Keeping ahead
December 1st 2007

With energy and climate change remaining high on the political agenda, what does

2008 hold in store for energy and facilities managers? Alan Aldridge, executive director

of the Energy Services and Technology Association looks at the main developments

The tortuous negotiations at

the Indonesian city of Bali

on global climate change

may have sunk into the collective

unconscious now but the challenge

of reducing carbon emissions will not

go away.And as the world seeks to

make real savings over the coming

years, the price of energy can only

increase.As the recent UK Energy

White Paper says:"The starting point

for [UK] energy policy is to save

energy. It is often the cheapest way

for reducing carbon emissions,

certainly in the short term. It can also

contribute to security of supply, for

example by reducing our need for

energy imports, and reduce fuel

poverty through lower bills."And

lower bills are not just important for

reducing fuel poverty – every

organisation knows the urgency of

reducing operating overheads.

But the Energy White Paper did set

out a number of initiatives designed

to improve efficiency in both private

and public sectors.Three in particular

will be very much to the fore in 2008.

The first is the implementation of the

smart metering proposals.The

Government plans to require gas and

electricity suppliers to install smart

meters in those parts of the SME

sector,above a certain energy usage

threshold,where it has been shown

to be cost-effective to do so and

where such a meter is not already

installed."A consultation was carried

out recently and – with the White

Paper promising "from 2008"the final

details of the programme are

expected imminently.

Smart metering

The 'cost-effective' level for installing

smart metering – or automatic

Monitoring & Targeting (aM&T) as it is

called in some Government

departments and in the energy

management sector – is believed to

be an annual site energy bill of

around £6000.That includes a large

proportion of UK firms. aM&T systems

use today's Information Technology to

bring metering systems into the 21st

century, with the option of providing

managers with real-time information

on energy consumption and the

ability to interface the data with other

business systems.With utility suppliers

providing the equipment, businesses

are free to make maximum use of the

technology without having to make

any initial capital outlay.

Carbon reduction commitment

While the smart metering

programme is aimed at SMEs (large

energy-users already have to have

half-hourly metering), the

Government is also keen to ensure

that these large users are given an

incentive to make full use of this and

other energy efficiency technologies.

Following the lead of the carbon

trading scheme for energy-intensive

users, the scheme is being extended

– but at UK rather than EU level – to

the next tier of energy users, those

with annual electricity bills in excess

of £500,000. It is envisaged that

these organisations have to buy

carbon credits (initially at a fixed

price) and then receive 'recycled'

funds depending on their actual

emissions and their position in a

'league table' for their sector.When

the scheme is fully operational they

will be able to trade emission

allowances to benefit from emissions

savings – or to allow extra emissions.

The scheme will not be fully up and

running until around 2010 but there

will be a preparatory period of data

collection upon which organisations

will need to base their purchases of

allowances. aM&T systems will play a

vital role in closely managing

consumption and emissions.

Display energy certificates

Finally, from next year public sector

organisations – and publicly funded

bodies – with buildings of more

than 1000m2 will have to have on

show Display Energy Certificates

which will require an assessment of

how efficiently the building is being

run (known as an 'operational

rating'). For this, up to date metering

and monitoring systems which

provide comprehensive data will be

needed. Ideally, they should

integrate with other building and

corporate systems to allow this to be

carried out routinely in a manner

acceptable to the building

performance assessors.

So all these changes will rely on

effective metering and modern

analysis software. aM&T is fast

becoming a vital and indispensable

tool for the energy manager.How to

make best use of aM&T is the

subject of ESTA's free, one-day

conference in February.

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