Monday, November 18, 2013

REDUCING ENERGY COSTS WITH LITTLE INVESTMENTS FOR BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY...A SCENARIO IN MALAYSIA

Energy costs may not be the highest cost in the overall operation of facilities for SMEs and SMIs but with the more competitive and demanding market due to changes in consumer trends  locally and globally, every cent counts especially for those who produce price sensitive products or services.

Financial barriers often being highlighted as one of the biggest obstacles in pursuing energy efficiency in the form of implementing energy saving initiatives at most energy using sector. In most cases, the bigger the investment, the more significant savings can be achieved that will make everyone involved in the process satisfied with their involvement in the initiatives that give benefits to the organization.

However, getting the approval to make the big investment is often not an easy task and process too and can resulted in ignoring initiatives that will smaller results, less costly and sometime no costs involved at all but much more practical, achievable  in shorter period and also sustainable.

This zero or less costly  initiative is a part of the bigger term called energy management and in easier definition, actions that we can take within our existing tasks in to day operations related to energy consumption that will help us to reduce energy consumption without affecting the output of the operation.

There are many successful stories where various energy using facilities did or investing in big projects involving retrofits or application of newest energy efficient technologies with big money involved too. At the same time, we can also achieve greater energy efficiency in energy performances with small budget and certainty through small improvements in daily operations.


What can be done?

Here, I would like to share some tips from my personal experiences and some reading at online materials  as energy efficiency industry practitioner for more than 15 years about implementing energy saving initiatives where no or minimal costs are involved which are the need to:

i)   Understand the energy efficiency facts of all or at least energy using equipment or system.
The energy consumption of different types of equipment can vary if we compare the actual performances against the manufacturer’s specifications or other independent energy performance ratings or standards. By knowing some basic specification related to the efficiency of our equipment, it will give us some ideas on what equipment require some proper monitoring and controls of its operation and why we  should consider energy efficiency features for future replacement of the equipment although the initial costs is generally  higher compare to standard products.

ii)  Measure energy consumption for energy using equipment/areas with permanent sub-meters.
The measurements of energy data has been proven effective in leading to produce energy cost reduction provided it is properly planned and implemented. We need to know how much electricity we use at our facilities and how much energy being used for each energy using system or equipment such as air conditioning and/or heating systems, compressed air system and lighting. The accurate information on specific energy consumption by each major equipment   will help us to focus on energy saving initiatives   and any improvement on energy to these biggest users will be most likely to give more significant results in energy cost savings. With budget constraint, the installation of sub-meters is recommended to be carried out reasonable time frame and gradually covered identified areas or equipment in stages.

iii)    Monitor the actual energy consumption trends based on real-time data gathering from sub-meters.
The gathering and analyzing of energy consumption trends and status of based real time data will enable us to make immediate decisions to prevent possible more energy waste. This often occurred when recorded  data to be checked only when waste identified after the data collected and analysed by the end of the month or week or when the equipment have operational problems. When we  can monitor our  equipment to see if it is performing optimally, we will be able  can do a much better job of providing preventive maintenance  and  may also predict a pending failure.

iv)    Benchmark energy use across the operations and to understand the effects of energy market trends.
The energy consumption data gathered from all major equipment will be useful for benchmarking  purposes  for equipment with similar characteristics that will make us better prepared to evaluate the likely effects of new equipment or processes.
We also need to be well aware of national trends in energy supply and demand. If we have been notified that the cost of electricity is likely to increase soon, it may be an important consideration as we plan what types of improvement or new technologies to be used to minimize energy wastage that will keep the cost of production to be affected at a very minimal.

v)      Understand the effects of operation and maintenance activities to energy cost for equipment.
The operation and maintenance of major energy using equipment has a huge effect on energy consumption and the rising energy consumption for every of equipment may indicate the need for maintenance. Therefore, it is important to link the data on real-time energy consumption to the maintenance records which the data will help us to see correlations that may provide opportunities to reduce energy and maintenance costs.

vi)       Use historical energy consumption data to plan and reduce future energy needs.

If the historical energy consumption data on monthly or yearly basis and analyzed, we can identify anomalies that may present opportunities for further efficiency. The data on past energy use can be used to identify anomalies in current consumption, which may present opportunities for improvement.

Challenges in the current scenario

In the wake of current energy market trends in Malaysia where the rationalization of energy subsidies has started and will continue gradually in the way forward, any price increase will definitely will hit all SMEs and SMIs in different ways financially. Petrol and diesel subsidies reduction already started recently and subsidies to gas and coal to be revised and expected to be followed by electricity tariff increase by early next year.

The increase of energy price for fuel for transportation and operations such as petrol, diesel and gas and the soon to be increased electricity tariff is something that everyone has to deal with but the way everyone has to deal with also need different type of support mechanisms.

Unlike multinational or big companies which has the resources and capacity internally or appoint external parties,  SMEs and SMIs do need  the assistance in technical and advisory  for them to identify and implement energy saving initiatives and then to sustain their energy efficient operations in a long term.

With SMEs & SMIs represent  about  99.2% of total business establishments in Malaysia that  provide employment for about 56% of the total workforce based on 2010 report, they have been and will always be the  important source of growth for the nation in. They will play a major role in Malaysia’s new economic model to transform Malaysia from a middle-income economy to a high-income economy.


What is needed?

There have been several financial assistance available for SMEs and SMIs that can be utilized with regard to improve energy performance for their facilities in the use of more energy efficient technologies and also for  human capacity buildings such as the RM200 million for Tabung Kumpulan Usaha Niaga (TEKUN), RM1.5 billion in soft loans for companies employing green technology and RM3.5 billion for basic infrastructure and amenities as well as training programs and socio economic programs to spur growth of economic corridors. However, the extent of utilization of these funds in relation to energy efficiency that will reduce their energy cost is unknown.

