Municipal Network for Energy Efficiency

Description

Energy accounting software ASE 2.3 (original version 2.0) was designed for comprehensive accounting and analysis of resource utilization in public buildings. The software was developed by the Ukrainian team of the Alliance to Save Energy under support of the MUNEE program, funded by USAID

The software was built and improved based on the feedback from existing users in an effort to satisfy the needs of the software users and ensure the software's longer term practical value. The software was envisioned as a quality product that could be a major tool in building municipal energy management systems. The software has been used extensively in a number of Ukrainian cities, including Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lutsk. It greatly enhanced the establishment of an energy management system in schools in the Lviv region, and in the cities of Rivne and Chernikhiv.

Capabilities

The software is capable of maintaining a city-wide database of all public buildings. In addition, a user is able to monitor use on different levels such as city or building specific. ASE 2.3 allows one to conduct two different types of energy accounting: (i) based on the bill information and (ii) based on the meter data.

Although the software itself does not collect any data, it helps to register major data related to a buildings' energy performance including:

• General data about the building envelope
• Billing data
• Target consumption data
• Data from any type of meter (heat, electricity, gas, water), which relates to the energy consumption of the building
• Data related to the quality of service (i.e. for heating, average internal temperature, etc.)
• Weather data

The more data one provides for the program, the more accurate the final report will be. To produce accurate reports, it is sufficient to collect billing data monthly and to run testing data collection for the building during a two-week period. During the testing period, it is required to read meters at least twice a day: before the beginning of the ‘occupied' period of the day and at the end of it. This will help to make an accurate snapshot of "active" and "passive" energy consumption.

Data Collection

The Alliance Ukraine team built up experience with the software by dealing with facility managers of more than 1,500 schools in Ukraine. The fact that they were not advanced computer users didn't prevent them from collecting quality data. From time to time, the Alliance conducted one-day trainings on the basics of the energy monitoring and use of the software, which was enough for utilizing the program. In practice, it took a few weeks for the users to become proficient.

The process of data collection must be continuous and sustainable. This should not be a one-time activity. Possessing various energy data for at least one year will help to propose profitable long-term energy measures, as well as to provide a prompt response to any kind of excessive energy consumption in a specific building, saving energy in most cases through simple measures.

Reports Generated

The software produces a number of reports which could help municipal energy managers to evaluate whether utilization of a specific resource is efficient.

• Analysis of heat consumption during building occupancy
• Analysis of heat consumption when vacant
• Comparison of heat consumption between two periods occupied and not occupied
• Ranking list of deviation from the level of heat comfort
• Ranking list of resource waste (per capita)
• Ranking list of resource waste (per m2)
• Ranking list of resource waste (all utilities, per capita)
• Ranking list of resource waste (all utilities, per m2)
• Ranking list of resource consumption
• Comparison of actual consumption with norms and limits
• Tables of actual use of energy resources by municipal public buildings
• Analysis of consumption distribution among different energy services in the building
• Information about energy consumption and compliance with limits
• Monthly energy expenses
• All energy resources: Monthly energy expenses.

Application

Using the reports provided by the ASE 2.3 software, an energy manager could quickly evaluate the efficiency of energy resource utilization; distinguish "hot spots" - buildings with excessive energy consumption; highlight those buildings, where conditions of comfort do not match the state norms (norms for interior temperature). Utilizing a combination of different reports, the energy manager will then be capable of proposing energy efficiency measures which will help to reduce energy leakage. In addition, ASE 2.3 software could aide municipal authorities in drafting budgets for utilities on the scale of individual buildings and that of an entire city.

The software support - a user interface and manual - is available in several languages: English, Russian and Ukrainian. The software can be adapted to another language through a specific procedure.

Overall, the creation and effective utilization of the ASE software was instrumental in opening up a broad scope of new business opportunities for software developers. In addition, it served as a catalyst for municipal energy management activities in Ukraine.

English/Ukrainian/Russian manuals and the ASE 2.3 software are available upon request. Please contact Angela Morin Allen at the Alliance to Save Energy.