How to save energy and money

Guide Book 1
THE 3E STRATEGY

STRATEGY

ENERGY
EFFICIENCY
EARNINGS

STRATEGY

RG

MI
E

RA

3E

Netherlands Ministery of Economic Affairs

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

LS

AND

EN

TSI

Technical Services International

HOW TO SAVE
ENERGY AND MONEY:
THE 3E STRATEGY
This booklet is part of the 3E strategy series. It provides advice on practical
ways of how to save energy and money in companies and the ways of
going about it.
Prepared for the European Commission DG TREN by:
The Energy Research Institute
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch 7701
Cape Town
South Africa
www.eri.uct.ac.za
This project is funded by the European Commission and co-funded by the
Dutch Ministry of Economics, the South African Department of Minerals
and Energy and Technical Services International, with the Chief contractor
being ETSU.
Neither the European Commission, nor any person acting on behalf of
the commission, nor NOVEM, ETSU, ERI, nor any of the information
sources is responsible for the use of the information contained in this
publication
The views and judgements given in this publication do not necessarily
represent the views of the European Commission

HOW TO SAVE
ENERGY AND MONEY:
THE 3E STRATEGY

HOW TO SAVE
ENERGY AND MONEY:
THE 3E STRATEGY
Other titles in the 3E strategy series:
HOW
HOW
HOW
HOW
HOW
HOW

TO
TO
TO
TO
TO
TO

SAVE
SAVE
SAVE
SAVE
SAVE
SAVE

ENERGY
ENERGY
ENERGY
ENERGY
ENERGY
ENERGY

AND
AND
AND
AND
AND
AND

MONEY
MONEY
MONEY
MONEY
MONEY
MONEY

IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN

STEAM SYSTEMS
ELECTRICITY USE
BOILERS AND FURNACES
COMPRESSED AIR SYSTEMS
REFRIGERATION
INSULATION SYSTEMS

Copies of these guides may be obtained from:

The Energy Research Institute
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch 7701
Cape Town
South Africa
Tel No: 27 (0)21 650 3892
Fax No: 27 (0)21 686 4838
Email: 3E@eng.uct.ac.za
Website: http://www.3e.uct.ac.za

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Energy Research Institute would like to acknowledge the following for their
contribution in the production of this series of guides:
.
Energy Technology Support Unit (ETSU), UK, for permission to use information
from the Energy Efficiency Best Practice series of handbooks.
.
Energy Conservation Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Canada.
.
The IEA CADDET Energy Efficiency Energy Management in Industry booklet is a
major source for this guide.
.
Wilma Walden for graphic design work (Walden@grm.co.za).

Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
2. A COMPANY 3E STRATEGY .........................................................................................................................................................
2.1 Commitment and Organisation ................................................................................................................................................
2.2 Common problems associated with Energy Cost Reduction Programmes ......................................................
2.2.1 Uneven Distribution of Knowledge ............................................................................................................................
2.2.2 Lack of Accountability ........................................................................................................................................................
2.3 Cost Reduction Programme .......................................................................................................................................................
2.4 Achieving the Savings: In-house Expertise and Consultants .......................................................................................
2.4.1 Fee Based Consultants .......................................................................................................................................................
2.4.2 Performance Based Consultants ...................................................................................................................................
2.5 Energy Audits ......................................................................................................................................................................................
2.5.1 Walk Through Audit ...........................................................................................................................................................
2.5.2 Diagnostic Audit ....................................................................................................................................................................

6
6
6
6
6
7
9
9
9
9
9
10

3. ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND COSTS ..............................................................................................................................

3.1 Consumption and Costs ...............................................................................................................................................................
3.1.1 Invoice Data .............................................................................................................................................................................
3.1.2 Annual Energy Input and Site Performance Indicators .....................................................................................
3.1.3 Instrumentation and Closer Investigation .................................................................................................................
3.2 Fuel Purchase and Tariffs ..............................................................................................................................................................
3.2.1 Pipe Line Gas ..........................................................................................................................................................................
3.2.2 Electricity ...................................................................................................................................................................................
3.2.3 Liquid Oil Products ..............................................................................................................................................................
3.2.4 Coal ..............................................................................................................................................................................................
3.2.5 Liquefied Petroleum Gases ..............................................................................................................................................

11
11
11
12
13
13
13
13
14
14
14

4. MONITORING AND TARGETING (M & T) .......................................................................................................................

4.1 Characteristics of Processes Determined from M&T Data ........................................................................................
4.2 Process Energy Linked to Production ....................................................................................................................................
4.3 Approximating Multivariable Situations .................................................................................................................................

15
16
17
24

4.4 Building Heating linked to Degree Days ............................................................................................................................... 25

4.4.1 Degree Days ............................................................................................................................................................................ 25
4.4.2 Building Cooling linked to Degree Days .................................................................................................................. 28
4.5 Processes linked to Time Through Activities ..................................................................................................................... 28
4.6 Processes with No Relation to Other Variables or Time ........................................................................................... 30
4.7 Monitoring Data as an Indicator of Efficiency .................................................................................................................... 30
4.7.1
Non-productive and Activity-unrelated Energy Consumption ..................................................................... 31
4.7.2
Production-related Efficiency ........................................................................................................................................... 32
4.7.3
Building Heating Efficiency ................................................................................................................................................ 33
5. USING INFORMATION ON ENERGY USE FOR MANAGEMENT CONTROL .......................................... 36
5.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 36
5.1.1 Non-productive Consumption ....................................................................................................................................... 36
5.1.2 Production-related Efficiency ........................................................................................................................................... 36
5.2 CUSUM Technique .......................................................................................................................................................................... 37
5.2.1 The Control Chart ............................................................................................................................................................... 39
5.2.2 Non-parametric Forms of CUSUM and Control Chart .................................................................................. 41
5.2.3 Application of CUSUM ...................................................................................................................................................... 41
6. FACTORY SERVICES ............................................................................................................................................................................. 43
6.1 Motors and Drives ............................................................................................................................................................................ 43
6.1.1 Check List .................................................................................................................................................................................. 43
6.2 Compressed air .................................................................................................................................................................................. 44
6.2.1 Check List .................................................................................................................................................................................. 44
6.3 Refrigeration ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 44
6.3.1 Check Lists ................................................................................................................................................................................ 45
6.3.2 Refrigeration Cold Stores ................................................................................................................................................. 45
6.4 Chilled and Cooling Water .......................................................................................................................................................... 45
6.4.1 Check Lists ................................................................................................................................................................................ 46

7. INDUSTRIAL HEATING PROCESS ..............................................................................................................................................

7.1 Boilers and Boilerhouse Management ....................................................................................................................................
7.1.1 Check List .................................................................................................................................................................................
7.2 High Temperature Processes .....................................................................................................................................................
7.2.1 Check List .................................................................................................................................................................................
7.3 Low Temperature Processes ......................................................................................................................................................
7.3.1 Check List .................................................................................................................................................................................
8. BUILDING SERVICES ............................................................................................................................................................................
8.1 Space Heating .....................................................................................................................................................................................
8.1.1 Check List .................................................................................................................................................................................
8.2 Air Conditioning and Ventilation ..............................................................................................................................................
8.2.1 Check List .................................................................................................................................................................................
8.3 Hot Water and Water Supply ..................................................................................................................................................
8.3.1 Check List .................................................................................................................................................................................
8.4 Lighting ....................................................................................................................................................................................................
8.4.1 Check List .................................................................................................................................................................................

47
47
48
48
49
49
49
50
50
50
51
51
51
51
51
52

9. CAPITAL EXPENDITURE .................................................................................................................................................................. 53

9.1 Financial Criteria ................................................................................................................................................................................ 53
9.2 Raising Capital ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 53

1. INTRODUCTION

The 3E's are 'Energy Efficiency Earnings' and this

booklet lays out the how to of implementing the
strategy in companies. Energy is one of the largest
controllable costs in most organizations and there
is considerable scope for reducing energy consumption and hence cost. The benefits are
reflected directly in an organization's profitability
but they also contribute to improving the global
environment. The essentials of implementing the
3E strategy are detailed in what follows.

This booklet is intended to act as a practical manual

to enable Works Engineers, Energy, and Engineering Managers to make savings in site energy costs.
Accordingly the major sections are sub-divided into
the smaller sub-sections:

An energy audit is an essential activity for any

organisation wishing to control energy and utility
costs. This booklet describes the five fundamental
aspects of an energy management strategy:

.
.

Sections 6, 7 and 8 covers savings in energy

usage through positive practical methods
for improving the efficiency of plant and
industrial processes and
Section 9 is concerned with the financial
appraisal of energy efficiency.

Section 2 details the need for a Company

3E Strategy or energy plan and outlines the
basis for a cost reduction program;
Section 3 relates to purchase and cost
control as well as a consumption audit of
primary energy usage;
Section 4 gives the framework and methodology for monitoring and targeting
energy savings;

the audit and use of energy for typical

industrial plant and processes:
a checklist of potential methods for
reducing costs.

In this way, depending on individual experience and

site requirements, only the relevant parts need to
be read in detail.

2. A COMPANY 3E STRATEGY

A Company's 3E strategy or energy plan forms the

basis for minimizing purchase costs and use of
energy and related utilities such as water, telecommunications and transport. The main organizational aspects are outlined below while the
technical and practical aspects are detailed in the
remainder of the booklet.

2.1

COMMITMENT AND
ORGANISATION

2.2

COMMON PROBLEMS
ASSOCIATED WITH
ENERGY COST
REDUCTION
PROGRAMMES

2.2.1

UNEVEN DISTRIBUTION OF
KNOWLEDGE

Figure 1 overleaf represents a typical situation.

Technical and engineering staff are often aware of
effective energy and cost saving measures. This
knowledge, often does not get implemented by
operational staff, as middle and top management
are not aware of the potential energy and cost
savings.

Effective energy management requires the commitment of senior management. This provides the
authority to take action, to utilise people skills, to
provide finance, other resources and, most important, motivation.
The organisation of an energy management plan
can then be determined. This can vary from a
committee or working party approach to the
assignment of additional responsibilities to specific
staff. The energy programme will depend on a
number of factors, including: company size; relative
importance on energy costs; technical expertise;
and management style. The important aspect is that
energy is integrated as a management function and
is managed in the same way as any other resource
in the company.

2.2.2

LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY

It is often the case that strategies to save energy are

not considered by all the sections of a factory. A
utilities section is responsible for supplying various
forms of energy elsewhere on a plant for
production.
By simple changes in production or maintenance,
large savings can very often be made. These savings
may not interfere with the process or outputs.
They are in many cases not considered because
there is an absence of an energy and cost reduction
programme that involves various levels of management and plant sections involved.

Figure 1: Effective use of information. (source: CADDET)

The basis for reducing site energy costs is shown in

flow chart form in Figure 1, together with a
reference to the relevant part of this booklet for
each stage.

