some buildings. “The effective implementation of our seven step program doesn’t focus on large capital expenditures to reduce energy consumption, rather finetuning existing plant and equipment so it works more effectively,” adds Binns, who along with the AE Smith's Emerald team is helping customers around the country meet their NABERS Energy star rating and legislative obligations by implementing the program. “In these tough economic times when capital and operating funds are tightly controlled, we’re keen to help manage and improve a building’s environmental and energy performance with simple and cost effective measures,” adds Binns. The seven Emerald ESP steps include: |
| 1. Energy Profile – where an audit of the building is conducted to help inform an effective energy management strategy. It also provides benchmarks to measure future improvements, highlights consumption anomalies and is an important part of creating a NABERS Energy rating. |
| 2. Energy Opportunity Review – identifying where energy efficiencies could be implemented to reduce costs as well as greenhouse gas emissions – a significant step to improving a NABERS rating. |
| 3. NABERS Assessment – with AE Smith’s stable of qualified in-house NABERS Accredited Assessors, the program can also conduct a NABERS assessment of buildings and work on issuing energy efficiency certificates to help comply with upcoming Mandatory Disclosure of Commercial Office Building Energy Efficiency legislation. |
| 4. Fine Tuning & Commissioning – “It never ceases to amaze us how many commercial buildings have not had their HVAC equipment commissioned properly,” says Binns. “Either original commissioning no longer meets the needs of the building or as tenants move in and out different refits occur, affecting equipment and creating a lot of wasted energy.” This step recommends annual re-commissioning to fine tune a building’s systems, helping improve efficiency by maximising current plant and equipment. |
| 5. Building Management System (BMS) Controls Audit – by reviewing control strategies for all components, plant and equipment can be better aligned to the operational needs of the building. This step has recently seen an AE Smith customer - managers of a large Perth shopping complex - reduce energy consumption by 15% after detecting control system errors. |
| 6. Chiller Monitoring – With chillers sometimes accounting for up to 35% of electrical power use in a building this step looks at how new chiller monitoring technology could be deployed to improve chiller performance to cool the facility with minimum running hours. |
| 7. Energy Monitoring & Reporting – “Reducing energy consumption is a lot like losing weight and keeping that weight off!” comments Binns, who likens lifestyle changes to achieve long term weight loss to ongoing energy efficiency. Part of the Emerald Environmental Sustainability Program is to ensure ongoing monitoring and measurement – comparing and projecting energy use with current results so areas of concern can be fixed before target energy consumption is at risk. “If it’s not measured it’s not achieved,” adds Binns, who notes that the monitoring and reporting step is vital to achieving NABERS Energy star ratings. |
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