Whenever I hear the words “Incremental steps” I can’t help but think of the Sky cycling team. They employed the ethos of achieving gains through the application of multiple incremental gains.
Being a Triathlete I have read a cycling book or two and was amazed to learn that Team Sky even worked out which kind of pillows gave their riders the best nights sleep. Now that is doing your homework. Some would call it due diligence. I would call it …….
“Leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit of success”
During my time as an Energy Manager I had buildings where I had commissioned multiple energy savings projects. It was during this time that I started to develop the theory of energy saving technologies coming together to work as a team.
As with all teams the benefit of being part of a team is that the accumulated gains far outweigh the combined individual efforts. But is it possible for Energy Saving technology to come together as a team and save even more energy? If it is, then maybe we should be rethinking our energy reduction strategies to capitalise on this team effect.
Time for an example. At one of my swimming pool sites I had installed Pool covers, these would reduce gas consumption by 10%. I also Installed better boiler controls 8% and lagged the boiler room another 8%. Total combined savings 26%
My calculations had been carefully worked through allowing for weather correction. However, when I performed the energy verification after those projects had been commissioned, I found my actual savings were closer to 35%. Naturally I checked my figures but found them to be correct.
Had I underestimated the forecasted savings?????
This was a mystery that troubled me. Most energy professionals are control freaks and as such we need to understand energy savings. In my experience, not being able to understand why you have saved energy is even more infuriating than unexplained increases in energy consumption.
Such things keep us Energy professionals awake at night.
In the same swimming pool, I also commissioned variable speed drives (on pumps), a LED lighting upgrade and a small solar PV array. The combined savings of which was a 25% reduction in grid electric. However, the realised savings were well above 30%.
What was going on?????
Was this swimming pool haunted by energy conscious ghosts?
Why could I not explain the additional energy savings. Was I really bad at maths? Had the electric meter started working in our favour?? Again, I checked my calculations but came up blank. It was at this time that I started to consider the possibility that energy saving technologies liked working with one another.
The more I considered this the more it made sense. I began to develop my theory into a coherent explanation. I mentioned it to a few of my colleagues in the industry. Some could see where I was coming from. And others thought I had lost it completely.
Sometime later the Energy Display Certificate (DEC) for the swimming pool was updated. It scored a B rating, this is unheard of for a swimming pool/leisure centre of that age. This was an impressive achievement and certainly a success I shouted about.
I remember announcing the good news at the Councils’ sustainability work group. Where, I proudly explained that over 2-3 years I had commissioned 13 energy saving projects in that building. It was at this moment that my head of department said……
“Yeah, but what is actually saving the Energy?”……..
What an absolute moron!!! It was at this point it occurred to me that some people are so cynical they become imprisoned by their own limited thinking. I realised that explaining my newly developed theory would have been as pointless as explaining Pythagoras to a dung beetle.
There are some energy saving technologies that are natural team mates. Such as LED lighting and intelligent controls. These two will work very well together. LED lighting will also work well with air conditioning units in a server room for example. This is because they give off significantly less heat than a fluorescent light fitting which means the AC unit doesn’t have to work as hard.
However, variable speed drives (on pumps) and LED lighting do not share any connection and as such should not work as a team. The naysayers will suggest there must be other reasons I am not accounting for. Perhaps the unaccounted team player is staff awareness. Perhaps more energy reduction projects lead to greater staff awareness? I am not sure I agree with this.
If you want the benefits of team work, start employing numerous energy saving technology and watch that team ethos go.
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