Bachelor of Technology in Electrical & Electronic Engineering

TEE 4430- Renewable Energy Technology

Lecture 5 Notes
5.1 Energy Conservation and Efficiency;
Energy efficiency and energy conservation are related and often complimentary or overlapping
ways to avoid or reduce energy consumption. Energy efficiency generally pertains to the
technical performance of energy conversion and energy-consuming devices and to building
materials. Energy conservation generally includes actions to reduce the amount of end-use
energy consumption. For example, installing energy-efficient lights is an efficiency measure.
Turning lights off when not needed, either manually or with timers or motion sensor switches,
is a conservation measure.
Efficiency and conservation measures can help to directly lower consumers' energy bills and
potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy use. Consumers also
benefit indirectly when reducing their electricity consumption helps to reduce demand on the
electric system. High electricity demand often results in higher costs for generating and
transmitting electricity that may be passed on to utility customers.
Examples of energy efficiency and conservation measures for consumers include:
 Buying energy-efficient products and vehicles with high fuel economy
 Using programmable thermostats to control heating and cooling systems
 Installing energy management and control systems in commercial and industrial facilities
 Turning off lights and electric appliances when not in use
 Participating in energy efficiency and conservation programs that utilities offer their
customers
5.2 Utility Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programs
Many electric utilities offer energy efficiency and conservation programs to their customers, in
part, because of state energy efficiency resource standards. These standards set mandatory,
long-term targets for reducing energy use, which are sometimes required by state utility

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regulatory agencies like Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Kenya) EPRA as part of
investor-owned utility resource planning. Although efficiency and conservation reduce utility
bills for consumers, they may also result in reduced revenues and increased expenses for
utilities. Utilities may be compensated for the expenses related to efficiency and conservation
programs in the rates they charge their customers.
Electric utility efficiency and conservation programs are often focused on reducing electricity
use during periods of high (or peak) customer demand or in times of supply constraints (such
as a power plant outage). These programs are often called Demand Side Management (DSM)
programs or Load Side Management. DSM programs range from encouraging electricity
consumers to take efficiency and conservation measures, providing various financial incentives.
Utility efficiency and conservation programs may include financial incentives such as rebates
for purchasing energy-efficient products, appliances, and equipment or devices that remotely
control appliances. Some utilities encourage customers to voluntarily shift high electricity-use
activities to off-peak or low-demand periods by offering time –of use or time of day electricity
rates.
5.2 Aggregated Small Energy Users:
An aggregated small energy users project involves you working with large numbers of small
energy users who are mostly households and small businesses. The design of the project may
require the participation of tens of thousands of small energy users. There will be two groups:
a) A treatment group that has access to your goods and services to try to reduce their energy
use, and
b) A control group that has no such access.
Control and treatment group site are referred to as ‘populations’. Individual households are
allocated to each group at random, using a statistically valid sample process.
You can choose the goods or services you offer to the treatment group to reduce emissions from
grid electricity and natural gas consumption. You might make changes directly, for example by
installing new equipment in buildings, or indirectly, for example by providing information to
treatment group households or small businesses on the benefits of energy-saving activities. No

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changes to affect emissions can be made directly or indirectly to the control group during the
project. Such programs have been successfully implemented in USA, Australia and Indonesia.
5.2.1 The Objective of ASEU programs
The aggregated small energy users’ method sets out the rules for projects that reduce emissions
by reducing the energy use of a large number of households or small businesses.
The method does not prescribe activities that must be undertaken but provides flexibility for
participants to determine what goods and services are most appropriate for their use or project.
Goods or services that could be undertaken to reduce energy use include:
 changing behavior associated with energy use by, for example, providing information
through letter drops to the small energy users
 upgrading equipment so it uses less energy such as LED lighting, or efficient water
heating, space heating and cooling
 changing building elements that influence energy use, including draft sealing of doors
and windows.
5.2.2 Activities Involved
The aggregated small energy users project allows for a wide range of activities, within the
following broad categories:
a) information about energy consumer behavior, or opportunities to reduce emissions from
energy consumption
b) installing, removing or making changes to equipment, such as replacing inefficient light
bulbs
c) making changes to the way equipment is used, such as installing standby power
controllers for television and audio visual equipment
d) installing, removing or making changes to parts of the building, such as installing draft
seals on external doors, or
e) changing the energy source used to power equipment at treatment group sites, such as
installing new efficient gas heaters (both electricity and gas would need to be monitored
as part of the project).