2.3 COST REDUCTION

PROGRAMME
Energy saving projects may be divided into four
categories:

(i) Housekeeping. Simply improved housekeeping,

making sure that equipment operates properly,
cleaning fouled surfaces and pipes and having
regular maintenance can save much energy and
money.

Auditing and monitoring are linked as components

of an overall strategy for effective energy management and these are discussed in Sections 3, 4 and
5. In effect this preliminary audit is to identify the
main areas of expenditure and to minimize utility
purchase costs.

(ii) Low Cost. Many energy improvements may be

made with low cost modifications and improvements.

Monitoring provides management control of utility

costs in the same way as control of labour or raw
material costs.

(iii) Retrofits. Retrofitting existing systems with

new parts and equipment can bring great benefits
in energy efficiency.
(iv) Major Capital expenditure. This is the most
costly option and should only be considered last.
Often the money saved through options (i) to (iii)
can finance (iv).

Energy consumption and costs

Factory services and industrial processes

The understanding of energy use in industrial

processes can be assisted by preparing an energy
flow diagram as part of an audit based on
examining current practices and patterns of use.

In this way improvement in operation and the

potential for energy saving projects can be
identified.

Opportunities for cost savings with the main

industrial processes and factory services are
presented in checklists in Sections 6, 7 and 8.

Figure 2: Flow chart for energy audits. (source: ETSU)

Capital investment and project implementation

staff will undertake work in far less time than

inexperienced staff, however well qualified,
although the daily rates may be double.

Proposals for high levels of capital expenditure

should conform to the Company's accepted
methods of financial appraisal. An overview of
cost/benefit analysis is given in Section 9 together
with alternative means of financing projects such as
leasing and Contract Energy Management.

2.4.2

Some consultants now work on a performance

basis, with all fees coming from savings achieved.
The fees are usually based on a percentage of
savings for an agreed period of time, typically 50%
for periods ranging from one year to five years.
Performance Contracts need to be checked in the
same way as those for fee based work.

2.4 ACHIEVING THE

SAVINGS: IN-HOUSE
EXPERTISE AND
CONSULTANTS

Contract Energy Management (CEM) companies

generally provide finance for capital intensive work
as well as management of site utility services.
Contracts are usually fairly long term, typically from
five to ten years.

With the relevant staff, time and expertise, most

savings can be achieved in-house. If in-house
manpower is not available consultants can be
employed. In the area of cost reduction paying for
consultants generally falls into two categories:
.
fee based
.
performance based on savings achieved

2.5

Whichever option is chosen it is worth carrying out

simple checks to ensure value for money. This
should include:
.
asking for and taking up references;
.
meeting the engineers or at least obtaining
CVs;
.
obtaining more than one quotation;
.
using a member of a recognized body.

2.4.1

PERFORMANCE BASED
CONSULTANTS

ENERGY AUDITS

An energy audit involves the identification of areas

throughout a facility where energy may be wasted
because of nonexistent, or inadequate insulation.
The audit may be applied to the facility as a whole,
or may be concentrated on specific pieces of
process equipment or piping systems.

2.5.1

FEE BASED CONSULTANTS

This has been the traditional way of employing

energy consultants, usually on a fixed fee basis but
sometimes on a day rate. The main consideration is
to ensure clear terms of reference. In addition to
day rates, time and work delivered need to be
carefully controlled. Experienced and competent

WALK THROUGH AUDIT

The initial action is a Walk Through Audit, which is

a tour through the facility looking for obvious signs
of energy waste. The walk through audit is generally
more meaningful if an individual who, though not
associated with the facility operation, and who is
familiar with both the subject of process insulation

and the concept of energy management conducts

it.

determine the existing energy loss, the reduction in

energy loss which would result if new or additional
insulation or covering were installed and the
installed cost of the added material. The reduction
in energy consumption establishes the rand savings.

Typical items which could be noticed during a walk

through audit would include missing or damaged
insulation, hot or cold surfaces, wet insulation,
deteriorating insulating coverings or protective
finishes, missing or damaged vapour retarders, gaps
in insulation at expansion/contraction joints, excessive heat radiating from insulated surfaces and
other similar items.

2.5.2

With this information, simple payback calculations

can establish the financial viability of the opportunity.

DIAGNOSTIC AUDIT

Once items have been identified in the walk

through audit, a diagnostic audit is required to

10

3. ENERGY CONSUMPTION
AND COSTS

To be effective, energy and utility management

must address three essential areas:
.
.
.

in different forms and the unit costs; what it is used

for; which uses are essential and which are not. This
information should be obtained from the following:

Purchasing;
Management;
Engineering.

This Section covers the first two areas.

The first step in identifying areas for potential

savings is to establish the quantity and cost of the
energy and utilities used on the site. This includes
fuel oil, coal, gas and electricity but also water and,
on some sites, vehicle fuel usage.

3.1.1 INVOICE DATA

Data should be checked carefully to ensure that
there is a complete record and that it can be
identified with known supply points. The numbers
required are energy units for each month as well as
tariff charges and structure. Note any estimated
readings; additional earlier invoices should be
collected for comparison if there are more than
one or two estimates in the audit period.

Having completed this analysis it is then essential to

investigate whether the utilities are being purchased
competitively. It is pointless investing capital in
engineering projects unless the energy or utility is
being bought at the right price.
Management control is an essential element in any
cost reduction programme. Apart from the need to
monitor and maintain savings brought about by
improved purchasing and engineering projects,
there are often savings available simply by managing
resources more effectively using standard monitoring and targeting techniques.

A summary table should then be prepared for each

fuel, electricity and water showing consumption
and costs. The monthly trends in consumption are
correspondingly plotted. In this way variations
during the year can be seen and the trend
examined to determine any untoward pattern of
consumption.
.

3.1 CONSUMPTION AND

COSTS
It is necessary to obtain an accurate picture of
current consumption: how much is spent on energy

utility invoices for fuel, electricity and water

for at least one year;
site energy records and sub metering;
production information.

11

A seasonal or cyclical pattern could

indicate major seasonal loads such as space
heating.
General upward or downward trends can
reflect changes in load or efficiency. They
could also be attributed to changes in
operating practice.

3.1.2

The lack of a clear pattern where variations

are normally expected might suggest a lack
of control.

The annual consumption for each energy type

should be converted to a standard unit (e.g.
gigajoules, GJ) using the conversion factors in
Appendix 1. After calculating the percentage
breakdown of total energy consumption and cost
of energy type, a table can be prepared.

Where boiler plant serves a mixed load, a

steady base load can be identified, usually
due to domestic hot water, standing losses
and any continuous process load.

The next stage is to obtain information on energy

use by the various types of activity in the
organization, which can then be audited separately
to establish consumption and costs. Effort can then
be directed to the major areas and opportunities
for savings can then be more carefully examined, as
set out in Sections 6, 7 and 8.

ANNUAL ENERGY INPUT

AND SITE PERFORMANCE
INDICATORS

The total annual energy use on a site can be used

to calculate a Performance Index, to assess the
energy performance and indicate whether there is
likely to be a good opportunity for improvement.
These indices provide useful guidance in setting
priorities, but actual settings will depend on
production and process plant.

The first step is to establish a list of main services

and/or end users. Try to identify specific areas of
consumption such as:
.

factory services (e.g. motive power; compressed air; refrigeration etc.);

Figure 3: Simple energy account for a small factory. (source: ETSU)

12

heating processes (boilers; furnaces; kilns

etc.);
building services (space heating; domestic
hot water; lighting etc.).

of the efficiency of the plant can be obtained. The

cost of submetering can usually be justified on
major loads, particularly where little information on
energy use is currently available.

Initially consumption and, therefore, costs can be

estimated on the basis of installed load, operating
hours and utilization factor. Consumption information can be presented in the form of a Sankey
diagram, as illustrated in Figure 3.

Once installed, meters should read on a regular

basis to establish trends. The impact of energy
saving initiatives, or process changes, can then
readily be determined.

A Sankey diagram is useful in that it gives an

immediate visualization of energy flows and thus
enables priority areas to be identified and tackled.

3.2

3.1.3

FUEL PURCHASE
AND TARIFFS

Obtaining the best energy price depends on

market knowledge and negotiating skills. If in-house
expertise is not available there are numerous
consultants and advisers able to assist.

INSTRUMENTATION AND
CLOSER INVESTIGATION

More detailed information on consumption can be

obtained in a number of ways:

3.2.1
.
.

demand profile recording;

metering selected items of plant/factory
areas.

PIPE LINE GAS

Currently pipeline gas is sold by SASOL. Various

tariffs are available subject to consumption volumes. While not yet in place, it is likely that
imported natural gas will supplement the existing
network and new networks may be installed in
Cape Town.

There is usually a great deal to be learnt from a

study of the energy profile.
Initially meters can be read manually, but the use of
instrumentation makes data collection more
straightforward. Electrical demand profiles can be
monitored with clip-on instrumentation and this
may well identify scope for savings through the
control of Maximum Demand. Gas and water
meters without built-in pulsed outputs can be read
automatically using optical couplers. Data transfer
to a personal computer and the use of a
spreadsheet or similar program will ease analysis.

Large boiler plant can operate on dual-fuel supplies

and it is important to ensure that the most cost
competitive fuel is used, wither interruptible gas or
fuel oil.

3.2.2

ELECTRICITY

The electricity market is becoming more complex

with a range of fixed tariff options available for
consumers. Contracts can be on a fixed unit cost
basis, similar to tariff structures, or electricity can be
purchased on a pool-based contract with prices

Installation of meters on an area or individual plant

basis can be used to record consumption. By
comparing energy use and production, an analysis

13

3.2.4

varying throughout the day, depending on supply

and demand. In this climate, market intelligence and
negotiating skills are essential and companies must
keep in touch with what is on offer.

It is important that coal prices are assessed on the

basis of delivered energy and not weight when
comparing competitive quotes. Bulk purchases can
provide additional savings.

When large load shifts to off-peak tariff times are

possible, they may be made more viable by
renegotiating the time of use tariff. This may be
beneficial to the supplier as it would increase off
peak demand and help increase his load factor.

3.2.2.1

COAL

3.2.5

LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GASES

Butane or propane can be bought from various

suppliers either on a fixed price or on an indexed,
variable, basis. Again, knowledge of market conditions is important in the purchasing process.

ELECTRICITY TARIFF
ASSESSMENT

Supply capacity, Maximum Demand and, where

appropriate, power factors should be checked to
ensure that these costs are minimized. The tariff
structure most appropriate to the site operating
pattern should be selected. The demand profile
should be monitored and the various tariff options
costed to determine the optimum choice.

For sites with a large water use it is essential to

carry out a detailed mass balance to identify both
supply and effluent volumes and ensure that
charges are correct, and also to detect wastage,
particularly at weekends when production is not
occurring. On water systems there are often large
savings available from preventing leaks and wastage.
Initially, monitoring of use should be carried out
through hourly readings.

