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THE INSULATION ENERGY APPRAISAL
Industry Endorses Standardized Approach
with Certification Program
For the first time, the industry is endorsing a standardized approach to conducting insulation energy appraisals through an accredited training program sponsored by the National Insulation Association (NIA). The primary goal is to raise the credibility of the industry through professional training and consistency of message. Accreditation and third-party certification will ensure that any energy proposal made by a certified appraiser will be viewed with a lot more respect than an unsupported bid for products or services.
The Overall Goal
The overall goal is to communicate the message that insulation is a powerful and inexpensive way to save tremendous amounts of energy and to promote the value of insulation performance in dollars, environmental savings, and energy reduction. According to William Pitkin, former Executive Vice President of NIA, "An Insulation Energy Appraisal Program (IEAP) can show industry how to significantly reduce energy costs and environmental impact. Managers can utilize the data from the appraisal to make sound business decisions regarding insulation that will have significant payback for the life of their facility. The eventual benefit of this program will be reduced energy consumption for the energy user."
How the Program was Developed
Developing the program took almost a year to complete and involved a large group of industry experts, professional training consultants, and other industry related associations. It was designed to appeal to a broad range of students. "We expect a good mix of candidates for this program," says Pitkin, "not only from within the insulation industry, but also architects, engineers, and plant maintenance personnel who are charged with insulation specification in their job. The more people who can conduct an energy appraisal, the more the owners and energy users will understand the role insulation plays in upgrading energy efficiency. One way we will be attracting others outside the insulation industry will be to offer Continuing Education Units (C.E.U.s)."
Preparation for Program Rollout
On October 2-3, 2000, the IEAP held a trial class in Herndon, Virginia. Twenty participants attended including manufacturers, contractors, and distributors, all of whom sat for the certification exam. "Several students attended with their bosses," adds Pitkin. "It's clear that their companies were serious about adding the IEAP function to their mix of products and services."
The objective of the trial run was to provide feedback to the program developers regarding curriculum content. The focus of the training course was on steam systems in manufacturing facilities. "Eighty percent of the production processes in the United States are dependent on steam in some part of their process," instructor Mike Kilgore of Industrial Interactions told the students. The curriculum seemed to naturally segment into four categories: Promotion, Information Gathering, Learning to Use the Computer Software, and Reporting the Results.
PROGRAM CONTENTS
1. PROMOTION
"Marketing is a huge part of making the insulation energy appraisal a success," says Pitkin. "The energy appraisal, as a tool, is only valuable if you get to use it. It is a tool around which you can develop a marketing program. You can make it your entrée into a new company." At the outset of the program, students were exposed to different marketing strategies including how to:
- Promote an insulation energy appraisal as a service to past and present insulation customers' new contacts, plant managers, and industrial facilities. In conjunction with an appraiser's own marketing efforts, NIA will be actively promoting the program through a variety of tools. These include: an energy appraisal marketing brochure, the "Power of Insulation" brochure, Insulation Awareness PowerPoint presentation and Insulation Outlook reprints.
- Identify the decision maker who can approve participation in the program. Students learned that the plant manager may be the most difficult person to reach, so they were given other positions to contact.
- Present the Program. Students were encouraged to develop a professional presentation to introduce the appraisal service and explain the process and benefits.
2. INFORMATION GATHERING
The customer, or energy user, needs to be a proactive part of the appraisal process. He/she should be very involved in the data collection and fact finding process which
is a two part process.
- Part #1-Interview the energy user. Students learned the interviewing techniques necessary to gather as much information as possible during their meeting with a plant manager, energy manager and others in the plant.
- Complete the questionnaire. Students were encouraged to obtain answers to certain questions in order to run the software program which calculates the energy, dollar and emissions savings. The student's manual includes a list of those specific questions. (See side bar.)
- Part #2-Conduct a facility walk-through. In lieu of an on-site walk-through, students viewed a 14-minute video of an actual walk-through of a facility. They saw how an appraiser measures all pipes, ducts and vessels both insulated and uninsulated. They learned what tools are needed for the job, tips on measuring pipes and equipment, the importance of reading process and instrument drawings (P & ID), and as-built drawings, and the necessity of paying attention to safety precautions.
