What is Energy Consulting?
Energy consulting involves advising clients, typically businesses and other organizations, on how to reduce their energy usage and costs. Energy consultants analyze a client's current energy usage patterns, appliances/equipment, and billings to identify areas where savings can be achieved.
Energy Consulting have expertise in various areas like auditing energy usage, developing conservation strategies, evaluating renewable energy options, negotiating utility rates and incentives, and implementing energy efficiency upgrades. Their goal is to help clients lower energy costs through measures that maximize efficiency and savings over both the short and long term.
Performing an Energy Audit
One of the first steps an energy consultant takes is conducting a thorough energy audit of the client's facility. During an audit, the consultant examines every aspect of energy usage from lighting to heating/cooling systems to power-hungry appliances. Key activities in an energy audit include:
- Benchmarking current energy usage by analyzing past utility bills. This establishes a baseline for measuring savings.
- Inspecting the building envelope for air leaks, insufficient insulation, and other issues contributing to heat/cooling loss.
- Reviewing lighting systems to identify areas where upgraded fixtures or controls could reduce costs. Outdated T12 fluorescent tubes are a common target.
- Evaluating HVAC equipment like boilers, chillers, and air handlers for optimization opportunities through maintenance, repairs, or replacement. Aged systems are rarely operating at peak efficiency.
- Investigating process-related energy usage from machinery, manufacturing equipment, kitchen appliances, etc. Profiling loads helps identify improvement projects.
- Providing a detailed report that prioritizes the most impactful and cost-effective upgrades based on simple payback periods. Implementation forms the next phase.
Developing an Energy Conservation Plan
With insights from the audit, the consultant works closely with the client to craft a multi-year energy conservation plan. This spells out a strategic roadmap for achieving long-term usage reduction and expense control goals in a financially prudent manner.
Key elements of a typical conservation plan include:
- Sequencing recommended projects based on paybacks, available incentives, and other factors to maximize early savings.
- Assisting with requests for utility rebates, tax credits, and other financial assistance to lower project costs.
- Preparing detailed specifications and managing competitive bidding to ensure quality work at fair pricing.
- Scheduling and overseeing implementation to keep projects on track and help resolve any issues.
- Establishing measurement and verification protocols to accurately track savings from completed initiatives.
- Providing ongoing monitoring, commissioning, and support services to ensure operational efficiency is sustained.
Negotiating Utility Rates & Contracts
Many consultants have broad connections within the energy industry and leverage those relationships to benefit clients. This involves negotiating directly with utilities on their behalf to obtain favorable pricing terms in supply contracts or incentive programs.
For large energy users, even modest rate reductions through these specialized negotiations can translate to significant yearly cost avoidances. Consultants keep abreast of evolving utility programs and policies to continually capitalize on new saving opportunities for clients wherever possible.
Renewable Energy Evaluations and Project Development
An increasing number of energy consultants offer advisory services around renewable resources as well. They evaluate a property or company's potential for solar PV, wind, geothermal, combined heat and power, biomass, or other distributed generation technologies.
Should installation seem viable, the consultant provides guidance on acquisition and installation options, oversees the construction management process, and works out the contractual arrangements for selling power back to the grid. Their involvement throughout builds confidence in projects and helps ensure they deliver on promised financial and environmental returns.
Measuring Impact and Ensuring Accountability
Consulting clients require transparent reporting of a project’s actual savings compared to predicted amounts. Consultants establish measurement and verification protocols for tracking key performance indicators like kWh reduced, therms saved, and expenses avoided post-implementation.
Random audits are periodically conducted to guarantee projected conservation levels persist over the long-run. Consultants also provide ongoing commissioning and monitoring services. This helps clients maintain optimized operations, quickly resolve any issues, and continually improve performance over decades of use from upgraded systems.
As energy costs continue rising, energy efficiency represents a major opportunity for organizations to cut expenses through both behavioral changes and infrastructure upgrades identified by expert consultants. By assessing current usage comprehensively and developing tailored conservation strategies, energy consulting serves a vital function in helping commercial, industrial, and institutional clients enhance sustainability and control their utility budgets long into the future.
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