3.2.3 LIQUID OIL PRODUCTS

Where a water borehole is available this is

generally the cheapest means of supply. It can also
be cost effective to install an effluent treatment
plant as a means of reducing overall disposal costs.

Liquid fuels are available from a number of

suppliers, and it is therefore possible to negotiate
for the best deal. Prices depend primarily on
market conditions, but also vary with quantity
purchased, season and supplier. For example, if
storage facilities are adequate, oil can be purchased
at lower costs during the summer months for use
at the start of the winter season.

14

4. MONITORING AND
TARGETING (M & T)

The initial energy audit provides information on

consumption and costs on the site and can also
highlight areas where savings can be made.

the implementation of the M & T part of a 3E

program are essential in order obtain success.
Upon these the data that has been gathered must
be presented to management together with
proposed improvements.

M & T is a disciplined approach to energy

management, which ensures that energy resources
are used to the maximum, as well as monitoring
savings brought about by improved purchasing and
through energy saving investments.

This data can be obtained in a variety of ways for

example, from fuel invoices, which might require
adjustment to allow for different reading dates, or
from metering.

At its simplest, monitoring involves the systematic

and regular measurement and recording of the
energy consumption of the whole organization.
The principles necessary for forming a monitoring
and targeting program are loosely pictured in Figure
4. Commitment, understanding and motivation for

It is important that the monitoring process is tied in

with other company review processes, such as
monthly financial and production figures, so that
information on energy flows can be meaningfully
related to other performance data.

Figure 4: Monitoring and Targeting action steps. (source: ETSU)

15

Figure 5: Information flows necessary for successful monitoring and targeting. (source: CADDET)

4.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF
PROCESSES DETERMINED
FROM M & T DATA

melting, evaporation); all chemical and electrochemical processes; and some processes requiring physical work such as the compression of
gases and vapours (for example, refrigeration
and compressed air).

From an M & T standpoint, industrial processes

divide into two groups:

2. Processes in which physics provides a poor

indication of the energy needs or of the
extent of the process most of these
processes are mechanical in nature and comprise processes such as cutting, size reduction,
mixing, conveying, etc.

1. Processes where energy use is largely

determined by the physics of the process, i.e.
how much energy is used and to what extent
the process transforms the product. This group
comprises all heat-based processes (heating,

16

All the processes in the first group are sufficiently

consistent in their energy behaviour to make M&T
easily applicable: success depends mainly on the
skill with which it is applied. In the second group,
whether or not M & T has a place depends on how
far energy consumption can be meaningfully
related to some measure of production, or
whether another system of performance evaluation
can be found.

energy, which are difficult to handle:

.

Fortunately, a very large proportion of industrial

energy use comes into the first group, and much of
the Statistical Process Control (SPC) element of
quality management has been developed to handle
processes in the second group. So, for a very wide
range of processes there is already some established basis on which measured energy use could
be used for management control.

energy consumption associated with activities linked to time rather than production
this applies to many of the nonproduction uses of electricity;
energy consumption, which is not linked to
production but to the weather space
heating and space cooling;
vehicle fuel.

4.2 PROCESS ENERGY LINKED

TO PRODUCTION
In processes where there is a strong link to
production, the first requirement is to establish the
nature of the link. This is easiest to consider in the
form of an energy vs. production scatter graph.

Within the second group there are three forms of

[te metric tonnes]

Figure 6: Energy vs. production for a glass melting furnace

the common form of graph. (source: ETSU)

17

Figure 7: Energy vs. production for an electric arc furnace

a special case where the line passes through 0,0. (source: ETSU)

Figure 6 represents a basic pattern to which the

behaviour of most processes can be related. Such a
graph contains three elements:

the most likely for any specific factory or sector.

The type of pattern found in a given factory is
determined mainly by the industry sector.
Figures 7 13 show examples of other
common types of pattern.

1. An intercept (the point where a best fit line

through the data cuts the energy axis at zero
(production) this is the energy that would be
required if this process ran but did not produce
anything. It is also energy consumption that
continues while production is in progress but
does not contribute to production.

Figure 6 is taken from a glass furnace. It has an

intercept on the energy axis, the line is straight over
the whole range of production, there is not much
scatter, and production covers a wide range. The
best-fit line to the data can be formulated as:

2. A slope the amount of energy required at any

given level of production to process each
additional unit of production. The efficiency of
the process can be established from the slope.

Energy (m  production) c
Where c and m are empirical coefficients
(empirical means they are determined from the
data, whether fitting a line to the data by eye or
calculating it from the data).

3. The scatter the amount by which the energy

used for any one level of production varies from
one period to another. This tends to be
governed by operational factors.
4. The pattern in Figure 6 is the most commonly
observed, although this does not imply that it is

In this case, c is 71.5MWh/day and m is

1.185MWh/te so the pattern is:

18

energy (MWh/day) {1.185  production (te/day)} 71.5

Similar patterns are found for most furnaces (for

heating or melting), ovens, kilns, some dryers and
many more processes. In the absence of other
indications, it is usual to assume a relationship of
this kind.

general, this should not be assumed unless there is

a good physical case for it.
It happens to be an important case because
rearranging the formula leads to:
energy
m
production

Figure 7 is similar to Figure 6 but has no intercept,

i.e. it is a straight line that, when extrapolated,
passes through the origin (0 production, 0 energy).
It is generally rare for this to be the case.

In other words, the expected value of energy/

production (specific energy) is a constant, in this
case 0.511 MWh/te. This is true for this and only
one other of the known patterns. In all other cases,
specific energy depends on the level of production,
and statement of the specific energy without
reference to the production rate is meaningless in
management terms.

This example is for an electric arc furnace melting

steel for continuous casting. Our knowledge of
physics leads us to expect the line to pass through
the origin. It would be possible to represent this
pattern by the formula:
Energy m  production

In Figure 8, the intercept is overwhelmingly more

important than the slope of the line. This example
is for a machine for extrusion-blow moulding of
thermoplastic resins.

Where m is an empirical constant and the c

coefficient from the previous example is 0. In

Figure 8: Energy vs. production for an extrusion-blow moulding machine

an example of a very high production-unrelated demand. (source: ETSU)

19

Figure 9: Energy vs. production for an electric arc furnace

an example of the impact of a very narrow range of production

There are three common circumstances which give

rise to this pattern:

is the evaporation of water and the machine has

an essentially fixed evaporative capacity. Variations in production rate represent the different
amounts of water that are evaporated for the
range of paper types produced on the same
machine.

1. The process has innate characteristics that give

it a high standing consumption but low
additional consumption for each unit of production. Work-based processes in the production of plastic extrusions are a good example. In
addition, processes with variable output driven
by fixed-speed motors also often show a high
intercept (although the line may be curved).

For the first two cases, the simple intercept

formula, energy (m  production) c, is
appropriate, although in the second case the cause
of the high standing loss needs investigation. In the
third case, monitoring will be worthwhile only if
there is a change in the way the production variable
is measured.

2. The process does not have a naturally high

standing consumption but a fault is causing a
high and continuous energy loss, e.g. faulty
steam traps on steam-heated equipment such
as sterilizes or rubber tyre moulding presses.
3. Processes where the energy consumption is
representative of a fixed duty and the production variable used does not take adequate
account of the real duty. An example is paper
production where this shape of graph appears
when steam is plotted against weight of paper
produced. In paper machines, the actual process

Note that, in this case, the specific energy is more

closely related to production rate than is energy
consumption.

20

Figure 9 is similar to the third variant of the

previous case. It is a process with a fixed productive
capacity producing an essentially uniform product,
so both the energy use and production fall
consistently within a narrow range.

Figure 10: Energy vs. production for a milk manufacturing depot an example of a curved chart
created by plant with different efficiencies being operated in a merit order. (source: ETSU)

This example is for another arc furnace for steel. In

this case, although the data should fit a straight line
of the form energy (m  production) c, c may
be difficult to determine empirically from the data
the long extrapolation back to zero production
makes any error in the slope too significant in
determining the value of the intercept by purely
statistical means. The dotted line can only be
established either by specific tests to establish c and
find m, or by calculation of m, and using this to
estimate c. If there is significant scatter, consideration may need to be given as to whether the
variables being used, especially for production, are
appropriate.

milk power. Increasing slope means that the energy

consumption per additional unit of output rises
with production.
The most common causes of this shape of chart
are when:
.

Figure 10 is a pattern in which the line is curved,

with the slope rising as consumption increases. This
is for a milk manufacturing plant making butter and

21

as in this example, the data refer to the

whole factory and production at different
levels is achieved by a changing mix of plant
of different efficiencies:
the data refer to a part of the factory or
accounting centre which covers more than
one use of energy, and there is a relationship between these which is not a simple
ratio, e.g. a combination of a seasonally
dependent production rate and space
heating, which is common in breweries.

A suitable formulation of the pattern is then:

energy {(m1F1 m2F2 m3F3 ...)  production} c

effective at low throughput. In the straight section

of the line, the relationship is exactly the same as
for Figure 1.

Where F1, F2, etc. are the fractions of the

production in each period, accounted for by each
item of plant, and m1, m2, etc. are empirical
constants specific to those items.

The precise relationship in the curved section is

usually not known, or not easily calculated. A useful
modification of the formula that achieves a good
empirical fit for most circumstances is:

In Figure 11 the graph curves with reducing slope

to become straight at higher production rates. This
tends to be rather unusual. In a single process, the
range of production that produces this effect is
rarely encountered in practice, and in multiple
processes it implies that most inefficient plant has
priority. This data is taken from a shaft furnace used
for melting aluminium. A feature of the process is
the way heat in the exhaust is recovered to preheat
the material entering the process; this is less

energy (1

exp

k  production

)  (m  production c)

Where m is the slope of the straight section of the

chart, c is the intercept found by extrapolating the
straight section to zero production and k is an
empirical constant (sometimes called an approach
coefficient). Note: (1 exp k  production) is a
common mathematical expression for approximating curves.

Figure 11: Energy vs. production for a shaft furnace an example of a curved chart caused by
efficiency varying with throughput due to internal recycling of heat. (source: ETSU)

22

Figure 12: Compressor power vs. volume of compressed air in a

hot rolling steel mill an example of poor control. (source: ETSU)

In Figure 12 the scatter is so great that it

overwhelms an underlying pattern. There are five
common reasons for this type of chart:

4. It has not been noticed that the energy and/or

production scale does not extend to the origin
(0.0) and the process is really the type shown in
Figure 4.

1. The variable used to represent production is

entirely inappropriate explore other variables.

5. The data cover a long period of time and there

has been a steady change in the energy required
for a given range of production over time,
which has not been taken into account.

2. More commonly, the times at which energy

meter readings and production records are
taken are different, so there is a mismatch in the
periods covered by the data. The shorter the
data collection interval, the greater the impact,
so it is most common in systems that use daily
or weekly data.
3. The metered energy is serving more uses than
just that measured by the production variable
chosen this is not unusual when energy
includes building heating as well as productionrelated energy.

