The Energy Master Plan (EMP) provided by ESA has grown out of our firm's years of experience providing Investment Grade Energy Audits. A Master Plan might be as simple as a listing of the various organizational needs with assigned responsibilities aimed toward improved operating efficiencies. Typically, however, a Master Plan will go beyond to-do lists and address the inter-relationships of systems and operations.
The Energy Master Plan is a tool to be used in the development of an integrated plan for the intelligent purchase, operation, up-keep and replacement of energy consuming and energy related equipment and systems. Although an EMP may be shaped to fit the needs of the particular owner or facility, its overriding focus should be the planned correction, renovation or replacement of particular energy consuming or energy related systems with the following priorities in mind: |
- Life Safety Issues
- Code/Standard Compliance
- Operating Expense
- Energy Efficiency
- Equipment/System Age
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| Of all the benefits inherent within the Energy Master Plan, possibly the most beneficial is Project Prioritization. The goal of this portion of the plan is to assess future expenses, planning them into future budgets and reducing unexpected costs and budget-busting emergencies. Although no one can flawlessly predict the order of demise for individual equipment items, it has been found that given data such as age, degree of maintenance, hours of operation, etc., ones batting average, ie, predictive consistency, can be significantly improved. |
Common Components of an EMP should include: - An assessment of current energy use and its implications for operations;
- An inventory of energy consuming equipment and systems;
- Existing vs. code-required operating parameters; e.g., air
changes per hour (or cfm/occupant), temperature ranges, humidity levels, lighting levels, etc...
- Base year information depicting current consumption levels and the conditions (such as occupancy, run times, operating hours) causing that consumption;
- An initial indication of energy efficiency savings potential
(scoping audit) and specific organizational benefits which could result from such savings;
- Health, Safety, and Environmental Concerns;
- An assessment of utility supply options, including pricing, trends, and availability;
- Emergency preparedness and standby energy strategies;
- An analysis of the operations and maintenance functions,
manpower, skills, training needs and related energy implications;
- An Energy Policy;
- Equipment Replacement Recommendations; and
- A determination of what needs can best be served by in-house staff and what tasks will need to be outsourced.
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