Energy Effectiveness
…
Getting Beyond Energy Efficiency
E
nergy
efficiency has been a hallmark of energy policy in the US
and around
the world for decades.The desire to
motivate improvements in energy efficiency has spawned whole industries aimed
at measuring and rating the energy efficiency of buildings and the equipment
that goes in them.The focus on energy
efficiency has yielded substantial improvements in building design, materials
and equipment.To complement these
gains, great strides have been made in operational energy efficiency through
the integration of building controls with enterprise information systems.Without question, the focus on energy
efficiency has driven these gains but it has also limited the discussion of
energy utilization in buildings to the cost side of the profitability equation.Dramatic advances in controls technology,
coupled with far more dynamic lighting technologies are going to motivate
people to employ a more comprehensive measure of energy utilization that takes
into account the impact of energy use on occupant environment.That new measure, Energy Effectiveness,
incorporates traditional energy efficiency but also captures the impact of
energy utilization choices on the value generated by occupants of a building.Over the next ten years, Energy Effectiveness
will drive dramatic progress in building controls and equipment in much the
same way that energy efficiency has in the past.
Energy
Efficiency Is Only Part of the Story
It
is a self-evident truth in quality management circles that you get what you
measure.In an energy management
context, that suggests that it is worth looking at how we measure
efficiency.To date, most measures of
efficiency are related to energy intensity, or the energy used per square foot
of useable space.This leads to a focus
on building envelope design, maintenance of optimum temperature setpoints, flexible
occupancy schedules and making use of natural resources (e.g. daylight
harvesting, building orientation, etc).At some point, though, trade-offs have to be made between the amount of
energy used and the amount of value generated by the building’s occupants.After all, it is easy to save energy in
buildings … just lower the space temperature in the winter, increase the space
temperature in the summer and reduce the amount of artificial lighting all the
time.It is simple in principle but the
reality is complicated by the inconvenient fact that saving energy is not the
only objective, or even the primary objective of facilities management.The primary objective is providing an
environment conducive to facilitating the activities housed in the building.Balancing these objectives requires some
measure of how well the building facilitates the activity it is designed to
house.
The
balance between minimizing energy use and providing a positive occupant experience
is frequently an informal compromise managed around anecdotal data.Building operators often evolve to “standard”
settings for temperature, lighting levels and humidity through industry norms, occupant
complaints, ASHRAE guidelines and management’s prior experience.A focus on energy efficiency brings into
question the specific settings used by a building manager while at the same
time drives for consistency in the use of those settings.The development of information-rich energy
management systems enables cost-effective analysis of energy efficiency and
enables enforcement of whatever standards evolve in an organization.Fortunately, these systems can also provide a
platform for exploring and managing Energy Effectiveness.
Energy
Effectiveness Brings New Answers, and Even More Questions
Many
of the questions regarding energy effectiveness are hard to answer because
there has been little focus on them.The
drive for energy efficiency has occupied our attention and even where some
thought was given to energy effectiveness the technology for addressing it has
not been cost-effective.But, that is
changing.Equipment that goes into buildings
is rapidly becoming more intelligent and connected.Whether you look at HVAC, lighting or
refrigeration you find that standard network interfaces (e.g. BACnet) provide
far greater levels of dynamic control at little or no extra cost.The emergence of solid state lighting with
its wide range of options for dynamic intensity and color will provide another
rationale for exploring these questions.Finally, the explosion of personal interface devices (Smart Phones,
iPad, etc) radically broadens the opportunity for gaining occupant productivity
feedback.
Another
obstacle to answering (or even asking) these questions has been the limited
availability of information links between energy management systems and systems
that can model or estimate the value created in a building.To automatically measure and report on energy
effectiveness these systems have to exchange information.Historically that would have required custom
application software development.Fortunately, the rapidly growing sophistication of enterprise energy
information and control systems is simplifying that interface with an open
systems approach and is lowering the overall cost of implementing meaningful
energy effectiveness measures.
Summary
For
the most part, building owner/operators have made impressive gains in energy
efficiency over the last ten years.The
leaders, though, are beginning to recognize that energy efficiency is not
enough.They are starting to look at
energy use more critically and asking themselves, “What comes next?”Knowing they have achieved a high level of
energy efficiency they are now starting to consider how to further optimize
their energy utilization.As they
explore that question they are likely to find themselves looking at ways to
measure and manage Energy Effectiveness.
As always, the views
expressed in this column are mine and do not necessarily reflect the position
of BACnet International, Teletrol Systems, Philips, ASHRAE, or any other
organization.If you want to send
comments to me directly, feel free to email me at
andysview@arborcoast.com
.
footer
[Home Page]
[The
Automator]
[About]
[
Subscribe
]
[Contact
Us]