The data (Figure 12) are actually for compressed

air compared to production in a steel rolling mill. A
combination of the above factors is involved. It is
usually possible, by further analysis, to obtain a
clearer picture of the factors at work and attribute
the chart to another type.

23

The characteristic feature of Figure 13 is a negative

slope. In physical terms, however, it is far more
significant because of the interpretation of the

slope. As production increases, less energy is

required and it appears, therefore, that marginal
increases of production could be producing energy.
This is the clue to understanding this behaviour it
normally involves some heat recovery or recycling
of heat, although it can involve a reduction in the
extent of processing as production throughput
increases. This example is for a brewery and shows
the total fuel used compared to total throughput.
Similar behaviour is found in the injection moulding
of polymers.

two dimensional graph. It is, however, still possible

to formulate energy mathematically as:
Energy (m1  P1) (m2  P2) (m3  P3) c
Where P1, P2 etc. refer to the other production or
other parameters and m1, m2 etc. are constants
related to these parameters. A common, more
generally representative, formulation is:
energy (h  H) (m1  P1) (m2  P2) (m3  P3) (d  DD) c

Where H is the productive hours in the period and

h is an empirical coefficient, m1 and P1 have the
same meanings as before, DD stands for degree
days (a measure of the weather) and d is an
empirical coefficient. If the usage pattern of plant is
very variable, it may even be worthwhile extending
this formulation to:

4.3 APPROXIMATING
MULTIVARIABLE
SITUATIONS
If there are more variables controlling the energy
use than are incorporated in the x-variable then it is
not possible to represent these adequately on a

energy (h1  H1) (m1  P1) (h2  H2) (m2  P2) (d  DD) c

Figure 13: Energy vs. production for a brewery an example of a line of negative slope. (source: ETSU)

24

4.4.1

Where the h1 and H1 refer to individual processes.

Approaches of this kind have been developed for
textile finishing. These coefficients can be determined by multiple regression, the method of
residuals or sometimes by statistical factorisation
methods. They may also be based on standard
values an approach used successfully in the
Flowline method in textile finishing, and in the
paper industry where one machine produces many
grades of paper.

DEGREE DAYS

Degree days are a measure of the variation of

outside temperature and enable building designers
and users to determine how the energy consumption of a building is related to the weather. They
quantify how far, and for how long, the external
temperature has fallen below set base temperatures (normally 18oC or 15.5oC for heating
applications). This daily data can then be totalled
for any required period a week, month, year, etc.
and compared with energy data.

4.4 BUILDING HEATING

LINKED TO DEGREE
DAYS

There are four common base patterns found in

industrial buildings, shown in Figures 14 to 17. The
basic pattern is shown in Figure 14. This is exactly
analogous to the process case of a straight line with
a positive intercept, but with heating degree days as
the x-variable. This example is for a textile spinning
mill with close control of the environmental
conditions, and therefore shows little scatter.

The most appropriate measure of the weather for

monitoring the heating and cooling needs of
buildings is the degree day.

Figure 14: Energy vs. degree days for a textile spinning mill
an example of a chart for well-controlled heating. (source: ETSU)

25

Figure 15: Energy vs. degree days for an engineering works an example of the effect of
an internal temperature maintained below the degree day base temperature or where the
building gains heat from elsewhere, e.g. process plant or other machinery. (source: ETSU)

It is adequately represented by the expression:

pattern. For M&T purposes it is represented by the

expression:

Energy (m  degree days) c

The pattern in Figure 15 is a variant, which has the
intercept on the degree day axis.
This is interpreted as indicating that energy is not
required until the outside temperature falls to a
certain level of degree days, in this case, either:
.
the building is maintained at a lower
internal temperature than the degree day
base temperature or
.
the building is receiving heat from elsewhere, e.g. process plant, which maintains
the temperature.

for degree days < DD0

energy 0

for degree days > DD0

days) C

energy (m  degree

where DD0 is the intercept on the degree day axis

and c will be negative.
Figure 16 shows energy vs. degree days for a
building in which the line is curved and levels out to
horizontal at extreme degree days.
At the point where the line is horizontal, the
heating system is not accepting more fuel, despite
falling outside temperatures (usually because it is
working at full capacity). As degree days increase,

Both of these are common circumstances in

buildings and this is a frequently encountered

26

Figure 16: Energy vs. degree days for a building with limited heating capacity. (source: ETSU)

so more heat is added which results in a falling

internal temperature. The simplest mathematical
representation of this pattern is:
Energy c (Emax

c)(1

k  degree days

In this particular case, which is the commonest

form of curvature in this direction, energy is a good
fit to:
Energy C m  (degree days)2

which is easily formulated on computer spreadsheets. It is a convenient formula because it

contains only three empirical constants. Emax and
c are interpolated directly from the chart. k is
obtainable either by successive approximations on
a spreadsheet (to produce a curvature recognisable
as this case within a range of 500 degree days, k
tends to have a value between 0.002 and 0.01) or
directly by mathematical techniques. (This curve is
not amenable to evaluation by least squares
regression. To use this formulation in an M&T
system it must be programmed into the software.)
Figure 17 shows curvature in the opposite
direction.

and is due to temperature stratification in the

building cold air ingress forcing warm air to rise
and temperatures in the roof of the building
becoming much warmer than at floor level. It is
common in dispatch warehouses.

27

There are other patterns relating to building

heating and degree days. Detailed discussion of
these is beyond the scope of this Guide. Broadly,
these divide into two groups:
.
patterns which arise from a combination of
a weather-unrelated demand and one of
the patterns already discussed:
.
patterns in which the me followed by the
points on the graph changes with season

so that the line moving from winter to

summer or summer to winter produces
loops when the individual points are joined
up in time series order.

4.4.2

relationship and a rule associated with changes in

the case temperature for degree days, however,
means that this curve can be straightened by the
simple expedient of using degree days to a different
base temperature.

BUILDING COOLING LINKED

TO DEGREE DAYS

4.5

For cooled buildings, behaviour is not quite the

same as for heated buildings. At precisely the right
cooling degree day base temperature, solar gain
causes a curve, which can be shown to be a good
fit to:
Energy (1
degree days)

exp

k  degree days

PROCESSES LINKED TO
TIME THROUGH
ACTIVITIES

For some processes it is difficult to establish an

independent variable (such as production or
degree days) against which to monitor energy
consumption. Some processes, however, are
associated with activities that are strongly linked
to time. Time can therefore be used as the
comparator to identify characteristic patterns. It is
not necessary to know what the activity is in order
to use time as a basis for monitoring.

)  (c m 

This is exactly analogous to the curve in Figure 6

but with cooling degree days substituted for
production. A fortunate coincidence in this

Figure 17: Energy vs. degree days for a building in which temperature stratification is occurring.
(source: ETSU)

28

Figure 18: Fuel consumption in vehicles as an example of a seasonal pattern

which is not related directly to temperature. (source: ETSU)

Example
Figure 18 shows the fuel use in a large vehicle fleet.
The fuel consumption of vehicles depends on
environmental conditions, on the nature of the
load and on road conditions. It is not necessarily
very easy to establish all of these. In Figure 18 there
is clearly a pattern which is seasonally dependent
and which offers a basis for comparison of one
period with another in a previous year.

Figure 19 shows a half-hour electricity demand

profile for a factory producing domestic consumables. There are clear features in the profile on
weekdays, which are repeated each day without
much variation. This kind of information is now
available routinely at the whole-site level for large
numbers of industrial sites, and there is justification
in extending it selectively to the sub-meter level
now that the cost of metering technology has
reduced.
In the specific case of Figure 19, a range of
questions of interest to management are raised by
the profile:

What causes the differences from day to

day?
Why does the afternoon demand on
Friday tail off early?
Why is the lunchtime dip not more
noticeable?
What activities are being supported by the
load at night and over weekends?

There is a wide range of techniques for handling

this information and this is only one form of
presentation of data for one week. The normal
format for this information at the whole-site level is
as a 48  365 array (365 days and half-hourly
energy data sometimes shown pictorially as contour mapping). Without restructuring the array in
any way it is possible to compare one day with
another, compare one time over many days and
compute averages on an hourly, daily or weekly
basis. However, the data require processing to
produce a chart like Figure 19.

29

Example
In a textile spinning mill, measurement of the
electricity consumption of vacuum pumps, used to
remove stray fibre from the machines, was found
not to vary at all. Timers to shut down pumps
reduced running hours of 20 kW motors from 90
to 55 hours a week, reducing annual consumption
by 35,000 kWh worth 1,580 a year.

4.6 PROCESSES WITH NO

RELATION TO OTHER
VARIABLES OR TIME
Processes, which seem to have no relation to other
variables or time lead to an expectation of the
same value each time they are measured. There is
no need to discuss the analysis of these in detail in
this Guide; they are a standard case within the
scope of Statistical Process Control and can be
treated as an extreme case with zero slope.

4.7 MONITORING DATA AS

AN INDICATOR OF
EFFICIENCY

True examples of this type of behaviour are found

from time to time in energy management. They are
usually due to machinery that is running uncontrolled
and therefore left running when not needed a
source of immense waste. On-off controls and
simple alarms are usually cheaper than fitting
meters and collecting data.

Monitoring data is both a useful indicator of the

efficiency of processes and a means to gauge the
scale of potential savings.

Figure 19: The half-hour electricity demand profile of a factory making domestic consumables.
(source: ETSU)

30

4.7.1

NON-PRODUCTIVE AND
ACTIVITY-UNRELATED
ENERGY CONSUMPTION

In Figure 1 the best fit to the data is:

Energy (1.185  production) 71.5

The intercept on a chart of energy vs. production,

i.e. the point where the line is extrapolated back to
zero production, represents energy, which the
process uses even though it produces nothing. It is
a fair question to ask how much of this is necessary.
The same applies to nighttime electricity loads in
factories that do not operate at night.

and the average production is 107 te a day.

The first step is to quantify non-productive energy.

On a chart of the form:

Example
A glass melting furnace comprises a refractory-lined
insulated tank of molten glass which is kept
constantly topped up with raw material as molten
glass is pulled from one end, and a system of large
tower regenerators for recovering heat from the
hot exhaust gases. In this furnace, the ducts
between the glass furnace and the regenerators
were found to be contributors to non-productive
heat loss. Insulating the ducts reduced heat loss by
1.3 MWh/week.

So proportion of non-productive energy

71:5
71:5 1:185107 0:360 36%
This is a key element of the Avoidable Waste style
of approach.

Energy (m  production) c
the non-productive energy is the intercept divided
by the total for average production:
proportion of non-productive energy
c
 100%
m  average production

Figure 20: Combustion air fan power compared to gas consumption for a steel reheat furnace
showing the high production-unrelated demand of a fixed-speed drive. (source: ETSU)

31

Figure 20 shows an example of electricity use in a

combustion air fan. Extrapolation of electricity
consumption shows a production-unrelated demand of 300 kW. This is because, although this is a
variable load application, the motor attached to the
fan is a fixed-speed motor in which variable air flow
was achieved by throttling using a damper. Installing
variable-speed control on the motor matches the
speed to the load and, in this case, achieved a
reduction in standing consumption of 100 kW.

