Energy Saving Measurement & Verification: Understanding IPMVP® the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol and the importance of third party verification

1. WHITE PAPER
Energy Saving Measurement & Verification:
Understanding IPMVP® the International Performance
Measurement and Verification Protocol
and the importance of third party verification
From: Camfil Farr
Date: July 2012

2. Energy Saving Measurement & Verification: Understanding
IPMVP® the International Performance Measurement and
Verification Protocol and the importance of third party
independent verification
Executive Summary
The UK Government’s carbon reduction commitment, EU legislation and a plethora of new energy
efficiency financing schemes are all in some way encouraging organisations to evaluate and therefore
reduce their energy consumption. As organisations focus in on the financials in the on-going recession,
achieving carbon and energy savings must not be seen as a cost, but a long-term investment to
reducing consumption and therefore achieving both cost and carbon reduction.
There is no doubt about it. Companies need to produce more for less in the current economic climate.
Being energy efficient is key to becoming more efficient in general, but how do you know which
technologies to invest in or indeed how to rate the success of your energy conservation project or
scheme?
Undertaking an energy audit will identify areas of improvement, and associated with that, some
guestimate of the payback period – a desktop analysis of the cost of investment versus the energy
saved. Traditionally, this is where the analysis used to usually end. In the past, organisations were
content with this level of understanding, simply accepting the energy saving figures that went with an
energy audit report.
However, with the emphasis on austerity and considered investment, organisations are asking the
basic questions – did my investment actually make the return I was promised? How will I know which
measures or products performed the best in order that I roll them out to the rest of my estate? Is there
one technology or product supplier that outperforms another similar technology?
The art and science of undertaking energy savings verification is called Measurement and Verification
(M&V for short). M&V requires the professional judgement of an M&V Practitioner- both in
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3. engineering terms and experience. The Practitioner should be able to judge what level of accuracy is
required for the scope of savings and to provide a suitable Plan to measure and verify savings.
The agreement of an M&V Plan prior to the implementation of the project or scheme is vitally
important. Following a suitable time period post-installation, a savings report is produced and
appended to the back of the M&V Plan to demonstrate the actual level of savings achieved. As no one
party knows what the actual saving will be until after the installation, there is no room to manoeuvre
an unwelcome outcome – as the methodology to determine your savings has already been agreed.
Business Challenge
The need for energy savings verification or M&V is gathering momentum. Organisations are no longer
prepared to accept face value estimated savings, but want to know whether their energy conservation
project has actually saved them and what exactly was that figure.
Understanding your actual energy saving brings credence to your investment and allows a multitude
of follow on decisions to be made such as which technologies to make further investment in. Or
indeed, it may simply be about proving the business case to your Finance Director, or proving how
much carbon you have actually saved for Corporate Social Responsibility reporting.
As more and more organisations begin to recognise the importance of M&V, the more apparent
independent M&V is becoming. Depending on the project or payment mechanism, there may be a
bias on behalf of either the ESCO, technology provider, or client to want to see more or less savings. If
in-house M&V is undertaken, how can you be assured of the credibility of the results?
An independent third party, working to within the processes and procedures of international
standards is one way to eliminate bias and address this. After all, if energy savings verification needs
to be undertaken anyway – why not go to an independent provider with specialist knowledge?
Solution Description
Let’s go back to basics for a moment. An energy saving project is different to a renewable energy
scheme in that it’s all about saving in the first place and not energy generation. With energy
generation, it’s a case of simply metering your output. However, an energy saving is an absence of
energy use and as such does not exist.
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4. The way to determine an energy saving is to consider the scenario of the ‘what would have been’
meter. That is, what would have been my energy consumption if I had not installed my energy
conservation measure? By comparing the ‘what would have been’ scenario to metered energy post
installation of the measure, and making any necessary adjustments, one can determine energy savings
through the difference of the two.
This is illustrated in the diagram below (source www.evo-world.org).
The most widely used International methodology for determining energy savings is the International
Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol – IPMVP®.
IPMVP was developed in the early 1990’s by the US Department of Energy as a growing response to
the true and accurate measurement and verification of savings from energy efficiency measures.
Since then, it has been evolving to what it now the latest edition – ‘’Concepts and Options for
Determining Energy and Water Savings, Vol 1, 2012’’. The Protocol highlights the approach and
methodology to take in order to provide repetitive, consistent and credible results.
The IPMVP basic savings equation:
The basic IPMVP savings equation 1 states:
Savings reported for any period = Baseline Period Energy – Reporting Period Energy +/-
Adjustments
(Ref: IPMVP Volume I, 2012, Chapter 4.1).
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5. That is, M&V is not simply a straight A minus B consumption figure, but adjustments should be made
to the energy consumption pattern post implementation to ensure like for like comparisons are
being made.
These adjustments maybe for weather, production, occupancy, IT utilisation etc. An M&V Plan,
developed prior to the installation, would highlight the energy-governing factors that are likely to
have a significant impact on energy consumption.
How do you approach M&V?
