How much do you know about your energy usage? Have you set goals for energy efficiency? Are you as efficient as your peers?
Coming up with a solution or plan for your Energy Usage/Cost issues takes time and effort. Before we can get a handle on energy usage, we need to ask ourselves a few questions:
- How is my building doing?
- Is it getting better or worse?
- Where are my opportunities to save money?
- Have my previous improvements paid off
Develop a Baseline and Set Milestones
First you need to start with a Baseline of your facility. Implement an energy reporting system and calculate the cost per square foot of your facility. Then compare with facilities that are typical to yours. Determine your energy hogs and develop action plans to improve those systems weighing down on your building.
A behavioral study by the University of California Davis and the California Air Resources Board found that low cost changes in building operations can save from 5% to 30% of a building’s energy usage, but often these changes aren’t made.
The City of KCMO Energy Empowerment Ordinance
The Energy Empowerment Ordinance is helping building owners and representatives to know how their building is functioning when looking at cost per square foot. The ordinance requires building owners (or their authorized agent) to enter 12 calendar months of complete and accurate energy and water consumption data.
- Provide data about building operation.
- Information is to be entered into the EPA Energy Star Portfolio Manager tool.
- Provide select data to the city’s program director before the compliance deadline.
Have you inputted your data to comply with the KCMO Energy Empowerment Ordinance?
Let’s face it, manually gathering all the data you need is a daunting task. And many outside Energy Services only provide one-time audits, giving you very little support in managing energy usage on an ongoing basis.
The DMI Energy Dashboard is Here to Help
- Energy reporting tool that provides you the needed information to understand how well your building is doing.
- Cost effective and frees up your time.
- Valuable data at your fingertips to help you determine next step action items.
The DMI Energy Dashboard helps owners manage Energy Cost, Consumption and Carbon Footprint by providing data on cost per square foot, consumption per square foot and carbon data per square foot.
Energy Reporting: Review and share data. Answer where capital improvements are needed.
Energy Benchmarking: Compare like properties. Create peer benchmarks for pre- and post-audits on capital and operational improvements.
Historical Trending: See when utility rates and reported building consumption spike or drop so you can investigate.
Energy Forecasting & Budgeting: Forecast energy consumption over 12 months and capture changes.
Weather Normalization: See true impacts on energy usage due to weather.
Energy Usage Fixes
The easiest energy usage fixes are LED lighting upgrades, adding interior & exterior shades, and daylighting. Other energy usage fixes include:
- Broadening Range of Temperature (HVAC & BMS systems must be functional.)
- Re-commissioning of HVAC system
- Re-commissioning of Building Automation System (BMS)
- Chilled Water Optimization
- Energy Efficient Rooftop Units
- Energy Efficient Chillers
- Energy Efficient Heat Recovery Chillers
- Total Upgrade of HVAC System
What’s Next?
- Benchmarking
- Identifying Issues
- Setting Milestones
- Implement & Monitor
- Selecting the right team to support you…
Design Mechanical is here when you need us, 24/7. Contact us at 913-281-7200 or Connect With Us on our website.