The World’s top 5 Most Energy-Efficient Cities

Over the years, building a sustainable planet has become more and more important with countries all over the world actively joining the fight to combat climate change and build an environmentally friendly future for us all. As sustainability has become a priority certain cities have excelled in being green. 

1. Reykjavik, Iceland

Reykjavik in Iceland has taken the top spot, and rightly so as it’s a city completely powered by renewable energy.Along with the rest of Iceland, Reykjavik relies on renewable hydropower and geothermal plants to provide all of the heat, electricity and hot water for its more than 120,000 citizens. The plan for Reykjavik is for the city to be completely independent by 2050, having no reliance on fossil fuels at all.

2. San Francisco, California

San Francisco has been at the forefront of sustainable living for many years, in 2007 it became the first US city to ban the use of plastic bags, this has saved over 100 million bags from being thrown into landfill each year. It topped the charts in the 2013 American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economycity scorecard.

3. Malmö, Sweden

Most of Sweden’s energy already comes from nuclear power and the country has reduced its consumption of fossil fuels by 25 percent from 2008 to 2012.The Western Harbour in Malmö is completely powered by renewable energy from the sun, wind, hydropower and biofuels.

4. Vancouver, Canada

Vancouver has high hopes that it will become the world’s greenest city by 2020. While that may seem like a big accomplishment in a fairly small amount of time, the city is well on its way. Hydroelectric power already accounts for 90 percent of the city’s energy supply, while the other 10 percent includes renewables like wind, solar and wave power.

5. Portland, Ore

Portland has an excellent reputation in terms of its commuters with over 25% of its workforce either travelling by public transport, bicycles or carpooling.

http://www.en-mat.com/the-worlds-5-most-energy-efficient-cities

Automatic Monitoring and Targeting

Automatic Monitoring and Targeting (AMT) is an energy efficiency technique. Based on the principle that ‘you cannot manage what you cannot measure’, Automatic Monitoring and Targeting (AMT)  techniques assist Energy Managers to:

• understand their energy usage
• benchmark consumption and set targets
• make decisions regarding operating practices

The purpose of Automatic Monitoring and Targeting (AMT)  is to relate your energy consumption data to the appropriate energy drivers, e.g. weather, production figures, in such a way that you get a better understanding of how energy is being used. In particular, it will identify if there are signs of avoidable waste or other opportunities to reduce consumption.

Data collection may be manual, automated, or a mixture of the two. To be effective in the long term, once an Automatic Monitoring and Targeting (AMT)  scheme has been set up, its routine operation must be neither time consuming or complex. An Automatic Monitoring and Targeting (AMT)  scheme will provide essential underpinning for current energy management activities and suggest new opportunities.

The type, location and design of the meters and sensors will play a huge part in the implementation ofAutomatic Monitoring and Targeting (AMT) recommendations. Care should be taken when deciding the position and type of meter used to ensure that energy drivers can be accurately identified for individual departments, production lines and major individual energy consuming plant.

Automatic Monitoring and Targeting (AMT) Purpose

The system foundation of Automatic Monitoring and Targeting (AMT)  lies in determining the normal relationships of energy consumptions to relevant driving factors (production throughputs, weather, available daylight, etc.) and the goal is to help business managers:

• Identify and explain excessive energy use
• Detect instances when consumption is unexpectedly lower than would usually have been the case
• Draw energy consumption trends (weekly, seasonal, operational…)
• Determine future energy use when planning changes in the business
• Diagnose specific areas of wasted energy
• Observe how the business reacted to changes in the past
• Develop performance targets for energy management programs
• Manage their energy consumption, rather than accept it as a fixed cost that they have no control over.

Automatic Monitoring and Targeting (AMT) Goal

The ultimate goal is to reduce energy costs through improved energy efficiency and energy management control. Other benefits will include increased resource efficiency, improved production budgeting and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

http://www.en-mat.com/automatic-monitoring-and-targeting

Austria and Poland face fines over energy waste law

Austria and Poland face fines for failing to implement EU law on making buildings more energy-efficient, the EU executive said on Thursday.

The European Commission is referring Poland and Austria to the EU Court of Justice for failing to enact the energy efficiency buildings legislation.

The European Commission is asking the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) in Luxembourg to apply a penalty of 96,720 euros ($131,900) against Poland and 39,593 euros against Austria for every day they do not comply with EU law.