There are two main approaches for undertaking M&V:
a) Retrofit Isolation (IPMVP Options A & B)
This approach looks at savings from a measure within a specified boundary. This could be a plant
upgrade on only three floors of a seven-storey building. This approach uses temporary or sub-
metering to monitor consumption over an appropriate period of time (a day, a week, a month, a
year) depending upon the measure, building operation and the energy governing factors.
b) Whole Building Approach (IPMVP Options C & D)
With a whole building approach, the boundary is the building itself. All interactive effects within
this boundary also become part of the determined savings. This approach typically uses a utility
or whole site meter, and the period of assessment pre and post installation is generally longer to
take into account full energy cycles. For example, a full years’ energy consumption may be taken
into consideration, correlated to an energy governing factor such as degree days.
An M&V plan, developed prior to the installation of measure, will determine the most suitable
approach to take. Savings reports are then appended to the Plan, once the installation has been
verified and a suitable time period for assessment has passed.
Benefits
One of the key benefits to undertaking M&V to IPMVP standards is that it is the most widely used
International Protocol and therefore savings report are consistent in format. Using an International
Standard provides credibility in terms of the savings figures reported and ensures that any anomalies
are considered and that like for like comparisons are being made. For organisations reporting
savings, be it internally or externally, reported savings can be stated as being ‘IPMVP-compliant’.
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6. IPMVP is administered by the Efficiency Valuation Organisation – EVO (www.evo-world.org). EVO is
the only organisation in the world that administers a professional certification scheme related to
M&V Practitioners, and applicants must have reached a minimum level of experience, qualifications
as well as pass an examination. Currently, there are just over 2000 Certified Measurement and
Verification Professionals (CMVPs) worldwide, with only a handful in the UK.
Target Market
It is considered that up to 30% of a building’s energy consumption originates from Air Handling Plant
– of which filters and pre-filters form one element. Regarding energy efficiency and filters, the
greater the pressure differential there is across a filter, the greater the energy consumed.
Camfil Farr are providers of Low Energy Air Filters. As such, both particulate efficiency and energy
efficiency are considered as key performance criteria. Camfil Farr are keen to work with clients to
develop savings reports that specify the level of savings actually made from their filter installations –
over a period of time not just the initial installation.
Technology providers, facilities managers and end clients are keen to know what the energy savings
have actually been at their sites. Vitally also, when the optimal time to change a filter might be in
order to keep maintaining low energy costs and particulate efficiency and therefore a healthy
building environment.
Third party verification can help FMs and clients understand the answers to these questions and help
to improve their planned maintenance regimes. M&V can also help to determine whether investing
in better quality but more expensive filters prove to be more cost-effective over the lifetime of the
filters, whilst still maintaining indoor air quality.
Summary
Using an independent verifier of energy efficiency savings will further enhance the IPMVP
methodologies for determining energy savings from an energy conservation scheme such as the
installation of Low Energy Air Filters.
Typically some of the questions an Engineering Manager or Chief Financial Officer within an
organisation might ask of some of the invested projects are:
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7.  ‘Did my project achieve the promised outturn savings?’
 ‘How confident am I of the results?’
By providing assurance to the client that an externally qualified individual or organisation has
undertaken savings verifications in an objective view and to international standards, will enable
organisations to make further informed business decisions regarding investment in such technology
in the future.
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About the Author
Rajvant Nijjhar is an Energy and Sustainability professional with over 15 years experience in building services,
and the construction and water industry. After completing a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering she
started her career as tendering engineer, working for WABAG Water Engineering and Gleeson Construction
Services focussing mainly on anaerobic digestion schemes and other water industry projects. After taking a
sabbatical to do an MBA, she then worked in business development, winning a £100m water framework for
Gleeson. Her move into energy and sustainability came when she produced Costain’s inaugural Corporate
Responsibility report in 2006 - ‘Being Responsible’. Thereafter, she worked for a building services consultancy,
hurleypalmerflatt on a wide variety of energy and sustainability projects including energy audits, CSR
consulting, EPCs and DECs, and renewable energy schemes. She recently set up IVEES | Independent Verifiers
of Energy Efficiency Savings, a consultancy dedicated to providing independent third party measurement and
verification (M&V) services. Rajvant is a CMVP and also a member of the ISO Technical Committee responsible
for producing new standards on M&V and energy baselines.
Email rajvant@ivees.co.uk
Web www.ivees.co.uk
Tel 07989 407 426
LinkedIn – Rajvant Nijjhar
Twitter IVEES_
About Camfil Farr
Camfil Ltd is the UK subsidiary of Camfil AB which trades as Camfil Farr or the Camfil Farr Group. Camfil Farr is
a world leader in the development and production of air filters and clean air solutions. Camfil Farr is also one
of the most global air filtration specialists in the world with 23 production units and research and development
centres in four countries in the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
Camfil Farr, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, has approximately 3,350 employees and sales in the region
of SEK 4.6 billion (c. £440 million). International markets account for almost 90% of sales. The company’s
business is to provide customers with sustainable best-in class air filtration products and services within four
main segments: Comfort Air; Clean Processes; Power Systems; and Safety and Protection.
With 47 years of experience in air filtration products and solutions, Camfil Farr delivers value to customers all
over the world while contributing to something essential to everyone – clean air for health, wellbeing and
performance.
See: www.lowenergyairfilter.co.uk and www.camfilfarr.co.uk
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