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Calculation: Energy v square foot

Discussion in 'ISO 14001:2004 - Environmental Management Systems' started by Sandra T, Jan 27, 2016.

  1. Sandra T

    Sandra T Member

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    Hi All,
    Hope you can help me!
    We gather data on our energy consumption across multiple sites. We also have the square footage of the buildings.
    How can we use these calculations as a key metric for measuring and monitoring our energy consumption?

    Thanks in advance!:rolleyes:
     
    Sandra T, Jan 27, 2016
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  2. RoxaneB

    RoxaneB Moderator Staff Member

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    What is the value of "energy consumption per square foot" ? If you break it down to monthly results, you will probably see spikes in the extreme hot/cold months. Is this a metric that add value to your process? Yes, I understand that this is for an environmental management system, but let's face it...you want your employees to be comfortable, so the air conditioning will be used in hot months and the heat will be on in the cold months. This, while important to monitor, isn't really is value-added metric, in my opinion.

    Now, let's talk "energy consumption per widget made" or "energy consumption per tonne produced". This is more meaningful and can have a significant impact on your EMS. How? You can modify processes to become more energy efficient. You may notice it costs less to product in off-peak hours, resulting in a shift of production time and less of a drain on the local system. If sites produce similar products, you may notice that one is more efficient than another - time to figure out why and share best practice.

    Just some food for thought...
     
    RoxaneB, Jan 27, 2016
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  3. Sandra T

    Sandra T Member

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    Thanks Roxane,
    I understand your comments re "energy consumption per widget made" or "energy consumption per tonne produced". However, we don't actually make anything so are finding this method somewhat tricky. If I may quote an observation made by our CB:
    ''One of the key Environmental Objectives of the company is to reduce its CO2 emmissions through reduce the consumption of Electricity and Gas. The company are expanding in terms of locations and physical size, as such, a metric could be included to factor this in. Square footing has been calculated along with energy consumption per square foot, but these calculations are not as yet being used as key metrics for monitoring and measuring''
    What do you think we can do with this?
    Grateful as ever!;)
     
    Sandra T, Jan 29, 2016
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  4. RoxaneB

    RoxaneB Moderator Staff Member

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    Well, if you are increasing in terms of locations and physical size, I would expect your consumption to increase. It sounds like your organization still needs to consider the efficiency of how energy is consumed. Energy consumption per square foot or square metre may be how you easily compare locations and identify who your superstar performers are...as well as the locations that require a bit more hand holding.

    If you know your energy consumption and you know your area, calculating the energy consumption per square unit-of-choice is easy. Understanding WHY energy consumption is higher with some locations and/or higher during certain periods will require more work and analysis. But then you'll have a better focus on how reducing energy consumption.

    If, after that analysis, the organization is unwilling to change operating processes and/or variables, it may be time to find a new objective.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2016
    RoxaneB, Jan 29, 2016
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    BradM likes this.
  5. Leonid

    Leonid Well-Known Member

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    This energy performance indicator is calculated by dividing the total energy consumed by the building in one year (measured in kBtu or GJ) by the total gross floor area of the building. It depents on many factors, i.e. the building purpose (supermarket vs office); number of storres; thermal isolation of walls, roof and floore; type of glazing; types of electric lamps; degree-days factor...
     
    Leonid, Feb 2, 2016
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  6. Nick1

    Nick1 Member

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    Hi Sandra,

    I have worked at a company who struggled with the same situation. Like Roxanne already pointed out, diving the energy consumption by the square feet doesn't really say much because there are too many variable that clutter the data. Besides it is fair to assume that not all sites are identical.

    The nice thing of you having multiple sites is that you can calculate the efficiency of the different sites, though this assumes they perform roughly the same operations. You can calculate the energy used/sqr feet/ unit output of all the sites and see which one is more efficient. With this data you search for best practices within the best performing site and try to apply these to the other sites.

    Good luck
     
    Nick1, Feb 6, 2016
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  7. nancy

    nancy New Member

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    hi guys,
    please i need help;
    Make an investment estimated table for installation with the following data:
    Jump 350m, cuadal 3m3 / s, power 2000 KW, scheduled producion 7000 MWh / year, Waterwheel of 35m and 8m high, headworks and forebay from driving, is done under pressure from the start, penstock 2500 m, central edeficio, asincron generator, elevator to 20KV transformer, electro system interconnection line 20 KV 1 km and construction of access of 2 km.
    thnx
     
    nancy, May 29, 2016
    #7