Identifying Cost Avoidance Programs

By completing an Energy Audit for your organisation you will be in the position of knowing:

  • where and how your utilities are used,

  • what the “inefficiency costs” to the organisation are,

  • what are the potential savings are to the organisation

  • have a prioritised list of Cost Avoidance Program & Energy savings measure, including:costs of these projects, how you could fund these projects, the ROI and what the potential savings to the organisation for each recommended Energy Efficiency Project.

 
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Return on Investment (ROI)

Investments in cost-cutting programs like energy management are evaluated just like any other investment; does it make sound financial sense? UtilityCap provides clear and straightforward financial justification of any cost avoidance project using conservative assumptions so the projected ROI of the project is attainable. Past performance and short case studies are helpful, particularly when the cost-savings estimates are independently verified. A conservative approach helps ensure that the project will meet its numbers and ideally outperform the projected results.

 

Cost Avoidance Software

EnergyCAP's predecessor software originally pioneered cost avoidance and measurement & verification calculations. Adhering to Option C, the "Whole Facility Method" in the International Performance Measurement & Verification Protocol (IPMVP), EnergyCAP's cost avoidance continues to be a valuable function in EnergyCAP.

 

Normalization

Normalization helps compare year-to-year utility expenses on an “apples-to-apples” basis using weather data. After you select a base year, EnergyCAP puts energy use into daily "buckets" and then allocates each to the appropriate calendar month. Then EnergyCAP adjusts weather-sensitive meters to reflect the degree days in the user-selected weather normalization year. The result is an easy-to-understand energy use comparison that can be very useful for evaluating energy management efforts.

 

Calendarization

Calendarization more accurately allocates utility bill usage and cost data for reporting purposes by dividing the data into daily “buckets” and allocating them to the appropriate calendar month using weather adjustments. This tool is helpful in comparing month-to-month and year-to-year utility bill data and “smoothing out” quarterly or annual invoices across multiple months.

 

Use vs. Weather

Use vs. Weather graphs in EnergyCAP reveal correlations between these two variables. By comparing monthly degree days with meter energy usage, it is possible to derive a meter profile that expresses the weather sensitivity of that meter.

 

Energy Use Intensity

Energy Use Intensity (EUI) is a useful metric to monitor long-term energy efficiency trends for a building. ENERGY STAR defines EUI as “a unit of measurement that describes a building’s energy use. EUI represents the energy consumed by a building relative to its size. A building’s EUI is calculated by taking the total energy consumed in one year (measured in kBtu) and dividing it by the total floor space of the building.”

EnergyCAP uses weather-normalized energy use to calculate annualized EUI and displays it on a trend chart. EnergyCAP can also roll up EUI values at every level of the organization hierarchy. This functionality provides a valuable picture of long-term energy efficiency trends for each department, division, region, and business unit, as well as for the entire organization.