Compressed Air Best Practices-August 2008

Focus Industry COMPRESSED AIR AUDITS | 08/08 | What does Ecos Air specialize in? Ecos Air is a third party contractor hired by utility companies to implement their efficiency incentive programs. Ecos works with utilities like PG&E, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison. Many utilities find it challenging to implement an industrial incentive program aimed at reducing energy consumption. What forms should they require business owners to fill out? Why do they sometimes get poor program participation? How do they verify that energy savings are attained? Ecos Air has a program where the utility company just has to establish a financial budget and we execute the projects and guarantee the energy savings. Our role with PG&E is to work with a set group of industrial customers with a separate budget for incentives. We provide: 1. 2. 3. A walk-through audit at no charge The client then fills in our three-page application. This reserves incentive money that is projected We manage a 7–10 day audit capturing this many days of data logging. We try to have at least one weekend of data captured during the audit. We either do the audit ourselves or will work with a vendor to do the work We measure pressure, flow and kW to establish our baseline parameters We have a third party vendor do post-project verification of the savings. We only get paid by PG&E if the projected energy efficiencies which they financed are confirmed We are vendor neutral as to what equipment should be installed 4. 5. 6. What recommendations do you have for end users? Don’t make any assumptions. Our customers are always surprised at what is discovered about their compressed air consumption. Quick conclusions or “quick audits” can lead to false conclusions. We recently had a customer who said that his facility was completely down on the weekends. Our data logging, however, showed significant air consumption. It turned out some employees were showing up and working on their boat trailers all weekend! What incentive does PG&E offer? PG&E offers (through our Ecos Air program) a 10-cent per kilowatt-hour incentive up to 70% of the total project cost including installation. We are managing a $2 million incentive budget for PG&E over a three-year period. The incentive is paid upon completion of the project. The client must come up with the capital beforehand. Sometimes this is not budgeted by the client and this can be an obstacle. Going outside of their planned business capital processes can be a challenge. We are finding some equipment vendors willing to offer these clients extended payment terms allowing time for the incentive funds to arrive. How does the program you administer for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) work? PG&E has a very well developed industrial energy efficiency incentive program which is financed and staffed very progressively. They are truly proactive about pursuing energy efficiency in Northern California. They have a large incentive budget, which they administer and manage with their own staff. www.airbestpractices.com 33 http://www.airbestpractices.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Compressed Air Best Practices-August 2008

Compressed Air Best Practices- August 2008 Contents From the Editor Utility-Air News The August Audit of the Month: A Vacuum System Audit Energized for Savings at Seattle City Light and Tacoma Power Know Your System CASE: Compressed Air Supply Efficiency Ecos Air: Managing Incentive Programs Kaeser Compressors: Loyalty, Energy and Growth Building Relationships at Cummins-Wagner McIntire is Moving Forward The 2008 A.I.C.D. Conference & Exhibition Tuthill Vacuum and Blower Systems Resources for Energy Engineers: Training Calendar & Product Picks Wall Street Watch Advertiser Index Job Market

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