“Energy efficient light bulbs? Water usage improvements? Yeah, we did all that last year,” the
maintenance manager said. It’s good to
know that we’re ahead of the game, but—yikes—I’d really like to be able to make
a difference. I’m lucky enough to work
for a company that does care about the environment, but how am I going to get
my class project done?
“What you could help me with though,”
he added with a bit of optimism, “is the energy management system.” My eyes lit up—I didn’t even think about this
possibility. “We’ll have to put a
business case together to find out how long the payback is, but we definitely
want to move in that direction.” I was
worried about having a work-related project that was too easy, but lucky me,
this will be fun!
My background is engineering and I
always attack problems from a “will the solution actually work?” perspective. One of the most overlooked aspects of dealing
with the future resource crunches is improving efficiency. If you’re using fewer resources, then you
simply don’t need to produce as much. Even a 1% increase in efficiency for many
industries is a massive boon.
I gave a call to a local engineering
firm and scheduled a meeting for the upcoming Tuesday. We’ll do a facility walkthrough and talk
about what changes we can add to improve the plant efficiency. This is neat stuff—cutting edge technology to
produce real world benefits.
Afterwards, we’ll start developing our
internal business case. For typical
projects, we’re looking on a return in investment within a few years. For these types of green projects, however,
the company is more lenient and the return on investment time is usually
doubled. The environmental benefits combined
with green branding for the company make up for a slower return.
I also had the opportunity to
discuss other energy efficiency measurements with the maintenance manager and
received some excellent real world insight.
Rooftop Solar panels were rejected early. The existing roof structure could only
support a limited amount of weight, and solar roof panels would require a
costly and time-consuming roof remodeling project before we could even sniff the
solar panels. Our land is also very
limited, which makes it very difficult or even impossible to install wind
turbines or solar panels around the building.
On Tuesday, I’m sure I’ll hear more
great insight and some ideas for solutions. Looking forward to it! I’ll add more info after we go further down
the rabbit hole.
Victor Wei
Be Better
Hi Victor,
ReplyDeleteI work for the Association of Energy Engineers, and tons of our members work with energy management plans, so I'm familiar with the kind of project you are talking about undertaking. I commend you on taking on such a big project! I am curious who all you have incorporated into your project so far. You have spoken with the people you will be consulting with, but I was wondering if you have had a chance to speak with upper management and get a general idea of their level of support for future endeavors. For a project with such a large scrope, you might want to consider assembling a "green team" consisting of all those who will be involved (something similar to the first of the student presentations we saw as a substitute for the second lecture day of our class) that can meet frequently and consult on the many energy efficiency measures you will likely want to implement.
Good luck; I'm looking forward to hearing more!
Megan
Hi Victor,
ReplyDeleteEnergy Efficiency and Management is a thoughtful change idea that can have a great impact on your company’s financials while achieving environmental sustainability.
While most agree that conserving energy is good for all, retrofitting a building for energy efficiency purposes will not be an easy task for you. I think having your manager on same page with you is great. I believe that when facilitating change you do need alliances to navigate through corporate jungle. I think your timing is perfect for your change project to become a reality for budgeting purposes since most companies are about to start their 2014 annual budget negotiations.
I assume that your building is not LEED certified based on your comments. A quick strategy would be to introduce the idea of applying for a LEED certification. Since LEED certification requires buildings to be energy efficient, you can reach your change goal by getting the building certified.
Did you consider installing green roofs instead of solar panels? Average green roof reduces the energy consumption by average 10% by absorbing the direct sunlight that building receives.
Another energy conservation solution would be to use an energy cogeneration technology such as natural gas to generate electricity, i.e. microturbines. Natural gas is less expensive than coal generated electricity, and is also GHG emissions are significantly lower.
You can look at Energy Star, U.S. Department of Energy and LEED websites to gather information about energy efficiency calculations, case studies to present your business case to the management.
Best
Firat