Under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, member states must establish and apply minimum energy performance requirements for all buildings, ensure the certification of buildings’ energy performance and regularly inspect heating and air conditioning systems. It also requires member states to ensure all new buildings are nearly zero-energy buildings by 2021.

The Directive had to be transposed into national law by July 2012.

Buildings account for about 40 percent of energy consumption and more than a third of EU carbon-dioxide emissions.

The EU is aiming for a 20% cut in Europe’s annual primary energy usage by 2020.

http://www.en-mat.com/austria-and-poland-face-fines-over-energy-waste-law

Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS)

http://www.envantage.co.uk/carbon-management/energy-savings-opportunity-scheme-esos.html

The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is expected to help reduce business energy costs by a total of £1.6 billion by 2030. ESOS is a mandatory energy assessment and energy saving identification scheme for large undertakings and their corporate groups. Under the scheme, which applies throughout the UK, businesses will be required to look closely at their energy usage to identify cost-effective energy savings.

About 9,400 large enterprises will be required to calculate their energy use from next year under a major new scheme being rolled out by the government that aims to slash power costs and carbon emissions across industry.

The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) which demands all organisations outside the public sector with more than 250 employees undertake energy audits once every four years in line with the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive.

The government hopes that by mandating businesses across a range of sectors to measure their energy use, they will then take simple steps to curb demand.

Its impact assessment shows the scheme could deliver an average energy reduction of 0.7 per cent for businesses, delivering total savings of £1.6bn over the period to 2030.

Overview

The ESOS is a mandatory energy assessments and energy savings identification scheme for large undertakings in the UK. Compliance under this scheme must be entailed by 5th December 2015, however action is recommend ASAP to allow ample time to carry out all actions required.

Am I affected?

You are likely to be in the ESOS if, on the qualification date of 31st December 2014 you are:

1. An Undertaking which has 250 or more employees in the UK.

2. An Undertaking which has fewer than 250 employees, but has:

o   An Annual turnover exceeding €50m and,

o   A balance sheet exceeding €43m

3. Part of a corporate group which includes an undertaking which meets criteria 1 or 2 above.

What must we do?

A brief overview:

1. Measure total energy consumption across:
   1. Buildings,
   2. Transport- Freight and business travel in company and employees vehicles
   3. Industrial activities.
2. Conduct energy audits to identify cost-effective energy efficiency recommendations.
3. Report compliance to the Environment Agency by 5th December 2015

Before notification to the Environment Agency, the ESOS assessment must be conducted or reviewed by a lead assessorand reviewed by a board level director.

What if we do not comply?

Failure to correctly comply with the scheme can lead to fines of up to £50,000 and / or an additional fine of £500 per day, until compliance is entailed, for a maximum of 80 days. Non complying companies will also be named and shamed.

Where can I find help?

If you think you may qualify for this scheme or you aren’t sure, please contact Envantage to discuss compliance in more detail. We can provide you more details on how the scheme works and how we can help meet the requirements of the scheme.

Flow Meters

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A flow meter is a device used to measure the flow rate or quantity of a gas or liquid in a pipe.

Volumetric flowmeters directly measure the volume of fluid (Q) passing through the flowmeter. The only flowmeter technology that measures volume directly is the positive displacement flowmeter. 

Velocity flowmeters utilise techniques that measure the velocity (v) of the flowing stream to determine the volumetric flow. Examples of flowmeter technologies that measure velocity include magnetic, turbine, ultrasonic, and vortex shedding and fluidic flowmeters.

ENMAT Modbus Compressed Air Flow Meter

The ENMAT Modbus Compressed Air Flow Meter is the ideal compressed air tool enabling users to perform air audits quicker, easier and more effectively.

The meter comes with a Modbus output allowing easy connection to an ENMAT data logger for reporting to ENMAT Cloud Energy Management Software.

Read more…

ENMAT Cloud Software Editions

Data Loggers

ENMAT Installation Services

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Compressed Air Monitoring Software

Compressed Air Monitoring

ENMAT Monitors Compressed Air so that Energy Managers can determine consumption over periods of time.

Using ENMAT’s  Automated Alert Management system with monitoring units such as compressors will help you to identify any leaks or over-usage at an early stage.

For a full list please click here

ENMAT Modbus Compressed Air Flow Meter

The ENMAT Modbus Compressed Air Flow Meter is the ideal compressed air tool enabling users to perform air audits quicker, easier and more effectively.

The meter comes with a Modbus output allowing easy connection to an ENMAT data logger for reporting to ENMAT Cloud Energy Management Software.

Read more…