DOE has released two new case studies focused on innovative solutions to measuring and verifying energy performance in the DOE ISO 50001/Superior Energy Performance® (SEP®) program. Accurately measuring energy performance allows organizations to predict and plan for energy usage, assess results of energy efficiency activities, make informed energy-based decisions, build the business case for additional efforts, and improve the effectiveness of future energy efficiency activities.

Two facilities, HARBEC’s injection molding facility in New York State and Cummins’ Rocky Mount Engine Plant (RMEP) in North Carolina, confronted challenges when measuring energy performance improvement. Both sites were in the process of getting certified to ISO 50001 and SEP when they identified viable solutions to their individual challenges:

• The HARBEC facility uses a mix of energy sources, including a combined heat and power (CHP) plant and onsite wind energy in addition to purchased electricity and natural gas, which made it impossible to model each individual energy source under the traditional approach (see HARBEC M&V case study for more details about the solution).
• Cummins RMEP faced a different modeling challenge: common production throughput and weather variables could not be used to predict the diesel energy consumption (see Cummins M&V case study).

Companies seeking further instruction can use the recently released Guidance for the SEP M&V Protocol. This publication clarifies and illustrates the use of the SEP M&V Protocol 2017 with examples, recommendations, and descriptions of applicability. 

The DOE-administered Superior Energy Performance® program provides guidance, tools, and protocols for facilities that want third-party verification and certification of their energy performance improvement from implementing the ISO 50001 standard. Members of the U.S. Council for Energy Efficient Manufacturing, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) developed SEP as a transparent system for certifying sustained improvements in energy performance and management practices.