Most energy folks have a version of this story: The utility bill shows up with a few thousand extra dollars for the month, and someone upstairs wants to know why. In 90% of cases, no one is going to have a good answer.
Why not? Because there is no way to know that, of course.
The utility meter is a wonderful little device for exactly one job: telling the power company how much to charge you. It measures all your loads in one convenient lump. That's it. It doesn't tell you how, it does't tell you when, and it sure as heck doesn't tell you where. When the number moves, you are stuck guessing. I have said it a million times: Guessing is not knowing.
Here is what guessing looks like in practice. The bill spikes, and finger-pointing starts. Maybe it was the new tenant on three, or the chiller. Maybe someone left a compressor running over a long weekend. You have a theory, your boss has a different theory, and the vendor who sold you last year's retrofit has a third theory that conveniently proves his equipment is running perfectly. The argument gets settled by whoever talks loudest, or not settled at all.
We don't need to argue, friends. It's not 1975. We have better tools now.
We can submeter ANYTHING. You can do it by system, you can meter by equipment, or you can drill all the way down to the individual circuits, and see exactly who's desk has an electric space heater hidden underneath. At that level the building stops being a mystery and becomes a treasure trove of useful information.
Now that mysterious increase in energy can be attributed to specific machinery /zones/ people/ gremlins without speculation. I hate speculation. So should you.
Want to have some real fun? The next time a vendor comes through the door promising thirty percent savings from a magic box, tell him you have circuit-level metering. Then watch the poor fool sweat through the rest of his pitch. Measurment is kryptonite to every weak sales claim. You're going to know real fast just how good that widget is. Or, you know... how good it is NOT.
Sound great? There's a catch. Sub-metering can't save a single watt on its own. It does no work. What it does is show you where work is worth doing, but someone still has to actually act on it.
You might hear the term, "enabling measure" when this topic comes up. It ENABLES savings. When you attach it to someone who nows how to read the data, it routinely shakes loose 5-15% hidden energy savings all by itself.
Always remember: Data without context is noise, and information without action is just pretty charts. Buying the meter is the easy part. The discipline to use it is the actual job. (If you need help, call me.)
So before you chase the next shiny retrofit, ask yourself a simpler question. Do you know where your energy is going, or are you just guessing? Because you cannot manage what you do not measure, and in this business, guessing is just a slow and expensive way to be wrong.
SRG Energy Services thesliderulegroup.com (860) 207-7376
Andy Vaillencourt, CEA, is a second-generation energy professional who walked his first facility at the age of twelve. Across numerous consulting firms, utilities, and ESCOs, he has provided actionable energy efficiency services for customers in virtually every type of industry. A frequent speaker at energy events and conferences, he explores the often-predatory marketplace of energy conservation in his books, The Energy Efficient Facility and Silver Bullets: And Other Energy Efficiency Myths and Magic.
As founder and principal of SRG Energy Services, Andy continues to serve the energy efficiency marketplace as a trusted consultant, trainer, and building-science subject matter expert. SRG Energy Services is a Connecticut-based engineering consultancy specializing in energy auditing (ASHRAE Levels 1 through 3), Energy Performance Contracting support, retro-commissioning, and mechanical systems forensics. SRG consults for ESCOs, municipalities, school districts, hospitals, and energy managers. It is not an ESCO, and it makes no performance guarantee claims. SRG leads engagements across all levels of ASHRAE energy audits, feasibility studies, operating cost assessments, energy modeling, scoping, pricing, and project management, and provides owner's representation for end users.
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