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" In The Driving Seat New technologies and incentives are changing customer behaviours in energy management by Bill Armstrong E lectric Current – Use it Freely" proclaimed a utility sponsored poster from the 1950s, when some experts wondered if abundant electrical power would become "too cheap to meter." The same mindset applied to oil consumption until OPEC caused the price of oil to almost quadruple in 1973/1974. Fast forward a few decades and energy conservation and sustain- ability are the new watchwords as energy producers strive to defer the need for large, capital intensive investments in new projects, and their customers incorporate energy sav- ing strategies into new buildings, and retrofit to improve the energy efficiency of older buildings. Recently, lighting has been the "low hanging fruit" for energy savings. Steve Nemetz of Nemetz (S/A) & Associates Ltd. notes that basic conservation strategies include energy- efficient lamps and lighting controls that use occupancy and daylight sensors. The cost of LED lighting is dropping about 10 per cent each year, he says, and combined with incentives from utilities to replace older fixtures, LED is more affordable. Steve Woodmass, regional director in B.C. for Williams Engineering Canada, agrees. While LED applications are coming down in price, they are only part of the evolution, he adds. "Our company is involved with many types of passive solar, solar thermal and solar voltaic, as well as efficient energy designs of lighting load offset designs using solar light tubes or light shelves in buildings," Woodmass says. On the mechanical side, he notes, the company looks for opportunities to apply passive or active energy saving products, such as variable- frequency motor drives, chilled beams, geo- thermal systems and air-to-air heat recovery. The company also uses numerous modelling programs to analyze the financial impacts of various energy saving strategies. "Lifecycle evaluations are starting to become more popular by various agencies, but generally this is still in its infancy. Further use of this evaluation technique could expand energy-based systems," says Woodmass. Julia Beresford, a project manager in Williams' Calgary office, adds that the company has been involved in sustain- able design since before LEED standards were adopted in North America, and has provided energy audits for the past 12 years. It also introduced greenhouse gas services five years ago. As a sign of the times, she notes, the company recently expanded its energy modelling team into a building perfor- mance team, to pool its mechanical, electrical and building science engineering expertise to create a range of modelling and building performance services for its clients. George Steeves, president of Sterling Cooper, agrees that mechanical engineering remains at the forefront of sustain- ability as the mechanical systems use most of the energy within the buildings. "For that reason it is critical that mechanical engineers and designers take a leading role in improving buildings, in reducing building energy use and thus improving people's lives and the environment," says Steeves. "Mechanical systems in buildings can be challenging as they are generally considered to be the most difficult sys- tems to design in order to meet people's expectations. Lighting either works or it doesn't, whereas the acceptability of a certain temperature within the space depends on the person." Claude Saltel, division manager of controls for Houle Electric, notes that Direct Digital Control ( DDC) systems have evolved dramatically over the past few years. Houle does most of its con- trols work in the commercial and insti- tutional markets, Saltel explains, where anyone with the proper credentials and web access or a smartphone can con- nect to their building at any time to see how things are working, check and view for any alarms, make adjustments and turn equipment on or off if desired. There is also a movement to inte- grate DDC, security cameras, elevators and other building systems into one central system, so that when a person swipes a security card to enter a build- ing the event is recorded and monitored, the elevator takes them only to the floor they work on, and lighting, heating or cooling would automatically turn on in the area where they work. "We are often involved with some- thing called continuous optimization," Saltel says. "With our DDC system in place we monitor energy usage on a continuous basis, comparing current energy usage to when the building was new, or to a baseline. We look for rea- sons for any increase and implement strategies to reduce energy consump- tion, or repair any problem. We also tune the system to attain just the right amount of heating or cooling, to achieve maximum efficiency." The experience of Ontario-based EnerCare Inc. demonstrates that pay- ing for what you use certainly moti- vates energy conservation. EnerCare's sub-metering subsidiary, EnerCare Connections Inc., is Canada's largest non-utility provider of sub-meter- ing services. Sub-metering involves installing electrical, water, gas and/or thermal meters for each suite, so that the occupants of individual suites pay for what they use. Monitoring can be either wireless or wired. Solar Photovoltaic Design Build at Fort Simpson, N.W.T. Photos this page courtesy Williams Engineering Canada. energy Management p28-31Energy Management.indd 29 14-01-22 10:58 AM