However, more is needed in term of the accountability of which entity will be responsible to assist and facilitate facilities operated by SMEs and SMIs technically to reduce energy costs through energy performance improvement. SMEs and SMEs require ongoing supports and guidance especially at the early stage of energy management which is to identify the potential energy saving measures, then to kick-off the implementation and later to monitor and improve their energy performance.

At present condition, the industrial energy users and energy efficiency industry players have been given run a round by the government with no clear or dedicated agency entrusted to perform the much needed assistance and guidance. What is so puzzling now, under the same ministry, there are several agencies carrying out various energy efficiency initiative namely Energy Commission, Malaysia Green Technology Corporation and SEDA Malaysia.

To make thing more confusing to the market, energy users and industry players are also often referred to other agencies or entities with regard to some procedures or processes related to energy efficiency project implementation at government or private facilities. To certain extent, some of these agencies and entities are competing with industry players to capture some shares for the same services in market despite their roles that are suppose to create and assist the industry to grow. This has created uneven playing field between them and industry players where some of these agencies and entities are funded through grants or other financial assistance under the government budget.

The results of all these fragmented approaches with almost no one centre that can be called one stop , energy users have to spend so much time and efforts just to seek answers to their queries or assistance to their applications which is clearly will be counter productive to their businesses where every minute is a cost to them.

When all these will stop?
I guess only the responsible ministry for energy could answer that and to do what are necessary to meet the plight of these SMIs and SMIs especially. Where energy costs appear likely to continue rising and energy use so central to the health of many businesses, rising energy costs will definitely pose more significant risks to SME and SMIs.

We can mitigate some of these risks by planning now to increase our energy efficiency in the coming years but we need every party to play their roles because the efficient management of energy is a system and system will subsequently fail if some of key components are not functioning. In energy efficiency, government is one of the key components in the system which is now in a malfunction mode.


Sunday, November 17, 2013

ISO55000 AND THE FUTURE OF ASSET MANAGEMENT Asia Pacific Regional Conference & Exhibition

ISO55000 AND THE  FUTURE OF ASSET MANAGEMENT
 Asia Pacific  Regional Conference & Exhibition

TITLE OF PRESENTATION:
ENERGY MANAGEMENT : SUSTAINABLE  IMPLEMENTATION  FOR BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY
Available for downloading at the link below.
Date:
12-14  November 2013
Venue:
Bali Nusa Dua Convention Centre, Indonesia



THE ABSTRACT OF MY PAPER

Introduction
Energy management has become more significant as one of components in the management of resources in organizations. For organizations with assets in facilities where energy is intensively used and contributing significantly to overall operating costs, energy management has started to be seen as a strategic business move to reduce overall costs to increase profits and sustainable operation.

The combination of the system adopted and technology solutions in energy management implementation require a strong business case to get supports from decision makers to implement and to sustain desired results.

The reduction of wastage resulted from effective energy management implementation as current and future trends to create greener environment while contributing to business sustainability.

The Presentation
In the introduction for the presentation, the speaker will address on why energy management is needed by explaining some key terminologies and the importance of integrating energy management to enhance values in asset management services. The potentials to improve asset’s operational & energy performance to increase profitability for service providers and/or facilities owners will be highlighted briefly.

For the implementation of energy management, understanding on fundamentals and basic  approaches  for sustainable energy management implementation will be discussed and elaborated further which will cover basic components in energy management system, key steps in implementing effective  energy management system and  basics on measurements, monitoring and verification of key energy performance indicators for the system.

The presentation will also share and discuss on the current trends and standards in energy management practices with overview on successful cases studies with significant energy performance improvement and cost reduction. The benefits of adopting energy management standard ISO 50001:2011 - Energy management system will be explained especially on how the standard helps to achieve and sustain desired results with integration of some of its requirements with  ISO55001 standard which defines the requirements for a “management system” for asset management.

To get things moving, the speaker will emphasis on the strategies and tips to ‘sell’ energy management to get the green light from the top which includes preparing the business case of  energy management with key points to get the buy-in from decision makers/top management and business opportunities and investment potentials in sustainable energy management system implementation with other significant potentials from energy management implementation beyond energy costs reduction alone.

Then, among the highlights will be on common key requirements to implement management systems based on ISO50001 standard  for energy and ISO55001 standard for asset that will contribute and sustain cost effective operations and enhance current and future values of facilities by adopting these standards.


The presentation will be wrapped up with highlights on The Way Forward, for energy management based on present and future trends in energy management for sustainability/green businesses with an overview of regional market size and potentials in energy efficiency services for energy management in different categories of energy using sectors. Energy management is set to be seen as one of the strategic business tools towards business sustainability and also greener environment for our life and future generations.

PHOTOS FROM THE CONFERENCE


Waiting for my session

Taking the stage...introduction 


Presenting and sharing my thoughts on energy management with asset management






Answering questions from the floor

With the CEO of Asset Management Institute UK, David McKeown

With an old friend, exTNB and now a Senior Consultant with EA Technology UK

With Juliane Mchugh,EA Technology UK


With Asahari Utama, Director, PT. MTS Indonesia



With senior experts from PJB Indonesia


The official opening gambit

Mr. David McKeown


The presentation by Datuk Seri Ir. Azman Mohd, CEO of TNB Malaysia





The presentation by Rober Davis, CEO of EA Technology UK