Energy Monitoring Program

Energy Monitoring Program

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Energy Monitoring Program

An energy-monitoring program enables the organization to control consumption of energy in the course of operation. This benefits the company as enables it to reduce energy costs and to save energy. The following steps are essential when initiating the monitoring program. The first step involves selecting a monitoring team, consisting of a manager and staff members. The team should have enough skills and knowledge, as well as have the necessary authority to plan the monitoring activity and to implement it. The team should have adequate skills in energy use and conservation, as well as in food processing. These skills are essential when determining the processes to consider and the equipment to use for monitoring purposes. The team should have adequate authority, as this is essential in making decisions as well as in ensuring support from the senior management (Beggs 2009).

The second step involves establishing the monitoring objectives, which can include measurement of results, comparison of the results to the program’s objectives, or assessment of the program’s operational efficiency. The main objective of the program is to reduce energy costs in the food processing and packaging facilities. The third step in the process involves determining the monitoring constraints, which are the actions taken to monitor a program and the limitations that determine these actions. Constraints can include the availability of resources such as the monitoring hardware and software, time, money, and the skills of the available monitoring staff. The fourth step involves identifying the monitoring design and technique to use. The design can be descriptive or experimental (Beggs 2009).

The fifth step is the development of the techniques to be used in data collection and analysis when measuring the performance of the program. The data collected depends on how it will be used. The next step is the pre-test monitoring technique, which will involve testing the reliability and performance of the new system, or of the hardware or software used in the program. It will also involve confirming the assumptions that were made concerning the cost of the system. The next step is the re-evaluation of the design and technique used as well as on the objectives made, depending on the results of pre-monitoring. After this, the next step will involve implementing the monitoring program. It is necessary for every person who will use the program in some way to have full information and understand his or her responsibility (Beggs 2009).

An energy-monitoring program helps the company to conserve the energy used, as it locates areas of high energy consumption. The company will be able to know the areas where it is spending money, and taking measures to rectify the situation will enable the company save on costs. This includes finding areas where there is wastage and inefficiencies and identifying any opportunities that will enable cost cutting (GVEP 2006). Installing a monitoring system at Mariah Meat Packing revealed the facilities that consumed most energy in the company, and this enabled the company to find ways of rectifying the situation. The company was able to save on costs as well, once it changed the system (Holmes 2011). The Schneider Electric companies were able to reduce their energy costs by the assistance of an energy-monitoring program, which enabled the management to discover anomalies that led to increased energy costs (Studebaker n.d.). Using the Tinytag, data loggers as energy monitors have enabled The Energy Monitoring Company to ensure energy efficiency and to enhance the efficiency of the cooling systems as well as improve the heating systems of the company (Gemini n.d.).

References

Beggs, C., 2009. Energy: management, supply and conservation. 2^nd ed. Oxford: Elsevier

Gemini, n.d. The energy monitoring company use tinytags to monitor heating and cooling systems. [online] Available at: <http://www.geminidataloggers.com/articles/energy-monitoring-company-tinytags-monitoring-heating-cooling-systems> [Accessed 7 August 2013]

GVEP International, 2006. A guide to monitoring and evaluation for energy projects. [online] Available at: <http://www.gvepinternational.org/sites/default/files/monitoring_and_evaluation_guide.pdf> [Accessed 7 August 2013]

Holmes, B., 2011. The benefits of monitoring industrial energy systems. [pdf] Available at: <http://www.holmesautopilot.com/library/Benefits_of_Monitoring_Industrial_Systems.pdf> [Accessed 7 August 2013]

Studebaker, P., n.d. How are you doing? Monitor energy to improve reliability and efficiency. [online] Available at: <http://www.plantservices.com/articles/2010/03EnergyMonitoring.html> [Accessed 7 August 2013]