Energy Analysis

Public Sector Energy Efficiency

Research in public sector energy efficiency helps public agencies in countries throughout the world design and implement market-based strategies that make effective use of today's efficient products and practices and create market demand for new technologies in order to save energy, improve productivity, and reduce pollution.

Promoting an energy-efficient Public Sector (PePS) is a collaborative effort to promote and assist energy conservation programs in governments around the world. Four non-profit organizations are collaborating to direct the effort:

• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
• the Alliance to Save Energy,
• International Institute for Energy Conservation, and
• ICLEI, an international association of local governments implementing sustainable development.

Federal Energy Management Program

As the largest energy consumer in the United States, the federal government has both a tremendous opportunity and a clear responsibility to lead by example with smart energy management. By promoting energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy resources at federal sites, the Federal Energy Management Program helps agencies save energy, save taxpayer dollars, and demonstrate leadership with responsible, cleaner energy choices. EETD researchers provide technical consultation to assist FEMP in its work.

Risk Management & Energy Efficiency

Measurement and Verification (M&V) is a critical element of an Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC). Typically, M&V decisions are made almost solely based on engineering judgment and experience, with little, if any, quantitative uncertainty analysis (QUA). This project explores the use of QUA methods such as Monte-Carlo simulation to assess savings uncertainty and thereby augment the M&V decision-making process in ESPCs. QUA is used in combination with heuristic knowledge, in order to obtain quantitative estimates of the savings uncertainty without the burden of a comprehensive bottoms-up QUA.

The approach was used to analyze the savings uncertainty in ESPCs for federal agencies. Results show that in some cases the QUA simply confirms intuitive or qualitative information, while in other cases, it provides insight that suggests revisiting the M&V plan. By providing quantitative uncertainty information, QUA can effectively augment the M&V decision-making process as well as the overall ESPC financial analysis.