Energy Management and Efficiency in Audit and Investigation - Assignment Example

Energy Management and Efficiency No: Institute’s Energy Management and Efficiency Energy Audit and Investigation Energy management can be considered as the important perspective while discussing the environmental aspects of the energy generation and utilisation. As most of the energy generation still utilises the fossil fuel resources, the generation process proposed environmental and ethical issues. The power generation process produce green house gas emissions that impact the environment in a harsh manner. However, researchers viewed the matter seriously and proposed practical considerations that can be implemented to increase the energy efficiency and make clear reduction in the personal and communal carbon footprints. On the other hand, as the population of the world is increasing, the requirement of power and energy is increasing at a rapid level. Thus, a direct relation can be drawn in the demand of the power and the production of the green house emissions that impact the environment. Research in the appliances sector made it possible to manufacture energy efficient appliances that consume less energy and remain efficient (Guttromson, Chassin & Widergren, 2003), thus contributing less in the production of green house emissions. The ethical issue arise both relating to the environment and society (Pehnt 2006). The ethical issues discuss the loss of the biodiversity, loss of planet vital viable resources, alteration in the natural processes like hydrological cycle, formation of cyclones and heavy winds, earth quakes etc (Satterthwaite 2008). On the other hand, the ethical issues also cover the impacts that are directly or indirectly related to society like the impact on the human health, impact on water sources that impact the vegetation and other food sources, and impact on quality of air (Fleddermann 2004). According to Royal academy of Engineering (2013), the statement of the engineering ethics can be summarized as: • “Accuracy and rigour” • “Honesty and integrity” • “Respect for life, law and the public good” • “Responsible leadership: listening and informing” Energy management is the term that relates to the organization and smart utilization of energy (Guttromson, Chassin & Widergren, 2003). The best method to lower the carbon footprint is to lower the personal consumption of energy. The lower the personal consumption of energy, the less energy will be energy load and thus lower will be green house emissions. According to the Royal academy of Engineering (2013), engineers should “identify the different, and sometimes competing ethical concerns they face”, “should analyse the issues that might underlie those concerns” and should “respond effectively to those concerns”. On the other hand, the utilisation of the alternate and sustainable resources of energy that produce no or limited carbon footprints reduce the impact of personal or societal energy utilisation on the environment and the generation system remain ethical (Haralambopoulos & Polatidis 2003). The sustainable resources like wind and solar can be utilised on the personal level as well as on the industrial level to generate large units of energy (Duffie & Beckman, 1974). The renewable resources like geothermal energy and hydrodynamic energy remain to be implemented on a larger scale. On the other hand, the bio energy can be utilized on the personal as well as industrial level. In homes many electrical and electronic appliances are used, most common appliances that an urban house has are television, refrigerator, air-conditioning unit, room heaters and air heating units, fans, lights, personal computers, toasters, microwave ovens, juicers, grinders, etc. Among these, the most used equipments are television, heaters or air conditioning units, fans and personal computers (Van Raaij & Verhallen 1983). It is a fact that the electricity consumption of an electrical appliance depends on the size, dimensions and capacity of an electrical appliance, like the size of an LCD/LED television or a CRT television depicts its electrical power consumption. Similarly, the dimensions of the home depict the cost that is being spent on heating or cooling it. In the similar manner, the size and capacity of the refrigerator predict the amount of electrical power it will consume (Van Raaij & Verhallen 1983). In my home, I have a 32” inch LED television that has a rated power of about 18 watts and at standby mode the power consumptions drops to 1 watts, as described by the product manual. But after utilising the energy meters given to me, I have notices that in running condition, the power consumption of the LED television is about 19.5 watts and in the standby mode, the power consumption is about 2 watts. On the other hand, the refrigerator has labelled to consume about 150 watts when compressor of the refrigerator is running and consume about 2 watts when compressor is not running. But after installing the energy meter in the series, the refrigerator consumed about 168.8 watts when compressor is running and 2.5 watts when compressor is off. Television and refrigerator contribute much in determining the electrical energy bills. The other major appliance that I mostly utilise is my personal computer. I installed the energy meter in series with the personal computer and noted that the energy consumed by the personal computer is about 280 watts. My personal computer has an extension wire that plugs speakers, printer, scanner, monitor and CPU. All the accessories attached to the extension wire thus I connected the energy meter in series with the extension wire to evaluate the power consumed by all the accessories related to the computer. I realised my computer remain in a standby mode for longer time spans. Scanner and printer attached to the computer also remain in standby condition for longer spans. Thus, pressed the off button on both the printer and the scanner and switched the speakers off too. Then I noticed that the