This temperature varies a little but variations

between 5oC and 30oC are small compared to
the 600oC rise to melt it. The output is molten
alloy for gravity die casting, which requires a melt at
a consistent temperature for its pouring and
solidification characteristics; so, the input temperature, output temperature and composition of the
metal are always the same.
In some industrial processes there is a need to
include other energy inputs. In bricks, glass,
chemicals and some other processes there are
chemical reactions to take into account. These are
usually described in specialist texts on the industry.
(Full data on nearly all reactions of common
interest are also given in Kubaschewski, Alcock and
Spencer's Materials Thermochemistry.)

In Figure 20 the total electricity consumption for

the week was 227 850 kWh. The night caseload on
weekdays was 450 kW and 200 kW over the
weekend. It is unreasonable to assume that the
whole baseload can be eliminated, but it is fair to
ask what is the difference in activity that accounts
for the difference in baseload and why it takes so
long to run down on Saturday.

4.7.2

In processes which involve heat recovery, the

efficiency 'e' may be greater than 1 and provides a
measure of the amount of heat being recycled.

PRODUCTION-RELATED
EFFICIENCY

The same evaluation procedure can be applied to

evaporation and distillation processes. This includes
all processes that start with a liquid and involve
vaporization, e.g. drying. Two particular considerations are that:

A straight line energy vs. production chart means

the energy required to process one additional unit
weight of material is the same over the whole
range of output. This can be used to estimate the
efficiency of the process.

Straight lines with low scatter are encountered

frequently because, for most industrial processes,
the particular transformation from raw material to
product is very much the same for every kilogram
or tonne of material passing through, and the
efficiency with which this is achieved is the same
irrespective of the rate of throughput. The slope of
such a straight-line chart can be used to calculate
the process efficiency (as shown in the box).

the specific heat capacity of a vapour (or

gas) depends on its pressure;
evaporation processes are often engineered to recycle heat, over a number of
effects, or to use mechanical vapour or
thermo-recompression.

Two of the most important vaporisation processes

occur in boilers and drying, both of which involve
vaporisation of water. Boiler efficiency can be
evaluated from a graph of steam output vs. boiler
fuel. This is an adjunct to monitoring the efficiency
from tests on the boiler flue composition and
temperature, and not a substitute. The energyrelated properties of water vapour are given steam

The shaft furnace in Figure 11 is used for melting

aluminium alloys. The metal that enters the furnace
is always aluminium at about ambient temperature.

32

tables. Steam tables are widely published in

textbooks on mechanical engineering and some
energy management reference works. A summary
steam table is available in How to save Energy and
Money in Steam Systems guide of this series.
.

4.7.3

BUILDING HEATING
EFFICIENCY

The slope of the line of energy vs. degree days is

also an important indicator. It is possible to show,
although the detail is beyond the scope of this
guide, that the scope m of a line of energy vs.
degree days is equivalent to:
m

FUA NVCpp
e

The U-value is a measure of the thermal

conductivity of a structure. It can be looked up in
standard reference sources for all common fabric
types for a first estimate, the values in the table
below can be used. The slope is measurable from
the chart, e is measurable from the standard
combustion tests on boilers (which should be
measured routinely, anyway), A and V are
measurable or estimable from the dimensions of
the building and Cp p has the value 0.33 kWh/m3/
hour/oC or 0.00792 kwh/m3/hour/degree day. The
commonly used units of U-values W/m2/oC
can be converted to kWh/m2/degree day by
multiplying by 0.024.

Where:
.

as the indicator of the weather on the xaxis represent the difference between the
building internal temperature and the outside temperature expressed as degree
days.
UA means multiply the area, A. and the
U-value, U, of each element of the outer
fabric of the building walls, roof,
windows, etc. in turn and add up all the
results.
N V Cp p means multiply the volume, V,
number of air changes, N, and the heat
capacity of air, Cp, for each element of the
volume of the building by the density of air,
p, and add up all the results.

e is the marginal efficiency of conversion of

the energy recorded on the y-axis to heat
(marginal means that standing losses are
discounted in the case of fuel-fired
systems this essentially means the combustion efficiency); for steam heating it
acknowledges the residual heat in condensate.
F is a dimensionless number known as the
degree day correspondence factor. It is a
measure of how far the degree days used

Table 1: U-values for common structures in an industrial building (source: Textiles industry)
U-values
2 o

W/m / C

KWh/m2/degree day

Single-glazed windows

4.6

0.11

Roof skylights

6.6

0.16

Solid brick unplastered

3.3

0.08

Brick cavity (brick unlined)

1.4

0.03

Well-insulated wall

0.5

0.01

Pitched tiled roof plaster-board ceiling

1.5

0.04

Roof with fibreglass lining

0.4

0.01

33

The degree days used by most industrial energy

managers are those published for regional observing stations using a formula which measures how
long in parts of a day and by how much, in oC, the
outside temperature is below a fixed base
temperature. For buildings that are intermittently
heated it over-estimates the heat requirements.
How much less energy is required by an
intermittently heated building depends on the
number of hours a day it is heated and what is
called its heating inertia how fast its internal
temperature falls in oC/hour for a given temperature difference between inside and out; the faster
the temperature falls, the lower the inertia.

using a thermograph, but as long as the working

day is more than eight hours, F is not very sensitive
to the inertia and can be estimated:
.

Figure 15 provides a chart for finding a value for F

(degree day correspondence factor) as a function
of the number of hours of heating, and a value for
the heating inertia. (F 1 for a continuously heated
building). If required, the inertia can be measured

A building with a heavy structure, many

internal barriers to air movement and
considerable internal mass (product in a
warehouse) has a nigh inertia, i.e. a low
value approaching 0oC/hour/oC. Therefore, find the value of F on the left-hand
axis for the requisite heating hours per day.
A light building with few barriers to air
movement, perhaps some mechanical
ventilation and little internal mass would
have a low inertia, i.e. a higher value, say
around 0.3oC/hour/oC; for this the value of
F is read on the right-hand axis. In the
fortunate position of knowing the value of
the heating inertia, the appropriate value of
F can be found from Figure 21.

Figure 21: Degree day correspondence factor isopleths for the appraisal of the
heat balance of intermittently heated buildings. (source: ETSU)

34

In practice, the most difficult factor to estimate in

industrial buildings is the number of air changes
(N). It is usual to simplify the calculation by
assuming a common air exchange rate over the
entire building volume.

Example
The slope of energy vs. degree days for the building
has a slope of 6.5 GJ/degree day (1.807 kwh/degree
day).
The building is 200 feet long, 120 feet wide and 60
feet high and windows represent 40% of the wall
area. One foot is 0.3048 m. U-values are estimated
as 0.024 kwh/m2/degree day for the walls, 0.11 for
the windows and 0.03 for the roof. The boiler
efficiency is known to be 7500. The building is
heated continuously, therefore F 1.

In principle, everything is now known except N,

and the formula becomes a method or estimating
the ventilation rate, which is commonly the highest
component of building heat loss and, after
stratification, is the most cost-effective element of
significant heat loss to correct in industrial buildings.
Then:
Area of wall (inc. windows)

Heat loss from windows

Heat loss from walls

Heat loss from roof

So:

UA

Volume, V

(2  200  60) (2  120  60) 38,400ft2

38,400  (0.3048)2
3,567m2
0.4  3.567  0.11
156.9 kWh/degree day
0.6  3,567  0.024
51.4 kWh/degree day
2
66.9 kWh/degree day
03048  (200  120)  0.03

156.9 51.4 66.9

275.2

0 30483  (200  120  60)

40,776 m3

From the straight-line equation:

275:2 40:776  0:00792  N
1:807
slope
0:75
Therefore:
1:807  0:75
275:2
3.34 air changes peer hour
N
40:776  0:00792
From this it can be seen what proportion of the total observed weather-related energy use is lost by different
components of the building fabric and operation:
Boiler
25%
Walls
(51.4/1,807)  100

3%
Windows
(156.9/1.807)  100

9%
Roof
(66.9/1.807)  100

4%
Ventilation
(40,776  0.00792  3.34/1,807)  100 59%
100%
Clearly, ventilation in this building is overwhelmingly the largest energy user, and any measures applied to the
building fabric would have minimal impact. This is not unusual in industrial buildings and a great deal of wasted
energy is due to overzealous and poorly balanced mechanical ventilation. This technique provides a means to
assess the impact.

35

5. USING INFORMATION
ON ENERGY USE FOR
MANAGEMENT CONTROL

5.1 INTRODUCTION

A particularly powerful method for achieving this is

a combination of a technique called CUSUM and a
device taken from quality management called the
control chart. These techniques will be illustrated
using the data in Figure 22, taken from a factory
that produces a fried-food product.

The normal way of using information as a basis for

on-going management control is to:
.
establish a performance standard, based on
what has been achieved historically, sometimes modified to give same 'incentive' and
expressed in simple terms;
.
calculate the difference between actual
performance and this standard;
.
respond to instances of unusually large
differences;
.
reduce these differences over time.

Before applying CUSUM, consider the other

information already apparent in the data. The data
for this process appear to split naturally into two
groups, following parallel lines a short distance
apart. The one of greatest potential interest is the
lower one, as this appears to represent higher
energy efficiency. A best-fit line drawn by eye is:

In energy M & T historic performance is used for

establishing performance standards: however, statistical methods, and an understanding of the physical
laws that underlie energy consumption, are applied
to make these performance standards robust.

energy ('000 therms) 0.26  production (te) 100

The success of this approach depends on being

able to recognise when the difference between
actual consumption and the standard in any one
period is exceptional. This in turn means being able
to accommodate all the factors into the calculation,
which cause these differences but are not
controllable. The smallest difference that identifies
a deviation from the standard as a significant
exception is called the resolution of the management system. The resolution can be improved by
being able to select, from the historic information,
the data for the particular periods days, weeks,
months that provide the best standard.