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Details of what is required for an aggregated small energy users project to be considered eligible
by the Clean Energy Regulator are in parts two and three of the method and explanatory
statement.
5.2.3 Measurement and reporting periods in an aggregated small energy users project
A measurement period under the aggregated small energy users’ method refers to the period
that energy consumption is measured and emissions reductions are calculated.
Measurement periods run for one year, with the exception of the final measurement period,
which may run for one to two years to align with the end of the project’s seven year crediting
period. You can choose when the first measurement period for a population starts during the
period. Subsequent measurement periods start immediately after the previous measurement
period ends.
5.3 Commercial Buildings and Appliances
Energy is more than numbers we read on a utility bill; it is the foundation of everything we
do. All of us use energy every day—for transportation, cooking, heating and cooling rooms,
manufacturing, lighting, water-use, and entertainment. We rely on energy to make our lives
comfortable, productive, and enjoyable. Sustaining this quality of life requires that we use our
energy resources wisely. The careful management of resources includes reducing total energy
use and using energy more efficiently.
The leading energy consuming appliances in commercial buildings are the Heating and Air
Conditioning (HVAC), Water heating and Lighting. The choices we make about how we use
energy—turning machines off when not in use or choosing to buy energy efficient
appliances—will have increasing impacts on the quality of our environment and lives. There
are many things we can do to use less energy and use it more wisely. These things involve
energy conservation and energy efficiency.
The residential and commercial sectors generate more than 10 percent of greenhouse gas
emissions that contribute to global climate change. The three main sources of greenhouse gas
emissions from homes are electricity use, space heating, and waste. Using a few inexpensive,

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 energy efficient measures can reduce your energy bill and, at the same time, reduce air
pollution.
5.3.1 Heating and Air Conditioning (HVAC)

HVAC systems are the largest energy consumers in commercial installations. The cost is majorly
high because either the scape is not well defined or there is too much leakage. Much of this
energy is not put to use. Heat, for example, pours out of homes through doors and windows
and under-insulated attics, walls, floors, and basements. Some idle appliances use energy 24
hours a day. The amount of energy lost through poorly insulated windows and doors is very
high especially in countries which experience winter and summer and tropical air conditioned
spaces. About one-quarter of a typical home’s heat loss occurs around and through the doors
and windows. Energy efficient doors are insulated and seal tightly to prevent air from leaking
through or around them.
5.3.2 Commercial Building Lighting

In the typical home, lighting accounts for almost eight percent of the total energy bill. Much of
this expense is unnecessary, caused by using inefficient incandescent light bulbs. Only 10
percent of the energy consumed by an incandescent bulb produces light; the remainder is given
off as heat. To help combat this waste, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
changed the standards for the efficiency of light bulbs used most often. In Kenya the Energy Act
2019 and previously energy policy 2012 made these recommendations.
The purpose of the new efficiency standards is to give people the same amount of light using
less energy. There are several lighting choices on the market that already meet the new efficiency
standards. Energy-saving incandescent, or halogen bulbs, are different than traditional,
inefficient incandescent bulbs because they have a capsule around the filament (the wire inside
the bulb) filled with halogen gas. This allows the bulbs to last three times longer and use 25
percent less energy. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) provide an equivalent amount of
light as incandescent, but use up to 75 percent less energy and last ten times longer. Light
emitting diodes (LEDs) use even less energy than a CFL and last 25 times longer than traditional
incandescent bulbs. This means that life cycle emissions for an LED will be far fewer than any

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other type of bulb. LEDs have become an affordable option for homes and businesses and are
more durable than other bulb options. LEDs have many uses in the home and can be utilized in
mainly technical applications.
5.3.3 Water Heating

