This is a very critical part of the EnMS. It is the part where you operate your energy using equipment and where there is often significant opportunity to affect the organisations energy performance. Many organisations assume that if they purchase energy efficient equipment then their operations will automatically be energy efficient. This has been repeatedly found not to be the case. In fact in many cases less efficient equipment operated well will consume less energy than more efficient equipment operated badly.
It is critical that all significant energy users are operated and maintained in the most energy efficient way feasible. This area is very commonly neglected.
How to implement
1.1.1 Operation
How your equipment and energy using processes are operated can have a very significant effect on your energy performance. It is very possible to operate boilers, refrigeration plant, air compressors, pumping systems, etc in such a way that they consume much more energy than they need to. SEU operation is often carried out by maintenance personnel. The same commentary applies regardless of who operates the SEUs. The following are items that need to be considered.
Each of these items needs to be developed, documented and communicated to the relevant operational personnel
Each SEU needs to have its critical operating parameter listing developed during the planning phase. These operating parameters need to be understood and adhered to.
How control systems work is often misunderstood resulting in equipment being operated in manual control. This is rarely a good idea if the control system has been correctly set up in the first instance.
Operating parameters which affect energy use should be recorded. They should be reviewed regularly by a competent person. It is common to find plants having good operator logs but not so common to find anyone looking at them except when problems have arisen.
1.1.2 Maintenance
It seems fairly obvious that ineffective maintenance will increase the energy consumption of most technical systems and equipment. However it is rare to find this taken into account when planning maintenance activities. It is similar to the energy performance of an automobile, if tyre pressures, air filters, fuel filters, exhaust system, bearings, lubrication, etc, are not correct then the vehicle will consume more fuel than necessary.
External Service Companies
It is not unusual to find that the servicing of some typical SEUs is outsourced to external service companies. The issues raised in this section apply equally to external maintenance service providers as they do to your own maintenance personnel. External providers are often chosen on the basis of lowest cost. Where technical ability is taken as a selection criterion it does not often include technical ability in the area of energy performance. Typical SEUs that are often externally serviced include air compressors, refrigeration chillers and boilers. Even when the original manufacturer does the maintenance of these items they often are not focussed on their energy performance, especially of the system in which the equipment is only a part. A very common and simple example in this area is the setting of condenser pressure on refrigeration systems. Service companies (and internal staff) typically set a value higher than required as they have been taught that it is important to keep the pressure drop across the expansion device as high as possible. This leads to excessively high condensing temperatures, which leads to excessive energy consumption. It is often possible to reduce condensing temperatures to such an extent that savings of 10 to 20% of energy consumption can be made at no cost. Further reductions may require investment in technical changes depending on the type of refrigeration system in use.
The main components for a maintenance management system that supports effective energy performance are as follows:
Planned preventive maintenance should be carried out in accordance with the manufactures recommendations. This will require planning, completion and recording of maintenance activities. This may be computerised or not as appropriate to the organisation.
The people carrying out the maintenance need to be aware of the impact of their work on the energy performance of the SEUs.
Settings which will affect the energy performance of the equipment need to be known and set correctly.
What is this?
This is a very critical part of the EnMS. It is the part where you operate your energy using equipment and where there is often significant opportunity to affect the organisations energy performance. Many organisations assume that if they purchase energy efficient equipment then their operations will automatically be energy efficient. This has been repeatedly found not to be the case. In fact in many cases less efficient equipment operated well will consume less energy than more efficient equipment operated badly.
It is critical that all significant energy users are operated and maintained in the most energy efficient way feasible. This area is very commonly neglected.
How to implement
1.1.1 Operation
How your equipment and energy using processes are operated can have a very significant effect on your energy performance. It is very possible to operate boilers, refrigeration plant, air compressors, pumping systems, etc in such a way that they consume much more energy than they need to. SEU operation is often carried out by maintenance personnel. The same commentary applies regardless of who operates the SEUs. The following are items that need to be considered.
Each of these items needs to be developed, documented and communicated to the relevant operational personnel
1.1.2 Maintenance
It seems fairly obvious that ineffective maintenance will increase the energy consumption of most technical systems and equipment. However it is rare to find this taken into account when planning maintenance activities. It is similar to the energy performance of an automobile, if tyre pressures, air filters, fuel filters, exhaust system, bearings, lubrication, etc, are not correct then the vehicle will consume more fuel than necessary.
External Service Companies
It is not unusual to find that the servicing of some typical SEUs is outsourced to external service companies. The issues raised in this section apply equally to external maintenance service providers as they do to your own maintenance personnel. External providers are often chosen on the basis of lowest cost. Where technical ability is taken as a selection criterion it does not often include technical ability in the area of energy performance. Typical SEUs that are often externally serviced include air compressors, refrigeration chillers and boilers. Even when the original manufacturer does the maintenance of these items they often are not focussed on their energy performance, especially of the system in which the equipment is only a part. A very common and simple example in this area is the setting of condenser pressure on refrigeration systems. Service companies (and internal staff) typically set a value higher than required as they have been taught that it is important to keep the pressure drop across the expansion device as high as possible. This leads to excessively high condensing temperatures, which leads to excessive energy consumption. It is often possible to reduce condensing temperatures to such an extent that savings of 10 to 20% of energy consumption can be made at no cost. Further reductions may require investment in technical changes depending on the type of refrigeration system in use.
The main components for a maintenance management system that supports effective energy performance are as follows: