Patent ID: 8510122
Filing Date: 2013-08-13
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for reducing energy costs in an industrially operated facility having a core process specific to a sector of industry, a secondary process supporting the core process that provides energy to the core process, a purchasing unit for purchasing energy, and a discharge unit for discharge of energy, the method comprising: accessing on an interconnected computer network a predefined two-part standardized procedure for reducing energy costs comprising a first standardized diagnostic method that analyses energy-relevant operational processes using diagnostics that are independent of the sector industry allowing benchmarking based on a large number of companies across a plurality of industry sectors and a second standardized analysis method selected from a plurality of standardized analysis packages each specific to particular sector of industry, said first standardized diagnostic method and said second standardized analysis method implemented by: (a) analyzing and benchmarking a plurality of energy-relevant operational process sequences of the facility using the first standardized diagnostic method by analyzing answers to predefined energy-relevant questions which are independent of the sector of industry, performed within the facility by the first standardized diagnostic method implementable on the interconnected computer network having access to a stored knowledgebase, wherein the first standardized diagnostic method analyzes answers to the predefined energy-relevant questions from the knowledgebase to identify and generate a report indicating areas where improvement to the sequences can be attained and benchmarking the facility as compared to other facilities, the sequence analysis including consideration of: energy flows of the core process, secondary process, purchasing unit, and discharge unit of the facility, the energy flow path including: (b) analyzing the facility using a the second standardized analysis method implementable on the interconnected computer network having access to the stored knowledgebase wherein the second standardized analysis method comprises standardized analysis packages individually selectable by the facility from a plurality of standardized analysis packages for the particular sector of industry of the facility for analyzing the core process, the secondary process, the purchasing unit, and the discharge unit, wherein the second standardized analysis method provides recommendations for reducing energy costs by: (c) planning energy cost reduction measures based on some or all of the recommendations for reducing energy costs provided by the second standardized analysis method; (d) implementing the energy cost reduction measures for the core and secondary processes; and (e) repeating step (a) of analyzing and benchmarking the plurality of energy-relevant operational process sequences of the facility, using the first standardized diagnostic method after a predetermined time interval to carry out another benchmark with other facilities to check an effectiveness of the energy cost reduction measures and continuing with process steps (b)-(e) based on the benchmarking.