The importance of energy intensity in improving energy efficiency

Do you think your business is spending too much on electricity? If so, you need to find a way to reduce energy consumption and make the most of your energy costs. There are many options to help you. However, you must first understand the strength of energy use and its role in improving energy efficiency.

You will spend your fixed management fees and will be bothered by how much. What is your job? Of course, you can find ways to cut them. Energy costs account for one of the company's monthly budgets. This is a good thing because it can reduce energy costs, unlike other aspects such as employee payments and business operations.

Commercial buildings account for more than 20% of the country's total energy consumption, with an average of 30% being used for waste. Just knowing the total energy consumption of your building does not help you optimize energy efficiency. The president of WeCompete Energy said, "By knowing your energy use intensity, you can determine if your building is using too much energy and help you determine how much you need to reduce."

What is the intensity of energy use?

Energy use intensity [EUI] measures the energy efficiency of a building. It is expressed as a function of building size by determining the annual energy consumption per square foot of the building. In short, it can be calculated by dividing your total annual energy consumption by the total floor area of ​​the building.

There are two types of EUI: site type and source type. The EUI's site type is used to measure the energy used in the building, while the source type EUI represents the total energy used to run the company and its operations; this includes the energy used to deliver and transport the process.

How to calculate EUI?

Now that we have determined that EUI is the energy consumption per square foot per year, it is time to learn how to calculate it. The EUI is calculated by dividing the total energy used in a year [expressed in kilowatt hours or kilocalories [kBTU]] by the total square feet of the building.

E.g:

You own a two-story building with a main building area of ​​approximately 20,000 square feet and a second floor area of ​​15,000 square feet. Your building consumes 2.25 million kilowatts a year.

Convert your consumption to kBTUs in kilowatts. If the total energy consumption is multiplied by 3.412 [1 kW is equivalent to 3.412 kBTUs], kBTUs can be obtained. Multiplying 1,550,000 kW by 3.412 gives us an annual energy consumption of 5,288,600 kBTUs.

Now calculate the total area of ​​the building. In this case, it is 20,000 square feet + 15,000 square feet. This gave us 35,000 square feet.

Finally, divide your annual energy usage [in kBTw] by the total number of square feet to get the EUI. This will be more than 35,000 square feet per year at 5,288,600 kBTUs. The EUI of your building is 151.1 kBTU / sq.ft.

What causes the change in EUI?

Low EUI means good energy performance. Currently, there is no standard to determine if EUI is good because EUI changes for a variety of reasons.

Building type, weather conditions, working hours and number of people are the reasons behind the changes in EUI.

• Building Type - The supermarket has the highest EUI. The hospital's EUI value is three times that of an educational institution. This may be because the hospital is using more equipment and lighting is turned on for nearly 24 hours a day.
• Weather conditions - Temperature changes result in different heating or cooling requirements. There is a difference in heating and cooling costs for each zone. These differences must be considered when calculating the EUI value.
• Working hours - Longer working hours mean more lighting and equipment use, resulting in higher energy consumption and EUI value.
• Occupancy - EUI is measured by the total annual energy consumption and floor space of the building. Between buildings with the same building area but with different numbers of occupants, buildings with a higher number of occupants have higher EUI values.

How does EUI improve energy efficiency?

The EUI determines if your actual annual energy consumption exceeds the energy required by the building and its occupants. It can be used as a baseline when quantifying the energy you should reduce.

EUI allows you to better understand your energy performance. Even if you only know the basics of EUI, you can use it to compare the energy efficiency of buildings that are similar to your building and to identify areas where you can still make improvements.

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