Do Completed Projects Result In Energy Savings

Since 1978, the California Energy Commission has assisted and funded approximately $120 million in energy efficiency projects in schools, colleges, hospitals and other public facilities through federal and state grant and loan programs. In all cases, energy savings identified in the energy audit were assumed to be achieved if the participant installed the project and had no problems after installation. Except for an occasional comparison of preand post-retrofit utility bills, no post-project monitoring was done to verify savings in the energy audits. Between 1994 and 1997, the State monitored the energy savings associated with installing energy efficient lighting, high efficiency motors, energy management systems (EMS) and/or variable frequency drives at seven facilities The results indicate that lighting and motor replacement projects generally were within 20 percent of the estimated savings in the energy audit if the baseline conditions were correct. The measured savings from EMS’s, chiller replacements and variable frequency drives showed substantially less savings than predicted. This was primarily due to post-retrofit changes in equipment scheduling, facility operations and installation of equipment that increased cooling loads. The savings reductions were not due to the technology but to operation changes. The findings indicate a need to include commissioning, equipment monitoring and verification, and/or training into program design to ensure project savings are achieved, especially when heating, ventilating, air conditioning projects are installed. Lighting and motor replacement projects require less stringent monitoring.