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Languages : en
Pages : 47
Book Description
Some of the most difficult problems that a federal site has in reducing its energy consumption in a cost-effective manner revolve around understanding where the energy is being used, and what technologies could be employed to decrease the energy use. Many large federal sites have one or two meters to track electric energy use for several thousand buildings and numerous industrial processes. Even where meters are available on individual buildings or family housing units, the meters are not consistently read. When the federal energy manager has been able to identify high energy users, he or she may not have the background, training, or resources to determine the most cost-effective options for reducing this energy use. This can lead to selection of suboptimal projects that prevent the site from achieving the full life-cycle cost savings. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), supported by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), has developed a model program that provides a systematic approach to evaluating energy opportunities that (1) identifies the building groups and end uses that use the most energy (not just have the greatest energy-use intensity), and (2) evaluates the numerous options for retrofit or installation of new technology that will result in the selection of the most cost-effective technologies. In essence, this model program provides the federal energy manager with a roadmap to significantly reduce energy use in a planned, rational, cost-effective fashion that is not biased by the constraints of the typical funding sources available to federal sites. The results from this assessment process can easily be turned into a five- to ten-year energy management plan that identifies where to start and how to proceed in order to reach the mandated energy consumption targets.