# Presentation: 528100

## Assessing Plant Performance for Energy Savings

- Elizabeth Dutrow
- ENERGY STAR
- dutrow.elizabeth@epa.gov

## Today’s discussion

- Critical foundation for plant assessments
-  a strategic energy management program
- Background on assessments
- Resources for assessments

##  Energy management

- Can be:
- Informal
- Decentralized, not centrally coordinated or managed
- Project-oriented, not program-oriented
- Cyclical (i.e. in the support a company gives)
- Thus, many companies:
- Miss important savings opportunities because they lack a means for addressing energy use across the corporation

## Effective energy management

- Organizations achieving the greatest results have:
- A top-down commitment to energy management
- A commitment to continuous improvement
- Embraced an approach that integrates energy management across all aspects of the business
- Management systems in place
- A system to _**regularly assess**_ and track energy performance
- Set measurable performance goals
- An effective reward system for energy performance
- An empowered energy staff

## Guidelines For Energy Management

- Practical approach based on the success of major U.S. corporations
- www.energystar.gov

## Guidelines For Energy Management

**Guidelines For Energy Management**

## Plant assessment

- An evaluation of the actual performance of a plant’s systems and equipment against the designed performance level or best available technology/practice. The difference is the potential for energy savings.
- A critical part of an energy management program
- Looks for opportunities to improve the bottom line of a company
- Without assessments, an energy management program would have difficulty identifying energy savings and would fail to show improvement.

## Examples of assessments

- 1.  Low-hanging fruit walkthrough
- Limited in duration, cost to company, & focus
- Often a corporate team
- Can be done anytime
- Findings
- basic (eg. idle equipment)
- impact may be immediate since often adjustments can be made on-site
- May be limited by expertise of team
- Toyota’s treasure hunts

## Examples of assessments

- 2. Support system review
- Systems that support process are evaluated
- eg. compressed air, motors, steam, etc.
- May be a corporate team supplemented by expertise for major support systems
- Slightly higher cost for expertise
- Limited time, although longer duration than a walkthrough
- Good specific findings for utility systems
- Good design to extend to multiple plants in a company
- lessons learned & best practices shared
- Value of potential savings greater than a walkthrough, no capital required at times for certain findings
- May be limited by those systems not covered
- California Portland’s compressed air study

## Examples of assessments

- 3. Process/yield studies
- Detailed, full site review often precipitated by company desire to increase plant yield
- energy a part of the review
- modeling critical to study
- often a rare chance to impact energy in this way
- Can extend to months in duration
- Usually external expertise on team
- More costly but likely greater savings potential here
- Can address all major and supporting systems and touch on process
- ExxonMobil

## Observations of outcomes

- Each approach can identify energy savings.
- Nature of the outcome will differ depending upon:
- time invested
- expertise of team
- extent of areas examined
- resources available to conduct the assessment and to make changes

## Challenge:  implementing the findings of an assessment

- For assessment results that require investment in capital
- secure support from senior management
- incorporate within the business plan or as part of the operating budget
- For low cost/no capital-required projects:
- ensure steps identified in assessment are incorporated into the energy management action plan (with goals, timeline, and accountabilities)
- For projects that require labor to manage the improvement project:
- short-term contractor, ESCO
- students

## Your internal resources

- Internal
- employees
- in-house expertise with process and plant operation
- presents buy-in opportunity for plant engineers and plant managers

## External supports

- Private consultants
- Utilities
- Department of Energy
- Best Practices resources
- ENERGY STAR
- Focuses for select industrial sectors

## ENERGY STAR Focuses

- By specific industrial sector
-  auto assembly, cement, corn refining, brewing, pharmaceuticals
- Focuses produce:
- Energy performance indicators (EPIs) for plants in the sector; EPIs help a company identify plants that need work
- Energy guides - report opportunities for improving energy efficiency in the industry’s plants now - good for use in assessments
- For more information on an ENERGY STAR Focus: _[www.energystar.gov](http://www.energystar.gov/industry)__[/industry](http://www.energystar.gov/industry)_

## Current Energy Guides

- Motor Vehicle Assembly

- Corn Wet Milling

- Breweries

## ENERGY STAR emphasizes the development of strong energy management programs supported by plant assessments.  

*www.energystar.gov *