Savings through Active Energy Efficiency

October 20, 2010 at 7:42 pm | Posted in News from Members | Leave a comment
Tags: Energy Audit, Energy Efficiency, Return on investment

Investing in energy efficiency in a building (new or existing)  is by far the most popular measure  in terms of  return on investment. In all cases saving energy means saving money.  The costs associated with energy efficiency measures are simple investments that will be returned in the future from lower energy bills.  

According to Schneider Electric,  there are two approaches for achieving visible results in energy saving  that should be  both considered when planning an innitiative regarding energy efficiency- Passive Energy Efficiency (that is regarded as the installation of countermeasures against thermal losses, the use of low energy consumption equipment etc) and Active Energy Efficiency (effecting permanent change through measurement, monitoring and control of energy usage). 

The first step in any strategy or plan for reducing energy consumption in your organisation or at home is to measure and evaluate the exising energy consumption through an energy audit of the building. Like Lord Kelvin was saying ” What can be measured, can be evaluated, improved, directed – in short managed”.

The Active Energy Efficiency concept proposed by Schneider is broadly analysed and detailed in a  special  White Paper “Making Permanent Savings through Active Energy Efficiency”. Take a look at the document if you want to find out more about energy control in buildings,  the impact that energy efficiency  has on reducing CO2 emmissions from the building, legal frameworks at the EU level  that encourage  and support energy efficiency in buildings , possible technical solutions  for active energy efficiency and returns on investment.

Anca