Unlock a Second Wave of Energy Savings with Automated Measurement and Verification

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER January 2013 Unlock a Second Wave of Energy Savings with Automated Measurement and Verification Lara Greden, PhD Senior Principal / Energy & Sustainability CA Technologies

2 Table of Contents Section 1: Challenge 4 Driving the next wave of energy efficiency savings Section 2: Opportunity 5 A consistent framework for measurement and verification Section 3: Benefits 8 Drive down power consumption and costs with intelligent efficiency Section 4: Conclusions 9 Section 5: References 9 Section 6: About the author 10 2

3 Executive Summary Challenge The first round of the energy efficiency battle has been won. But after the quick wins, come the long struggles. To continue reducing energy consumption and costs, organizations need to take a more intelligent approach based on real-time visibility, automated workflows and customizable metrics. Measurement alone will not be enough; organizations will also have to verify their metrics and performance. Opportunity By taking an integrated, standardized and automated approach to measurement and verification, organizations will be able to achieve a holistic and granular view of energy consumption and improvement opportunities. A supporting energy management solution will be key to maximizing visibility and control, and will simplify the collation of raw data from multiple energy data points, deliver consistent and meaningful metrics and facilitate real-time analysis and strategic planning. Benefits IT-enabled measurement and verification provides organizations with the accurate data and consistent processes they need to stay in control of energy consumption and costs. As a result, organizations will be able to unlock the next wave of efficiency gains. This will not only enhance an enterprise s eco-competitiveness but also simplify regulatory compliance, minimize environmental impacts and maximize the return from capital investments. 3

4 Section 1: Challenge Driving the next wave of energy efficiency savings We want to consume less. We want to pay less. And we want to control more. Enabling greater energy efficiency has been on the corporate agenda for many years, and given its links to fiscal savings and eco-competitiveness, is set to remain a boardroom priority during 2013 and beyond. Organizations in a variety of industry sectors have already achieved some great results in optimizing energy efficiency, which has contributed to reducing the world s greenhouse gas emissions. For example, Ballerup Municipality has managed to save more than one million Danish Kroners (approximately $200,000) in electricity and 284 tonnes of CO2 per year by putting computers to sleep when they are not being used with CA ecodesktop. 1 However, for many organizations and their sustainability teams, these were the easy first phase wins; the low-hanging fruit. The second round of energy efficiency savings will be much harder to unlock but equally important, particularly as organizations set increasingly ambitious sustainability targets. For example, telecommunications company Verizon has pledged to reduce carbon intensity by 50 percent from its 2009 baseline by To continue to drive power consumption and costs down, organizations will need to transform their approach. As the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy confirms: A large portion of our past efficiency gains came from improvements in individual products, appliances, and equipment. While discrete, device-level technology improvements will continue to play an important role looking ahead we must take a systems-based approach to dramatically scale up energy efficiency to meet our future energy challenges. 3 Escaping the manual metrics merry-go-round Although energy efficiency has become part of business as usual, most organizations have yet to adopt an intelligent management framework based on real-time visibility, automated workflows and customized metrics. Even in the data center the epicenter of power consumption for many organizations the approach to energy management remains manual, disjointed and reactive. Industry analyst firm 451 Research estimates that only 10 per cent of organizations were using granular and managed energy and environmental monitoring and modelling systems by the end of Implementing such enabling technologies will be fundamental for making the leap from reactive to proactive, and achieving ongoing energy efficiency gains and sustainability successes. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy cites Information and Communications Technology (ICT) automation and optimization as one of three fundamental pillars for enabling intelligent efficiency along with real-time feedback and service-based efficiency. ICT and the access to near real-time information that this technology enables, provides a foundation for intelligent efficiency that allows systems to be optimized to a degree never before seen. 3 4

5 Achieving such optimization is no longer a nice-to-have but an imperative, as the demand for power and other natural resources outstrips supply resulting in higher and unpredictable costs. For example, the average domestic crude oil price for the US was $95 per barrel in April 2012 the same time the previous year it was $102 while in April 2010 it was $76.5. By lowering consumption, organizations will not only be able to mitigate their exposure to volatility in the energy supply chain but also make financial savings that will offset spiraling utility bills. Organizations, however, will only be able to make such savings if they can measure their utilization of energy at a granular level and be certain that it is accurate. Ensuring accuracy across the energy value chain Although measurement is already a common corporate process in terms of energy management, it s ruled by the spreadsheet. With multiple spreadsheets as well as formats in use across different regions and sites, duplicated effort and data discrepancies are common afflictions of today s reactive and manual approach to energy management. The end result: inaccurate, inconsistent, incomplete metrics, which are insufficient for making strategic decisions and unreliable for reporting to internal and external stakeholders. As measurement tools, energy data sources and KPIs continue to grow in diversity, the need for an automated, unified and substantiated approach has become a priority. Smart meters, intelligent building management systems and mobile devices are all becoming part of the energy value chain and need to be included in any data measurement framework. The measurement of energy consumption or indeed any sustainability metric, whether it involves water utilization, waste volumes or greenhouse gas emissions will only deliver business value when executed in tandem with verification. Flawed metrics result in flawed decisions. And flawed decisions will quickly erode a company s eco-competitiveness and reputation. Section 2: Opportunity A consistent framework for measurement and verification The definitions of measurement and verification in relation to energy management vary across the industry, but they all have one common attribute: accuracy. For the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, transparency is equally as important: Evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM&V) demonstrates the value of energy efficiency by providing accurate, transparent, and consistent assessments of their methods and performances. Data gathered by EM&V must be standardized if it is to be comparable. 3 5

