Holmes: Did I ever tell you Watson about my meeting with the Director of Energy Conservation and his chief engineer for one of the largest States in the country?
Watson: Not that I recall. But I take it you are about to and I am sure it will be just as fascinating as all of your other stories.
Holmes: I’ve never met a sarcastic dog before.
Watson: I’m waiting with dog breath.
Holmes: Obviously a smart guy, the Director had degrees in both engineering and law but was new to his job and the field of energy conservation. It seemed like a good time to talk to him about our approach, experience and results over the past 30 years.
We went to his office next door to the State Capital Building to meet with him.
Watson: That sounds pretty impressive. How many buildings was he in charge of?
Holmes: When we met with him he introduced us to his chief engineer and said they were responsible for energy management and conservation in 175 State buildings. After we finished our presentation, the Director said our method of using actual monitored data together with basic engineering problem-solving techniques was interesting. But he already had everything he needed; he was doing everything necessary to conserve energy in the State-owned buildings.
He was working with a major temperature controls company and spending millions to put Energy Management Systems in all of the State Buildings.
Watson: So he already had a very expensive solution for all of his buildings before he had a chance to determine what problems each had and what each one really needed?
Holmes: That’s the way a lot of people and companies operate in this field, the one size fits all method. They already have the solution regardless of your problem. It didn’t surprise me. But I had a trick question up my sleeve. I asked him, “how many utility meters are you monitoring?” I had a strong hunch what the answer would be.
The Director turned to his engineer who replied “I don’t believe we are monitoring any meters.”
Watson: The single most important points to monitor to save energy, and out of 175 buildings, they weren’t monitoring a single meter, not one? Even a mere Certified Energy Dog like me knows that you can’t manage energy if you don’t measure energy. I know the difference between a “Temperature Controls System” and an “Energy Management System” from our recent Blog, “Why Don’t Energy Management Systems Manage Energy?” Read the Blog
For all those millions of dollars, he wasn’t getting Energy Management Systems, he was getting Temperature Controls Systems.
Holmes: My next questions were, “What about your reports? What do they look like? How do you track and verify savings? How do they compare with the ones of ours that we showed you?”
I knew what was coming next, it always does. I have heard it for years; “We will check with our Temperature Controls Company (the key word being controls) and let you know.”
Watson: What did his Temperature Controls Company say?
Holmes: Take a wild guess Watson.
Watson: His Temperature Controls Company told him they could provide all of the same reports as your monitoring system. I take it you’ve heard that before Holmes?
Holmes: Most of my career, but I have yet to see a single report.
Watson: So after the Director spends millions of dollars installing all of the control systems that were designed without bothering to define the specific problems in each facility, and he calls the controls company to check on the reports to see how much energy they have saved, what do you think he will hear?
Holmes: The exact same thing one of my previous clients actually heard from the same Controls Company in a similar situation, “You know we have been trying to produce some reports for you but we can’t do it. It just isn’t possible with our system.
But rest assured, we are the experts and we are producing the maximum savings possible”.
Watson: So does the Director just say, “Thanks. That’s good enough for me.”
Holmes: What else can he say at that point after he has spent all of that money? “Thank goodness; I would hate to hear that after I spent all of those millions of dollars I didn’t get what I needed. It would make me look really foolish, like I didn’t understand basic problem solving and financial management.”
Tell us about your experiences, both good and bad with energy professionals, what has worked and what hasn't. Send us your comments, thoughts and suggestions on how to improve our profession so we can all continue to learn from each other. Thanks – Holmes & Watson.