At the commonest output of around 900 te/

month, this indicates that production-unrelated
energy is:

5.1.1

NON-PRODUCTIVE
CONSUMPTION

100
 100% 30%
100 0:26  900

5.1.2

36

PRODUCTION-RELATED
EFFICIENCY

This example is for a fried product in which the

process heats the raw material to the frying
temperature of 250oC, evaporates the water that

Figure 22: Fuel vs. production for a cooker/fryer in the food industry. (source: ETSU)

makes up 80% of the mass of the raw material and

replaces this with cooking oil that makes up 40% of
the product. Each te of product therefore contains
0.6 te of raw material, the production of which
involves evaporation of four times as much mass of
water (80%:20% ratio), i.e. 2.4 te of water and, in an
ideal process, the heating of only 0 4 te of oil.
The energy required to evaporate water from
liquid at 30oC to steam not under pressure at
250oC can be looked up in standard engineering
steam tables for superheated steam the value is
2.870 kJ/kg (it is important to use the right steam
table). The specific heat of the cooking oil was
obtainable from the supplier as 2 kJ/kg/oC. The
specific heat of the other solid material is not
known but it is a carbohydrate with a rigid structure
and so cannot be far from that of wood or
polystyrene, i.e. about 1 kJ/kg/oC. The accuracy of
specific heats of solid materials in this case (and
most cases involving evaporation of water) is not
found to be critical and the effect of temperature

on specific heat, in this case, is negligible. One

therm is 105.5 MJ.
From Figure 22 we know that the slope of the line
5 260 therms/te. The production-related efficiency
of the process is the theoretical energy required to
process 1 te of product, divided by the actual
energy used per te:
Efficiency
f2:870  2:400 2  400 1  600  240
260  105:5  1:000

30g

 100% 26%

This is poor efficiency performance for this kind of

process.

5.2 CUSUM TECHNIQUE

CUSUM stands for the CUmulative SUM of
differences and is a technique for measuring bias
in equal interval time series data, i.e. information

37

of the same kind gathered at the same time each

day, week, month etc., and organised in the same
time order as it was measured (which is the way
most of most industry collects information anyway). The differences added are those between the
actual energy used and the energy predicted by the
best-fit line on the chart of energy vs. production.

The prediction formula calculated previously was:

energy ('000 therms) (0.26  production in te) 100
Calculating CUSUM from this involves four steps:
1. Use this formula to obtain a predicted energy
use for each week from the production for that
week.

In the example of the cooker/fryer, for any given

production rate there is a wide range of energy
consumption in the data. At around 900 te/month,
energy consumption seems to vary between about
290,000 and 400,000 therms/month a variation of
/-16%. If this is the normal variation in these data,
then this is about the limit of resolution of any
system based on it. In fact, it is not representative of
the true week-to-week variation at least some of
this apparent scatter is due to the way the process
has changed over time. CUSUM is a technique that
can take account of this.

2. Subtract the predicted consumption from the

actual to obtain a difference for each week.
3. Add up the differences from the first week to
each week in turn to obtain CUSUM.
4. Plot a graph of CUSUM against time.
The first three of these steps are usually carried out
in adjacent columns of a spreadsheet (or database
if proprietary software is used). This result is shown
calculated in the table below.

Table 2: CUSUM data for cooker/fryer

Production
(Tons)
Feb 1992

Actual gas
Predicted gas
('000 therms) ('000 therms)

Difference

CUSUM

896

334

332.96

1.04

1.04

March

1,054

371

374.04

3.04

2.00

April

678

288

176.28

11.72

9.72

May

781

332

303.06

28.94

38.66

June
July
Aug
The resulting chart is shown in Figure 23.

If something happens which changes the pattern of

consumption moves to a pattern for which the
constants in the best fit relation are different from
those in the prediction then the differences will not
be random: they will be biased positive or negative
and CUSUM will track up or down from the time
of that event. The CUSUM chart therefore consists
of a series of straight sections separated by kinks,
each kink representing a change in pattern. Lengths

If the entire scatter on the CUSUM chart were only

random about the best-fit line, the compiled
differences would also be randomly positive and
negative. The resultant accumulation of these
differences, CUSUM, would also be random and
not far from zero. CUSUM would then track
horizontally on this chart.

38

Figure 23: The CUSUM graph for the cooker/fryer. (source: ETSU)

of the CUSUM chart, which run parallel to one

another, indicate the same process behaviour
pattern being followed.

from the evaporated water. The rising trend in the

CUSUM chart could be attributed to a reduction in
the performance of the neat recovery equipment.

The CUSUM graph, Figure 23, identifies two clear

patterns:

An energy consultant had in fact, picked up this

poor performance of the heat recovery equipment
during an energy survey in early 1993 when the
system was cleaned on his recommendation.

1. When the line runs horizontal which is:

.
up to April 1997;
.
from August to November 1997;
.
from September10 December 1998.

The upward trend in early 1994 occurred because

management did not realise that the deterioration
in the performance of the heat recovery system
was not a one-off problem repeated cleaning at
intervals would be necessary to maintain the higher
performance.

2. When the line runs upward which is:

.
from May to July 1992;
.
from December 1992 to August 1998;
.
from January 1999 onwards.
Discussing the CUSUM chart with various managers in the factory brings out an explanation for
the two patterns. A few years previously the
cooker had been fitted with a heat recovery
system, partly on economic grounds and partly to
reduce the visible plume of steam over the factory

5.2.1

39

THE CONTROL CHART

The control chart is already a familiar concept in

organisations that use any form of statistically based
quality control.

To calculate a control chart:

.

system working properly. Regression produces a

best-fit line to these data of:

recalculate the best fit formula for all the

data identified from the CUSUM chart as
belonging to a workable standard and, if
possible, over a recent period;
calculate a new control prediction from
this pattern for the actual production in
each month;
calculate the difference between the actual
consumption and the control prediction:
plot these differences against time as
shown in Fig 24:
decide on a control and such that, if the
energy use goes outside this level, someone is required to account for it.

energy ('000 therms/month) (0.28  production (te)) 84

and a correlation coefficient of 0.96. The correlation coefficient for all of the data was 0.8. The
correlation coefficient, easily calculable on a
computer spreadsheet, is a good indicator of the
improvement in data used to predict energy use on
the control chart.
The control band needs to be sufficiently narrow
to indicate to the process operators that there is
supervision of the process, but wide enough not to
alert too many exceptions and thereby produce no
response. Band width can be decided by simple
reasoned judgement, although there are also
formal statistical methods available for deciding

The horizontal periods on the CUSUM graph

represent the periods with the heat recovery

Figure 24: The control chart for the cooker/fryer. (source: ETSU)

40

this. In this case there are, as yet, too few data to

decide this statistically. By eye, 25.000 therms/
month is enough to detect deterioration in the
heat recovery system. At the 336,000 therms that
correspond to the average production of 900 te/
month, the resolution is 7%. Weekly data and
more sophisticated analysis can improve this.
Nonetheless, it is a good start it picks up the
most immediate threat to performance.

notice boards or circulated through an electronic

notice board or computer system.

5.2.2

The form of CUSUM described is called the

parametric form because it examines specifically
how the relationship between variables or parameters changes over time. Although it has been a
familiar feature of energy management for some
years and is a common feature of dedicated M&T
computer software, it is not well known in other
management disciplines. The form of CUSUM,
which is familiar to quality managers, is the
univariant, which applies to parameters that are
not expected to vary over time.

There are various styles of application for this

simple principle:
.

NON-PARAMETRIC
FORMS OF CUSUM
AND CONTROL CHART

The control band can be based on absolute

differences (in energy units) or as a
percentage; in either case the differences
are calculated on the same oasis (if
percentage control levels are being used.
calculate the differences as percentages too).
Data can be provided to the responsible
departments in the factory in several ways:
o
as charts which display the immediate
last period and previous periods;
o
as reports which indicate only the
data for the immediate previous week
or shift:
o
as look-up tables which enable the
user of the information to deduce
that energy consumption is outside
acceptable levels.
At factory level, the calculation of the
forecast consumption, difference and control limit for the immediate past interval
can be added to a spreadsheet and used as
the basis for discussion at production
control and planning meetings.

Parameters, which follow recurring patterns over

time, require a different variant of CUSUM the
recurrent form. In this, all the steps are the same
except in making the prediction. In recurrent
CUSUM the prediction is cased on calculating the
average values of each time interval in the cycle, e.g.
for daily intervals in a weekly cycle, the average for
all the Mondays, all the Tuesdays, etc. The
remaining steps, along with the interpretation of
the CUSUM chart and setting up of the control
chart remain the same. This form of CUSUM is a
recent innovation and is also not necessarily familiar
to energy managers.

5.2.3

APPLICATION OF CUSUM

CUSUM analysis and control charts can be applied

to a wide range of process and production
parameters, including:
.
ovens, kilns and furnaces fuel consumption, mass of material processed, running
hours, temperature in and temperature cut;

The control chart can be used practically to raise

awareness in various ways. One way is to circulate
a paper copy of the chart to relevant staff, but this
means circulating an entire sheet of paper to
highlight only the last point on the chart. Control
charts are often useful when displayed on company

41

.
.

melting furnaces material melted, energy

input, coke additions, oxygen supplied,
electrode wear, recycled material, new
materials added, alloying and other additives;
ovens and cookers fuel consumption,
product weight, mass of water evaporated,
process running hours;
electrolytic and electroplating processes
electricity consumption, voltage, material
deposited;
rolling machinery, mixers, pulverisers electricity consumption, mass of material
worked work done;
cutting machinery electricity consumption;
pumps electricity consumption. volume
delivered;
fans electricity consumption. volume delivered (often as some other variable such as
furnace throughput), fuel consumption;

air compressors electricity consumption, air

delivered, leak rate;
refrigeration electricity consumption, evaporator load, heating and cooling, degree
days;
inert gases gas usage, production, boilers
fuel consumption and steam generated:
building space heating fuel consumption,
degree days;
vehicle fuel tonne miles, kilometres per
litre, journey times.

Such is the ease of calculation of control charts that

it should be feasible to maintain them on all of
these parameters, even if all the information is not
routinely circulated.

42

6. FACTORY SERVICES

This chapter gives an outline of energy saving

opportunities for the following services: motors
and drives, compressed air, refrigeration and chilled
cooling water.

The primary factors affecting the efficiency of a well

maintained electrical motor are its loading and the
efficiency of the design of the motor when
supplied. The efficiency of a motor declines as
the load falls; it will operate most efficiently
between 75% and full load. To assess the loading
of an electric motor it is necessary to have some
measure of the power being consumed. Full load
power consumption can normally be found on the
motor nameplate. This is a maximum; most motors
run at around 65% of full load. Motor efficiencies at
various loads can be taken from the manufacturer's
data sheets.

6.1 MOTORS AND DRIVES

(This topic is dealt with in more detail in the
booklet How to save energy and money in
electricity use.)
Motor and drive systems usually consume the
majority of the electrical energy at industrial sites,
on average 65% of the total. Typically, there will be
a large number of comparatively small units
scattered throughout the complex. This makes
the assessment of the performance and energy
consumption of these units somewhat time
consuming. However the cost saving potential
means that the effort should be worthwhile.

Where significant load or speed variations occur, it

is necessary to determine the motor duty cycle.
This is best achieved by continuous monitoring of
power consumed, but can also be obtained from
selective spot measurements, providing the operating cycle of the unit is known.
The measurement of motor power consumption
should, when used in conjunction with any site
kWh meters; allow the calculation of a comprehensive audit of the energy consumption of site
drive systems. Where a motor is driving a fan or
pump, which is required to deliver a varying flow,
the use of a VSD can save up to 80% of the power
consumed compared with using mechanical flow.