power dropped to 245 watts. I shut the computer down and then watched the meter, the wattage dropped to 30.3 watts that is the standby wattage taken by my personal computer. I then realized that regardless of the Gas boiler that heats the home. I have very little load that can be further reduced. Some of the lights in the home remain in on condition for longer spans. I realized that I can reduce my electric energy consumption by more than 40% just by managing the consumed energy in my home. On the other hand, I noticed that majority of the gas is consumed in heating the home. As, I life in a single room apartment, I have less heating requirements. A renewable source of energy can reduce my gas bills and leave positive impact on the environment and reduce my contribution in polluting the environment (Duffie & Beckman, 1974). Solar energy can be considered more feasible in my situation (Duffie & Beckman, 1974), as some neighbours of mine installed the solar water heating system that provides with the warm water and can replace the gas boiler in an efficient manner. The warm water can be can be stored in the gas boiler to reduce the cost of the system but I am not utilizing the old boiler as, it can reduce the efficiency of the system. Solar energy has the largest potent among all other sustainable resources of energy (Duffie & Beckman, 1974). On the other hand solar energy has no negative impact on the environment and thus proposes no ethical issues. Thus, it is much feasible to acknowledge the energy resource and utilize it as much as possible. The previous boiler water circulation system can be utilized to reduce the cost of the system. I will install only one solar thermal panel at this stage to evaluate how much the product is efficient and I will install more if I felt the necessity. However, I will utilize the gas for cooking purposes. Fig 1: Solar water heating system installed at my apartment building. The utilisation of the solar thermal energy and replacing the gas boiler will have positive impact on the environment and will reduce my energy consumption to a significant level (Whitbeck 2011). On the other hand, I will utilize the solar photovoltaic energy to reduce electricity consumption. The grid connected solar photovoltaic system will save the amount spent on the batteries and if I extend the system, I can earn some money by selling my generated power to the electricity company. I will install 300 watt solar system at this and figure it out that if I am in need of installing more panels. The cost both the systems depends on the size and capacity of the systems. As both of my solar systems are designed to fit my personal requirements, the cost of both the system remains under my budget. The cost of the solar photovoltaic system is the cost of the solar panels plus cost of the inverters plus cost of the batteries. As, I will utilize the grid connected inverters the cost of the batteries can be excluded from the cost of the system. The grid connected system does not require any storage medium, it gives the excess power to the grid and in case of requirement of excessive power the system can take power from the grid. If the system generates more than the required power, the electric company will pay for the excess units that are generated for the grid. One thing should be kept in mind that there is a need to follow the ethical principle made the societies, engineering councils and academies. The royal academy of engineering presents the ethical behaviour of engineers the codes of their conduct in the respective fields. According to the Royal Academy of Engineering (2013), “Professional Engineers have a duty to ensure that they acquire and use wisely and faithfully the knowledge that is relevant to the engineering skills needed in their work in the service of others”. “Professional Engineers should adopt the highest standards of professional conduct, openness, fairness and honesty”. “Professional Engineers should give due weight to all relevant law, facts and published guidance, and the wider public interest”. “Professional Engineers should aspire to high standards of leadership in the exploitation and management of technology. They hold a privileged and trusted position in society, and are expected to demonstrate that they are seeking to serve wider society and to be sensitive to public concerns”. The cost effectiveness is another perspective that should be kept in mind. The current cost of the both the system is relatively high but both the systems are highly efficient and will give the cost back in 2 to 3 years. Bibliography Duffie, J. A., & Beckman, W. A. (1974). Solar energy thermal processes. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Solar Energy Laboratory, Madison, WI. Garg, H. P., Mullick, S. C., & Bhargava, V. K. (1985). Solar thermal energy storage. Springer. Pehnt, M. (2006). Dynamic life cycle assessment (LCA) of renewable energy technologies. Renewable Energy, 31(1), 55-71. Haralambopoulos, D. A., & Polatidis, H. (2003). Renewable energy projects: structuring a multi-criteria group decision-making framework. Renewable Energy, 28(6), 961-973. Fleddermann, C. B. (2004). Engineering ethics. Pearson Education. Whitbeck, C. (2011). Ethics in engineering practice and research. Cambridge University Press. Royal Academy of Engineering (2013) Statement of Ethical Principles. [online] Available at: http://www.raeng.org.uk/societygov/engineeringethics/pdf/Statement_of_Ethical_Principles.pdf [Accessed: 08 Feb 2013]. Guttromson, R. T., Chassin, D. P., & Widergren, S. E. (2003, July). Residential energy resource models for distribution feeder simulation. In Power Engineering Society General Meeting, 2003, IEEE (Vol. 1). IEEE. Van Raaij, W. F., & Verhallen, T. M. (1983). A behavioral model of residential energy use. Journal of Economic Psychology, 3(1), 39-63. Satterthwaite, D. (2008). Cities contribution to global warming: notes on the allocation of greenhouse gas emissions. Environment and Urbanization, 20(2), 539-549. Read More