An Inside Look at Standards That Can Drive Industrial Energy Efficiency

By Kyle Haas

On Nov. 2, 2011, a variety of stakeholders came together at the Alliance to Save Energy’s Washington, D.C. headquarters to learn about the Superior Energy Performance (SEP) program and other new standards at an Alliance EE Noon seminar. As appliance standards and building codes have yielded important energy efficiency gains in the residential and commercial sectors, new resources are now available to industrial companies in the United States that can enhance corporate sustainability efforts through substantial gains in energy efficiency at the plant level.

Two sets of standards provide industrial end users with a consistent means to evaluate energy use and develop sound strategies to improve their energy performance:  four new standards for assessing industrial compressed air, pumping, steam and process heating systems released by the American Society for Mechanical Engineering (ASME) in 2010, and the ISO 50001 Energy Management Standard released by the International Standards Organization in June 2011.

One important way that these standards will be delivered to U.S. manufacturers is through SEP, which was developed through the U.S. Council for Energy-Efficient Manufacturing (U.S. CEEM) in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute for Standards and Technology. SEP is an ANSI- and ANAB-accredited certification program that provides industrial facilities with a roadmap for achieving continual improvement in energy efficiency while maintaining competitiveness. Currently, plants belonging to 34 companies across the United States are working towards SEP certification in the program’s demonstration phase and some already have realized substantial energy savings through its implementation.

Firsthand Insight at EE Noon

Paul Scheihing, supervisor of technology deployment at DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office first presented detailed insights into ISO 50001 and SEP. According to Scheihing, “Energy efficiency gains of 10% to 30% can be achieved through operational changes in many industrial facilities” in response to a commonly held notion that energy efficiency gains can only be achieved through capital-intensive, equipment upgrades. Scheihing gave a comprehensive overview of SEP, focusing on the strategic goals of the program, including:

• Fostering an organizational culture of continuous improvement in energy efficiency
• Creating transparency of energy performance improvements
• Creating a verified record of energy savings that have potential market value

Scheihing noted that a key factor in achieving continual improvement is engaging executive-level stakeholders in energy management decisions. Effective energy management requires people – including managers and other high-level decision makers – to change their behavior to implement and sustain the change.

Schneider Electric’s Continual Improvements in Energy Efficiency

The next speaker was Paul Hamilton, senior vice president of government affairs at Schneider Electric, who presented a synopsis of actions taken by Schneider in their New² corporate energy efficiency program. This program was successfully implemented across 51 of their North American facilities between 2004 and 2008. The cumulative results of the New² initiative include:

• $18.4 million in energy cost savings
• 201,833 tons of CO₂ saved
• 27% greenhouse gas reduction

Despite these substantial efforts, Schneider Electric’s Smyrna, Tenn. plant is participating in the current SEP demonstration round and expects to achieve ISO 50001 certification by March 2012, and SEP certification by June of that same year.

Hamilton felt that Schneider is a particularly good candidate for SEP, as the program fits well within the company’s culture. When asked about the reasoning behind Schneider’s participation in SEP, Hamilton noted that “by analyzing and improving energy performance, companies end up better managed, and better companies overall.”

Hamilton pointed out that participation in SEP required approximately 120% of full-time equivalence. Since the Smyrna plant already had an energy manger, the plant didn’t have to create a new position. Part-time help from another employee for about six months was sufficient.

Ease in Implementation and Verification

To develop accurate baselines of energy use, the SEP demonstration plants are using the EnPi tool developed by Georgia Tech’s Energy and Environmental Management Center. The EnPi is a linear regression tool that incorporates all the factors that affect energy use and statistically isolates each factor’s influence on energy use.  This can capture the cumulative effect of energy efficiency measures and validate energy savings. With the assistance of ANSI-accredited certified practitioners who will assist plants in implementing ISO 50001, conduct system assessments, or verify conformance to SEP requirements for certification, implementation of SEP will be feasible for many industrial plants.

To learn more about Superior Energy Performance, visit the SEP homepage.