Water heating is one of the largest energy expenses in your domestic and commercial
installations after space heating and cooling appliances. It typically accounts for about 16
percent of your utility bill. Heated water is used for showers, baths, laundry, dishwashing, and
general cleaning. There are four ways to cut your water heating bills—use less hot water, turn
down the thermostat on your water heater, insulate your water heater and pipes, and buy a new,
more efficient water heater. One of the easiest and most practical ways to cut the cost of heating
water is to simply reduce the amount of hot water used. In most cases, this can be done with
little or no initial cost and only minor changes in lifestyle. A family of four uses roughly 240
liters of water per day. This can be reduced by using low-flow, aerating showerheads and
faucets. Other ways to conserve hot water include taking showers instead of baths, taking
shorter showers, fixing leaks in faucets and pipes, and using the lowest temperature wash and
rinse settings on clothes washers. Most water heater thermostats are set much higher than
necessary. Lowering the temperature setting on the water heater can save energy.
5.4 Industrial Electricity and Fuel Conservation and Efficiency
Manufacturing the industrial products requires an enormous amount of energy. The industrial
sector of the in most countries economies, consume almost one-third of the nation’s total energy
demand. In the industrial sector, energy efficiency and conservation measures are not driven so
much by consumers as by the market. Manufacturers know that they must keep their costs as
low as possible to compete in the global economy. Since energy is one of the biggest costs in
many industries, manufacturers must use energy efficient technologies and conservation
measures to be successful. Their demand for energy efficient equipment has driven much of the
research and development of new technologies in the last decades as energy prices have
fluctuated. Individual consumers can, however, have an effect on industrial energy
consumption through the product choices they make and how the product is packaged.

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The main equipment that drive the industrial sector are;
i. Boilers
ii. Air compressors
iii. Chillers
iv. Heat Pumps
v. Furnaces
vi. Motor drives
5.4.1 Industrial Boilers
Industrial boilers are the heart of all consumer product manufactures because of the heating
processes involved. Most of the boilers are fired using Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) and some are fired
using biomass fuels like wood, briquettes and other bio-waste materials. In these boilers, the
operation efficiencies have been very low with a lot of heat lost during the conversion process.

Figure 5.1 Heat Balance in a Boiler Plant.

However, Current boilers are manufactured of higher efficiency using technology that has
monitoring and control features that reduce unnecessary losses. Waste Heat recovery is also
carried out to enhance the overall operation efficiency.
5.4.2 Air Compressors

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Air compressors are a necessary piece of equipment in all manufacturing industry. Current air
compressors have improved operating efficiency as compared to the previous types. This has
been achieved by adopting drives that run on load demand and adjust their power requirement
proportionally. Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) are very common now in air compressor
drives and have contributed immensely to the efficiency enhancement. Another component that
has contributed to the efficiency improvement is the air dryers which has become a necessary
complementary of the air compressor.
5.4.3 Chillers
Chillers are also a necessary component in processed food manufacturing industry where the
chiller plays a major role in the manufacturing process. Modern Chillers chillers use the heat
pump technology that is more efficient that the conventional refrigerant/compressor
technology. This has resulted in improved efficiency especially considering the volume of
chilled water required.
5.4.4 Motor Drives
Motor drives play a major role in the manufacturing industry where they run motors that turn
heavy variable loads. The cement and steel industry is leading in such drives which could be
AC or DC. Latest motor drive technology is utilized to improve the operation efficiency of the
production activities. Crushers, blowers, fans, conveyors, elevators and mills all use these drive.
Technology has been used to develop very efficient motors and drives suitable for the industry.

Tutorials Questions
1. A power station has the following loads:
a) The residual lighting load: Max. demand = 1200kW Load factor = 0.21 The diversity
between consumers = 1.32
b) 2. Commercial load: Max. demand = 2400kW Load factor = 0.31 The diversity
between consumers = 1.2
c) 3. Industrial load: Max. demand = 6000kW Load factor = 0.82 The diversity between
consumers = 1.22 The overall diversity factor may be taken as 1.42. Determine
i. Max. demand on the system
ii. Daily energy consumption (total)
iii. Overall load factor
iv. Total connected load assuming that demand factor for each load is unity
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 2. A Load side management system installed 2 million 15 watts compact florescent lamps
(CFL) and 1 million 8 watts’ light emitting bulbs (LED) to replace 2 million 55 watts and
1 million 30 watts’ incandescent lamps respectively. If the 55 watts’ lamps were being
used for 4.5 hours daily and the 30 watts’ lamps were being used for 3.5 hours daily,
Calculate;
i. The daily energy saving by the CFL load and

ii. Daily saving by the LED load assuming the load behavior remained the same

3. Suggest the most suitable efficient AC squirrel cage induction motors to drive industrial air
compressor in a cement factory setup. State Manufacture and efficiency at 75% full load
operation.

GGK/18/1/2024