3. LEARNING THE COMPUTER SOFTWARE
An integral part of the appraisal training is learning how to use the 3E Plus® software program. Developed by the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA), the program greatly simplifies the task of determining how much insulation is necessary to save money, use less energy, reduce plant emissions and improve process efficiency. "This program enables industry, for the first time, to put a dollar value to the energy saved through installing insulation, and to quantify the emissions saved for the insulation investment incurred," explains Pitkin.
4. REPORTING THE RESULTS TO THE ENERGY USER
Participants learned how to take processed data and generate charts, graphs, tables and spreadsheets for inclusion in their final report. "The final report is a powerful tool no matter what it shows," says Pitkin. "There have been a number of cases where the report indicated that the plant was fairly well insulated. It gives the appraiser a chance to compliment the energy user and show off his skills. The customer will remember the process and respect the time an appraiser spent getting acquainted with his plant's process. They will have established a relationship built on credibility." At other times, the final report will indicate areas of improvement and identify energy and dollar saving opportunities.
Students learned the importance of fully developing and practicing the presentation of their final report to their customers. The following points detail the type of information that a trained appraiser will be able to include in a typical report.
1. The amount of money an energy/plant manager is saving with the current insulation system, if any, and the potential savings with an insulation upgrade.
2. The environmental impact in terms of reduced combustion product gases (CO2, NOx and other greenhouse gases) resulting from increased energy savings and reduced fuel consumption.
3. The amount of energy (Btu) loss or gain from both insulated and uninsulated surfaces in the plant.
4. The amount of Btu or energy loss or gain from a pipe or vessel if the pipe or vessel is insulated to proposed thickness based on optimum heat loss or gain determined by the 3E Plus computer program used in the appraisal.
The instructor stressed to the students that the more proactively managed companies will quickly see the value of the environmental aspect of an appraisal. They will understand not only the compliance value, but also the 'economic' value of their emissions.
Conclusion
"Poised on the threshold of the 21st century, we find once again that fuel prices are spiraling upward and availability, whether real or artificial, is limited," says Pitkin. Voluntary energy efficiency audits soon may become standard practice, as industry will be encouraged to adopt national standards for proper levels of insulation. NIA believes that if plant/energy managers had a better understanding of the true dollar and performance value of an insulated process system, they would be more inclined to include insulation in their energy conservation planning and product mix. We believe that the Insulation Energy Appraisal Program will give them that understanding."
What are the Course Materials Used?
The course materials include: appraisal and resource manual; 3E Plus® computer software program and documentation manual; disk with Microsoft Excel 97 spreadsheet template; facility walkthrough video; sample spreadsheets, and disk with resource data.
Can Program Participants Receive C.E.U.s?
Yes. The International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) in Washington, D.C. will provide credits for continuing education for program participants. Students will receive approximately 1.5 C.E.U.s for participating in the course. One C.E.U. correlates to ten hours of class participation.
Are There Any Pre-Qualifications for Acceptance into the Program?
Yes. All participants should be familiar with the terms and basic fundamentals of insulation. In addition, participants should be familiar with different computer programs. If possible, participants should be able to bring a laptop computer to the class.
What is the Program Fee?
The cost of attending the Program is $795 per person. A discount rate of $695 per person is available to NIA members.
"An insulation contracting company that has a trained appraiser can differentiate itself from its competitors. It will help the company present a more professional bid and give it an opportunity to sit down and show value and payback in a way that makes sense."
"This can be a great partnering tool."
"As a P.E., I found the program gave me additional skills to quantify what my system and company are losing from uninsulated valves and equipment surfaces."
Information Gathering Process
Students learned information gathering techniques that are essential to performing an accurate insulation energy appraisal. They learned how to read P & ID drawings and elicit specific information from a plant/energy manager regarding the following items:
- Pipe & equipment sizes;
- Materials of construction;
- Piping and equipment geometries;
- Types of insulation;
- Jacketing materials;
- Ambient temperature;
- Process temperatures;
- Wind velocity;
- Insulated pipe surface temperatures;
- Design relative humidity values;
- Annual number of hours of
operation;
- Scheduled down times;
- Different thicknesses of insulation;
- Energy sources;
- Efficiency of each energy unit;
- Type of energy used;
- Cost of energy;
- How current insulation thicknesses
were determined;
- P & ID drawings;
- Insulation specifications;
- Whether your insulation system is
designed to a maximum heat loss/gain (Btu/SF);
- Whether your specifications apply to currently installed insulation systems.
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