6 The need to standardize goes hand in hand with the need to integrate and automate the three critical success factors for any measurement and verification programme (whether it involves energy or another sustainability KPI). These three principles are not just applicable at a data layer they must also be applied to energy management processes, assets and teams to deliver optimum results. This end-to-end approach is essential for achieving a holistic and granular view of energy consumption trends and improvement opportunities across the organization from the data center and the global headquarters to the regional distribution center and the branch office. Enabling automation and integration through technology To embed automated, integrated and standardized measurement and verification across the energy management ecosystem, organizations will need to invest in supporting technologies. As independent analyst firm Verdantix confirms: Customers will require increasingly advanced functionality for energy management software as their energy management programs mature. 6 This functionality will need to address a number of key processes throughout the energy management lifecycle: Collation of raw data Creation of consistent and accurate metrics Analysis of historical and real-time information Scenario and strategic planning. From disparate raw data to accurate and meaningful metrics With energy data points becoming more diverse and distributed, automated information feeds can help to reduce the manual overhead associated with measuring power load and consumption across the enterprise. For this automated approach to be effective, organizations need to ensure they deploy an energy management solution that not only recognizes multiple formats and protocols but can also convert them into meaningful standardized metrics regardless of geographical and site data disparities. As well as automating the collation process, best-of-breed energy management solutions will include built-in checks to verify the quality of the information being captured. This is vital for ensuring data integrity and spotting any sensor or meter malfunctions. In addition to using industry-recognized measurements for energy efficiency, such as energy intensity, peak demand and Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), some organizations have chosen to develop their own customized metrics that relate more closely to their business operations and strategic goals. For example, Verizon has established a new version of a metric called carbon intensity. This measures energy usage per terabyte of data flowing through its networks enabling the company to better gauge its sustainability success as the business grows. 2 Energy management solutions need to support not only the creation of such customized metrics but also be able to integrate other data, such as water, waste and fuel. For many organizations, energy is 6

7 just the sustainability starting block with programs quickly being expanded to encompass other natural resources as well as social issues, such as ethical working practices. For example, when Columbia Sportswear needed to overcome its manual data collation challenges, it opted for a solution that could not only automate the collection of energy and emissions information but also water consumption, waste management and packaging materials. Such breadth was key for the outdoor apparel company, who also evaluated whether its chosen solution, CA ecogovernance, could handle local currencies, provide analytical capabilities and scale to collect additional data over time. 7 Advanced analytics for problem resolution and strategic planning With a repository of real-time metrics and historical information at their fingertips, organizations can begin to adopt the intelligent efficiency measures needed to deliver ongoing energy reductions. In particular an energy management solution can be used to set thresholds for normal behavior and trigger automated alerts when these parameters are breached. This can help organizations identify changes in energy consumption and link this back to faulty equipment or increased business demand. For example, using CA DCIM Logicalis was able to pick up a chiller that was not free cooling as efficiently as another which turned out to be a fault with a valve. Such faults and changes will be easier to detect if organizations adopt a continuous commissioning approach to energy measurement. Rather than taking readings at certain times of the day, energy management solutions can be configured to poll heating and air conditioning equipment, power distribution units, building management systems and smart meters 24/7. This provides organizations with a much richer data set and therefore greater visibility of how energy consumption changes according to different business activities and time periods. As a result, facility, energy and IT teams will be able to pinpoint opportunities for energy optimization at a site, workload and device level. More advanced energy management solutions will also be able to validate the outcomes of these different opportunities by enabling scenario planning. Such predictive analysis will help organizations prioritize their energy efficiency efforts to ensure maximum return and minimum risk. The information captured by an energy management solution whether it involves past consumption, current hotspots or future improvement plans needs to be easily accessible to a wide audience. Customizable dashboards and reports enable different stakeholders to visualize the information that is most relevant to their role and geography. For example a facilities manager could view all the energy data points in a specific office while a systems engineer could look at the aggregated power load for a specific building. 7

