M&V is increasingly used by utilities and funding partners for projects supported by them. The IPMVP provides a set of procedures and calculations that detail how to accurately measure energy savings for different conditions. Once the energy savings have been confirmed it is easy to calculate the resulting dollar and greenhouse gas emission savings.
The benefits of M&V include:
- Transparency: A process for documenting energy savings in a consistent and world-wide accepted manner.
- Financing: Enhances financing and grant applications for energy efficiency projects. A good M&V plan increases the credibility of a business case.
- Targets: Measures the outcomes of energy efficiency projects against program objectives and defined targets.
- Reporting: Ensures rigorous and auditable internal and public reporting of both energy and greenhouse gas emission savings. This is increasingly being required by funding bodies to confirm project deliverables.
- Savings: Accurate measurement often results in the actual savings exceeding the estimated savings.
A typical M&V plan would include:
- A description of the energy efficiency improvement project.
- The expected energy savings resulting from the improvement project.
- How the energy savings are going to be measured. This could include the details of the data that will be used (e.g. utility bills) or the metering required (e.g. installation of a data logger).
- How the energy savings are calculated.
- The key assumptions made (for example: the lighting is operating consistently for 44 hrs 6 days/week).
- Details of any adjustments that were used in calculating the energy savings.
Click here to go to our projects page and see more examples of our M&V projects.