Energy saving opportunities can be broadly categorized as follows:

.

Practice good housekeeping, i.e. switch off

motors when not needed.
Ensure motor efficiency, i.e. select a
correctly sized motor. For long running
hours high efficiency motors should be
used.
Use variable speed drives (VSDs) where
appropriate. These can provide significant
savings opportunities where fan or pump
loads vary.

6.1.1
.

43

CHECK LIST
Ensure that a high standard of maintenance
is undertaken on all drive systems.
Ensure that motors are not left idling for
long periods make use of load sensors.

Check that the motor is not excessively

oversized.
When motors are operating for long
periods at less than full loads consider the
use of motor (voltage) controllers, or
continuous running on a star connection.
In variable load systems the possible
application of variable speed motors and
drives should be considered, in particular
for fans and pumps.
Consider the use of high efficiency motors
for units running at high loads for long
periods.

remaining energy consumption will be related to

usage, measured by production rate or site activity.
It is usually possible to save 10-20% of the energy
running costs of a compressed air system with little
capital outlay.

6.2.1
.

6.2 COMPRESSED AIR

.

(This topic is dealt with in more detail in the

booklet Saving Energy and Money in Compressed
Air Systems).

Compressed air is used extensively in industry, but

it is an expensive service and efficient utilization is
important. There is a tendency to believe that
compressed air is cheap, though only about 5% of
the energy consumed by compressing air is actually
available for work at the point of use. Compressor
energy consumption is best obtained from a kWh
meter, but it can also be derived from hours run
and ammeters, where installed. Most compressor
systems are volume controlled so it is important to
remember that plant tends to operate for long
periods at less than full load.

The performance of a compressed air system is

heavily dependent on the level of air leakage. This
can be assessed by measuring the energy consumption of the plant during periods when there is
no demand for air, typically at weekends of during
shift changes. The rate of energy consumption
during these periods is the base load of the system
and can only be reduced by limiting air leakage, or
installing more efficient compressor plant. The

CHECK LIST
Rationalise the system by removing or
isolating dead legs and minimizing pressure
drops.
Ensure the plant is well maintained in line
with the maker's recommendations.
Minimise the air leakage rate. A planned
maintenance programme to cover the air
distribution system is useful.
Make sure that the intake air is cool and
clean. Use outside air for compression
where possible.
Generate compressed air at the lowest
possible pressure that will meet site
requirements.
Ensure that the design of the compressed
air distribution systems does not produce
an excessive pressure drop between generation plant and end user.
Recover the heat of compression where
possible.
Ensure that the control systems installed
result in efficient operation. Investigate the
possibility of sequencing multi-unit plant.
Keep air quality to the minimum possible. If
only one air user in the system requires
high quality air, consider treatment of that
air at the point of use.

6.3 REFRIGERATION
(This topic is dealt with in more detail in the
booklet Saving Energy and Money in Refrigeration).

44

Refrigeration systems are used widely in industry.

However for the non-specialist it can be somewhat
complex to evaluate their performance. It is
therefore not unusual for plant to be operating at
less than optimum efficiency. For an accurate
assessment of refrigeration performance it is
important that sufficient monitoring equipment is
installed on the plant.

.
.

Refrigeration efficiency is usually expressed as the

coefficient of performance (COP), defined as:
COP

.
.

Cooling effect kW
Power input to compressor kW

For real systems the power input should include

the compressor and all other auxiliary equipment,
such as pumps, fans, lights, etc.

6.3.2
.

Once the system performance has been established it is useful to identify the contribution of each
plant component to the total system power input.
Suitable electricity submeters can be installed for
this purpose. The main contributors are normally:
.
compressors (typically 65%);
.
condenser pumps (typically 5%);
.
condenser fans (typically 10%);
.
evaporator pumps (typically 15%);
.
lights (typically 5%).

.
.

6.4

The next stage is to divide the total cooling load

amongst the various process requirements. This
should allow the loads that significantly affect costs
to be highlighted.#260

6.3.1
.

Maintain isolation standards where appropriate.

Keep operating hours to a minimum.
Ensure that the cooling load is kept to a
minimum.
Avoid operating refrigeration plant under
part-load conditions.
Investigate the possibility of improving
control functions.
Utilise waste heat where possible.
Where appropriate, retrofit plant with
more energy efficient components.
Review energy efficiency when replacing
CFC with ozone benign refrigerants.

REFRIGERATION
COLD STORES
Minimise defrost cycles.
Use thermal inertia to reduce running costs
by operating at full load during low rate
electricity periods at night and at weekends.
Check thermostat settings.
Fit automatic closure devices to doors and
minimize door opening times.
Improve thermal insulation.

CHILLED AND
COOLING WATER

Centralised chilled water services consume large

amounts of energy in their refrigeration plants, dealt
with in Section 4.3 of this booklet. The distribution
system itself will contain circulating pumps consuming electrical energy. This would normally be
assessed using ammeter readings, in conjunction
with information on the overall running time of the
installation.

CHECK LISTS
Ensure that these is good and regular
maintenance of all equipment.
Avoid blockage of air flow through and
around heat exchanges (e.g. evaporators
and condensers).
Make sure that fouling of primary and
secondary refrigeration circuits is kept to a
minimum.

The overall energy consumption should be directly

related to cooling demand. However, cooling

45

systems have a large fixed element to their energy

usage. As with other plant, it is important to ensure
plant is turned off when no cooling is required. For
variable loads, the use of variable speed drives
(VSDs) should be considered.

6.4.1

.
.

Ensure system does not run unnecessarily.

Insulate the distribution system to a high
standard.

COOLING WATER
.
Ensure there are no water leaks.
.
Always use closed circuit systems.
.
Use thermostats to control cooling tower
fans.
.
Check that the system is not oversized.
.
Control pump operation effectively avoid
throttling with valves by using VSDs.
.
Ensure system does not run unnecessarily

CHECK LISTS

CHILLED WATER
.
Ensure that there are no leaks from the
system.
.
Ensure that the temperature of the chilled
water is optimised, i.e. not too low.
.
Isolate equipment when not in use.
.
Control pump operation effectively avoid
throttling with valves by using VSDs.

46

7. INDUSTRIAL HEATING
PROCESS

(This topic is dealt with in more detail in the

booklet Saving Energy and Money in Boilers and
Furnaces).

Heat transferred to heating medium:

usually steam or water
 100%
Fuel input

An important class of energy consuming activities

includes the production and distribution of heat.
Boilers and furnaces are discussed in this chapter.

The heat transferred to the heating medium cannot

normally be determined directly, though indirect
measurements, such as fluid temperatures, pressure
and volume flow rates can be used. Electronic
combustion analysers can be used to check
efficiencies and monitor trends, particularly before
and after maintenance.

7.1 BOILERS AND

BOILERHOUSE
MANAGEMENT

In addition it is always worth undertaking a more

comprehensive boilerhouse audit, to highlight heat
losses and take into account subsidiary energy
usage. The biggest part of this exercise is to assess
the portion of the primary fuel energy lost in the
boilerhouse. The main heat losses for a typical
installation, in order of importance, are:

The boilerhouse is very often the largest single user

of energy on a site, and it is important that its
performance is under constant review. There
should be a comprehensive boilerhouse logging
programme in place, which includes the monitoring
of the following parameters:

.
.
.
.
.
.

fuel consumption;
heat output;
flue gas conditions;
make-up water consumption;
subsidiary electricity consumption.

.
.
.
.

The frequency of checks will depend on the plant

and manpower availability, but weekly or preferably
daily checks should be made. An important
measure of the performance of a boiler plant is
the specific boiler efficiency. This is the ratio
between useful heat production and energy
consumed, i.e.:

flue gas losses;

heat losses from boilerhouse heat distribution system;
blowdown losses;
heat losses from boiler shell;
ash losses (coal-fired plant);
fuel heating (oil-fired plant).

Methods, which can be used to assess these losses,

are detailed in Saving Energy and Money booklets, which cover, amongst other things, the
economic use of oil-fired, gas-fired and coal-fired
boiler plant respectively.

47

A significant amount of electrical energy is used in

the typical boilerhouse for circulating pumps,
combustion fans, etc. Where a dedicated kWh
meter is installed for the boilerhouse this should be
read regularly, though an estimate of electricity
consumption can be determined from motor
duties and running hours if necessary.

7.2

High temperature process plant, such as furnaces

and kilns, are used in a variety of industries. There is
a wide range of plant used, and it may be of a
continuous or batch nature. However, the basis
under which an energy audit is undertaken on all
high temperature processes is very similar.

Make-up water consumption should be monitored

to give early warning of system leaks. Recovery of
uncontaminated condensate on steam systems
should be maximized, saving on energy, water
and chemicals.

As with boilers, a specific efficiency for the process

plant can be calculated but it is more usual to use
the specific energy consumption:

Where there are significant year round requirements for process heating, typically in excess of 5
000 hours/annum, the feasibility of combined heat
and power (CHP) should be investigated.

7.1.1
.
.
.
.

HIGH TEMPERATURE
PROCESSES

Specific energy consumption

Energy consumption
Product throughput
This gives a good measure of the relative plant
performance, and requires only good production
records and energy consumption figures to be kept.
In addition the data can be used to compare
energy consumption at different production rates,
as in figures 7 and 8 in Section 3.3 on Monitoring
and Targeting.

CHECK LIST
Maintain efficient combustion.
Maintain good water treatment.
Repair water and steam leaks.
Recover heat from flue gas and boiler
blowdown whenever possible.
Ensure good operational control and
consider sequence control for multi-plant
installations.
Attempt to match boilers to heat demand.
Valve off idle boilers to reduce radiation
losses.
Use flue dampers where appropriate to
minimize flue losses when plant not firing.
Ensure that boilers and heat distribution
systems are adequately insulated.
Blowdown steam boilers only when necessary.
Ensure as much condensate as practicable
is recovered from steam systems.
Insulate oil tanks and keep steam or electric
heating to the minimum required.

In a well controlled plant there should be a good

correlation between energy consumption and
production rate. The more scatter on the graphical
plot the worse the process control. The offset on
the graph, i.e. the energy consumption at zero
production, represents the level of standing losses.
These are typically made up of:
.
flue gas losses (except on electrically
operated plant);
.
structural heat losses;
.
heat loss by radiation from openings;
.
loss of furnace gases at openings;
.
heat loss to conveyers, rollers, etc;
.
heat loss to charging equipment and
mechanisms;
.
heat removed by cooling circuits.

48

It is worth measuring or calculating the level of

these heat losses to identify areas for potential
improvement.

7.2.1
.

cascaded through the process, which results in

large quantities of low grade waste heat. Process
integration and heat recovery are important ways
of improving energy efficiency. Many industries
require significant year round process heating, so
combined heat and power (CHP) could be applied
cost effectively.