8 Technology checklist: unified measurement and evaluation Are multiple formats, currencies and protocols supported? Can the solution support the spectrum of data protocols and hardware integration you require? Can metrics be customized and viewed by different criteria, for example source, site, region, revenue or headcount? Does the solution automatically verify the quality of data captured from different sources? Can automated thresholds and triggers be established to provide an early warning to energy problems and peaks? Are predictive analysis and scenario planning tools included with the solution? What visualization options are available for various user roles? Section 3: Benefits Drive down power consumption and costs with intelligent efficiency Energy efficiency is driven by intelligence and insight into the data that underlies an organization s resource and system utilization. Achieving such visibility via intelligent analytics and adequate analysis tools is key to reducing power and resource consumption. The ability to analyze energy consumption patterns in a meaningful way for an enterprise or a single building enables organizations to make changes to reduce waste, safeguard power availability and adequately maintain equipment and systems for optimal performance. Better visibility and control of day-to-day operations and strategic decision-making Facility, energy and IT teams can view energy utilization, carbon emissions and resource consumption according to a broad range of business and geographical criteria, such as revenue, headcount, department and region. This granular visibility empowers organizations to set more realistic energy and carbon reduction targets that can be met - and in some cases exceeded. Greater visibility and control is the key to unlocking energy savings on an ongoing basis. By automating, integrating and standardizing measurement and verification, organizations will have more intelligent data at their disposal. This will not only aid the setting and realization of sustainability goals but also simplify and enhance: Regulatory compliance idea, project and investment prioritization Strategic planning and decision-making Performance benchmarking both internally and with peer organizations. 8

9 Lower risk, greater eco-competiveness Enterprises will also be able to demonstrate their eco-competiveness to external stakeholders by being recognized as industry leaders via certification schemes, such as ISO and ENERGY STAR. Office supplies specialist Staples is one of many enterprises that has been recognized as an ENERGY STAR partner. The retailer has already reduced its use of electricity in the US by 12 per cent from 2007 to 2010 (kwh per square foot). The next milestone is to take achieve a 25 per cent reduction by As well as minimizing its impact on the environment, Staples also saved nearly $9.9 million per year thanks to its energy conservation efforts during the same three-year period. 8 By achieving such financial savings, organizations will be able to shield themselves against the growing fluctuations in power supply and prices resulting in lower business risk and operational expenditure. Both financial and environmental savings can be cascaded across the value chain by sharing energy management best practices and successes with suppliers and partners. As a result, organizations will be able to extend their energy efficiency efforts to every facet of their business. This will make it easier for enterprises to unlock the second and third wave of savings that will be fundamental to their achieving their sustainability ambitions. Section 4: Conclusions Manual, reactive and inconsistent approaches to energy management will prevent organizations from continuing to make efficiency savings. By leveraging technology to automate, standardize and integrate data collation, verification and analysis, organizations will be able to empower the entire business to keep finding new ways to cut consumption, costs and emissions. Section 5: References 1 Danish News, April A Defining Framework for Intelligent Efficiency, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, June Research, Data Center Infrastructure Management Software Monitoring, Managing and Optimizing the Datacenter Report, Andy Lawrence and John Stanley, May Verdantix Green Quadrant, Energy Management Software (Global), December

10 Section 6: About the author As a Senior Principal for Strategy for CA Energy & Sustainability, Lara Greden, Ph.D., helps customers realize their visions for enterprise energy and sustainability management with data-driven, userfocused solutions. Dr. Greden has worked across industries as a technology and management consultant for energy and sustainability, including for manufacturers, utilities, software companies, building design and construction, and the public sector. She has a Ph.D. from MIT in Building Technology. Connect with CA Technologies at ca.com Agility Made Possible: The CA Technologies Advantage CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA) provides IT management solutions that help customers manage and secure complex IT environments to support agile business services. Organizations leverage CA Technologies software and SaaS solutions to accelerate innovation, transform infrastructure and secure data and identities, from the data center to the cloud. CA Technologies is committed to ensuring our customers achieve their desired outcomes and expected business value through the use of our technology. To learn more about our customer success programs, visit ca.com/customer-success. For more information about CA Technologies go to ca.com. Some information in this publication is based upon CA or customer experiences with the referenced software product in a variety of development and customer environments. Past performance of the software product in such development and customer environments is not indicative of the future performance of such software product in identical, similar or different environments. CA does not warrant that the software product can operate as specifically set forth in this publication. CA will support the referenced product only in accordance with (i) the documentation and specifications provided with the referenced product, and (ii) CA s then-current maintenance and support policy for the referenced product. Copyright 2012 CA. All rights reserved. All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies. This document is for your informational purposes only. CA assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information. To the extent permitted by applicable law, CA provides this document as is without warranty of any kind, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or noninfringement. In no event can CA be liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, from the use of this document, including, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, good will, or lost data, even if CA is expressly advised in advance of the possibility of such damages. CA does not provide legal advice. Neither this document nor any CA software product referenced herein shall serve as a substitute for your compliance with any laws (including but not limited to any act, statute, regulation, rule, directive, policy, standard, guideline, measure, requirement, administrative order, executive order, etc. (collectively, Laws )) referenced in this document. You should consult with competent legal counsel regarding any Laws referenced herein. acs3302_0113