Monitoring and Controlling Energy Efficiency in Utilities/W.A.G.E.S. for cost reduction

Our customers in all industries are coming more and more under pressure to measure the cost of their utilities:

• Water
• Air
• Gas (e.g. Natural Gas, other gases or fuels)
• Electricity and
• Steam

One important driver for this pressure is the risen cost of energy. The cost of natural gas for industrial applications has more than tripled within less than ten years and the price for electricity in Europe has risen by 30% within less than 4 years.

Another driver are certifications according to EMAS and the ISO 14000 series that force customers to measure the energy streams using calibrated technology.

Using a few measurements important parameters like specific energy consumptions can be determined that give important indications like how much energy does it take to make a tonne of product? Setting up energy monitoring systems it is possible to measure the consumption of each respective utility close to the point of use. These measurements can then be used to build meaningful relations between energy consumptions and driving factors that enable the customer to

• control their energy consumption with a better resultion (application-wise and time-wise)
• identify and justify energy reduction projects (where is most energy consumed? Which changes are possible?)
• detect poor performance earlier (are the boiler's heating surfaces fouling?)
• get support for decision making (should the contract with the provider of electricity be changed?)
• Report performance automically (which Energy Accountability Centre/shift etc. is performing best? Did exceptions occur?)
• audit historical operations
• get evidence of success (did promises made by a manufacturer of energy efficient equipment come true?)
• get support for energy budgeting and management accounting
• provide the energy data to other systems (e.g. exisiting SCADA)