CHECK LIST
Minimise heat losses from openings, such
as doors, on sealed units.
Use high efficiency insulating materials to
reduce losses from the plant fabric.
Attempt to recover as much heat as
possible from flue gases. The pre-heating
of combustion air or stock or its use in
other services such as space heating are
well worth considering.
Reduce stock residence time to a minimum to eliminate unnecessary holding
periods.
Ensure efficient combustion of fuels where
applicable.
Avoid excessive pressure in controlled
atmosphere units.
If maintaining stock at high temperature for
long periods, consider the use of specialized holding furnaces.
Make sure excessive cooling of furnace
equipment is not occurring.
Ensure the minimum amount of stock
supporting equipment is used.
Ensure there is effective control over
furnace operating parameters computerized control should be considered for
larger units.

There is a large variety of low temperature

processes undertaken in industry. The methods of
evaluating performance and energy consumption
of these processes is similar to those used on high
temperature processes.

7.3.1
.

7.3 LOW TEMPERATURE

PROCESSES

The low temperature process industries can be

defined as those involving heat usage at generally
less than 400 500oC. The processes often include
chemical reactions or manipulation of materials and
mixtures in water or organic solvents. Steam is a
common energy transfer medium and heat is often

49

CHECK LIST
Minimise heat losses from liquid surfaces
on heated tanks.
Ensure plant and services are adequately
insulated.
Attempt to recover as much heat as
possible from flue gases, process effluents
and cooling waters. The pre-heating of
combustion air or stock or use in other
services such as space heating are well
worth considering.
Review scheduling of different processes to
determine whether plant operation can be
concentrated into batches.
Ensure efficient combustion of fuels where
applicable.
Consider the use of direct firing where
appropriate.
Maintain good control of the process,
including humidity control of dryers.
Maximise liquid extraction by mechanical
means before thermal drying.
Do not over-dry material.
Control the use of water, especially that
used for washing.
Evaluate the opportunities for process
integration and combined heat and power.

8. BUILDING SERVICES

Space heating, domestic hot water and lighting

loads generally represent a significant energy
consuming requirement for many organizations

Temperature profiles can be obtained using chart

recorders or data loggers (which can be hired) to
identify incorrect space temperatures or operating
periods and poor controls.

As a general guide, Figure 9 indicates how energy is

used for building services in a typical factory

It is important to identify the areas of building fabric

responsible for the greatest heat loss and where
cost effective insulation can be installed. Insulation
is often best installed when work is being carried
out on the building fabric, e.g. roof repair/
replacement, or during building refurbishment,
since the additional cost will be relatively small.

8.1 SPACE HEATING

The energy use for space heating can generally be
assessed in a number of ways. In many cases it is
possible to examine the records of fuel used for
heating for the previous 12 months and plot bar
charts of total consumption against each month.

8.1.1
.
.

Energy management for space heating is concerned

with four main aspects:
.
.
.

.
.

operating plant at optimum efficiency;

avoiding overheating;
minimising heat losses or gains through the
building fabric by insulation;
minimising heat losses through ingression
of cold air particularly at loading bays and
large doors.

The minimum controls required are time switches,

though on larger sites a Building Energy Management System (BEMS) is recommended. The system
selected should be assessed in the light of current
requirements and also comply with Building
Regulations. Process or building occupancy may
have changed and point-of-use equipment and/or
fuel switching may offer substantial savings.

50

CHECK LIST
Minimise plant standing losses.
Ensure regular maintenance of central
boiler plant.
Check thermostats set correctly.
Fit time controls to eliminate unnecessary
heating.
Install optimum start control to reduce
preheating times.
Install zone controls for areas with differing
times of use or temperature requirements.
Consider a Building Energy Management
System.
Install destratification fans in high buildings
to reduce temperature gradients.
Install automatic/fast acting doors for
goods/vehicle entrances.
Investigate heat recovery possibilities.

efficiency of generation. Savings in volume could

be achieved through restrictors or automatic cutoffs and avoidance of leaks or taps left running. If
standing losses are high, for example in a large
distribution system with low DHW usage, it may
be cost effective to install point of use heaters.

8.2 AIR CONDITIONING

AND VENTILATION
Air conditioning is increasingly used in high
technology buildings with large solar gains and
internal heat gains from occupants, information
technology and other electrical equipment. Similar
principles apply as for space heating, except that
heat is gained through the fabric of the building and
cooled air is lost from the building.

The largest non-production related use of water in

buildings is generally from water cisterns. These
usually work by having a small but continuous flow
of water into a small cistern, which empties
periodically to flush urinals. The main area for
water savings is through reducing automatic flushes
for urinals using proprietary devices either in
operating on pressure drop or occupancy detection.

Controls are generally more sophisticated and it is

essential to check operation of the system carefully,
to ensure the building is cooled only when
necessary and to utilize free cooling when ambient
temperatures are below the building temperature.
This can be done through recording temperatures
with a data logger or checking operating controls
and setpoints where a Building Energy Management
System (BEMS) is used.

8.2.1
.

There are other water saving devices available and

the cost effectiveness depends on the application.
These include tap restrictors and shower controls.
Control of leaks is an important factor for buildings
on a metered supply and this can be checked
through monitoring the meter during unoccupied
periods.

CHECK LIST
Reduce the air volume handled wherever
possible.
Set the room sensor cooling temperature
to 22oC or higher.
Provide controls to prevent simultaneous
use of heating and cooling circuits in air
handling units.
Ensure the system uses free cooling effect
of outside air when possible.
Regularly check control settings and operate in accordance with occupancy requirements.

8.3.1
.

8.3 HOT WATER AND

WATER SUPPLY

8.4

CHECK LIST
Insulate hot water storage tanks and pipework.
Check hot water thermostat settings are
correct: 60oC is recommended to prevent
Legionella growth.
Use point-of-use water heaters in summer
or decentralize from main boiler plant if
standing losses are high.
Install spray taps or flow restrictors.

LIGHTING

Lighting is perhaps the most noticeable source of

energy waste in many organizations and there are
indeed many opportunities for reducing lighting

The most important factors to consider with hot

water supplies are the volume used and the

51

energy costs, ranging from simple manual switching

to upgrading of luminaries to more efficient types.
Fully automated lighting control systems are also
available.

and identifying their rating. A performance index of

between 10 and 20 W/m2 is typical for fluorescent
lighting when the load is related to floor area
served. It is important to relate lighting levels and
lamp types to the requirements in different areas.

Staff can play an important part in controlling

lighting use and this is to be encouraged as part of
an organisation's environmental image.

8.4.1 CHECK LIST

Switch off unnecessary lights.
Install automatic lighting controls time,
daylight or occupancy detection.
Use slimline energy efficiency fluorescent
tubes in switch-start fittings.
Replace twin fluorescent with single tube
and high efficiency reflectors.
Convert to more efficient installation
where appropriate e.g. fluorescent or
discharge lamps.

There is a wide range of lamp type, with

considerable variations in luminous efficacy (i.e.
light output per unit of energy consumption)
between different types. In general it is important
to select lamps with the highest efficacy, though the
quality of lighting provided (most importantly, the
colour) also needs to be borne in mind. Table 5
gives examples of some of the most common lamp
types and sizes.

Lighting consumption can be estimated by multiplying the installed load in kW by the hours in use,
to give the consumption in kWh. The load can be
determined be estimating the number of fittings

Table 5: Typical load and output of various lamps

Size

Circuit load
(Watt)

Output
(Lumens)

Efficacy
(Lumens/watt)

GLS Tungsten

100 W

100

1200

12

Compact Fluorescent Lamp

16 W

20

700

35

Mercury Vapour

80 W

93

3800

41

38mm Fluorescent Tube

1500 mm

78

4900

63

26mm Fluorescent Tube

1500 mm

71

4900

69

High Pressure Sodium SON

70 W

81

5500

68

Low Pressure Sodium SOX

55 W

68

7300

107

Lamp type

52

9. CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

During the course of the audit energy cost saving

projects requiring capital expenditure are almost
certain to be identified. It is important that a
detailed analysis is undertaken of the financial
viability of these projects, so that:
.
the true benefit of the project is identified.
This will allow accurate decisions as to
whether the project should go ahead and
when.
.
the project can be 'sold' internally within
the organization. There will always be
other demands on capital.

Payback
.

Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)

In this analysis the rate of savings generated by the

project are calculated on a year by year basis, over
the whole life of the equipment, discounted back
to the present time. DCF provides more information than payback, particularly in terms of size and
timing of cash flows. Your company accountant can
advise you on how to carry out a discounted cash
flow analysis.
.

9.1 FINANCIAL CRITERIA

Net return on assets

The return on assets shows the potential pre-tax

cost benefits of a project against the initial
depreciated capital. All other initial and ongoing
costs would normally be taken into account.

Different organizations will have different financial

criteria for assessing the viability of capital projects.
It is important that any application for capital is
consistent with the system used in a particular
company.

9.2 RAISING CAPITAL

The main techniques in common use are discussed

in the following text.
.

Total capital cost of project

Net annual saving

There are a number of methods, which may be

used for raising capital for projects. These are
outlined below:

Payback

This is the simplest and most widely used criterion

and can be used for an initial assessment. The
payback is defined as the time period that will lapse
before the accumulated savings will be sufficient to
cover the initial expenditure. In its simplest form
the payback is the initial cost divided by the net
annual savings generated less any additional maintenance costs, i.e.:

Internally

Capital can be raised by an organization from its

normal capital budgets. The economic case will
have to be good for projects to win out against
other demands for capital, particularly as energy
saving investments are usually viewed as 'non-core'
business activity. Some organizations allocate an

53

annual budget to energy efficiency measures.

The prioritisation of different measures should take

account of the funds available, and savings achievable.
.

Contract Energy Management (CEM)

In this type of deal an outside company will

normally take over the supply of a utility. For
example a CEM company may take over a project
to install new boilers or CHP at a site. The CEM
company would then put up the necessary capital
to purchase the equipment and take over the
running of the new plant completely. They would
then charge to host company a service charge and
for fuel. The advantages to the host company are
that they achieve lower energy costs without the
need to find capital for the project and that they no
longer have to run a boilerhouse facility.

External finance

External finance could be in the form of a

straightforward load, or more complicated deals
where the load is paid off directly out of savings.
Some companies now offer deals where a scheme
is fully project managed by an outside consultancy,
who are also paid a proportion of the savings
generated. There is often a positive cash flow for
the host company from the start of the project in
this type of deal.

54

SOURCES OF
FURTHER
INFORMATION
For the latest news in energy efficiency technology:
Energy Management News is a free newsletter issued by the
ERI, which contains information on the latest developments in
energy efficiency in Southern Africa and details of forthcoming
energy efficiency events.
Copies can be obtained from:
The Energy Research Institute
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch 7701
Cape Town
South Africa
Tel No: 27 (0)21 650 3892
Fax No: 27 (0)21 686 4838
Email: eri@eng.uct.ac.za

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