RBCM Energy Accounting to April 2010

June 11, 2010

By:

Avalon Mechanical Consultants Ltd.

#300 – 1245 Esquimalt Road

Victoria, BC V9A 3P2

Phone: (250) 384-4128

Fax: (250) 384-4134

bob@avalonmechanical.com

RBCM

Energy Accounting June 11, 2010 1

Avalon Mechanical Consultants Ltd.

1 SUMMARY

This report presents a detailed review of the energy use at the RBCM. All the metered energy is electrical. There are 2 meters: • The Electric Plus meter, which covers the space and water heating only.

Use on this meter is rising. • The regular of “firm” Hydro meter, which covers lights and equipment. This

type of consumption has shown a steady decrease over the last couple of years, which provides positive feedback on the RBCM’s technical and behavioural energy and green initiatives.

Table 1 Energy Breakdown for 09/10 Fiscal Year

Cost End Use End Use Percent

Electricity Use

(kWh/yr) ($/yr)

Floor Area sq.m

Saving vs 2007

Heating (E+) 38% 2,225,400 $63,424 ($6,934)

Firm E 62% 3,592,800 $207,193 $22,076

5,818,200 $269,249 19,173 $15,142

2 FINDINGS

2.1 ELECTRIC PLUS HEATING ENERGY

The Electric Plus tariff (account 5904680) meters the 600 kW boiler in the basement, which provides space heat and domestic hot water heating. The increase in use is reported as negative savings in the table below:

Table 2 E+ “Savings” vs Baseline Year

2007 2008 2009

kWh/yr base yr -106,762 -394,014 Degree-days 2933 3031 3119 $/yr base yr ($3,042.72) ($11,229.40)

An upward consumption trend started in December 2008. Since that time, the average increase in E+ energy (compared to the 2007 baseline) has been as follows:

Table 3 E+ Use Increase – 17 Months 2009/10 vs 2007 Baseline Year

23,249 kWh/mo $ 663 $/mo 278,986 kWh/yr $ 7,951 $/yr

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Energy Accounting June 11, 2010 2

Avalon Mechanical Consultants Ltd.

The timing of this upward trend corresponds with the new humidifying/ reheat/dehumidifying system installed for the Temporary Gallery. The increase is more than was anticipated however, which indicates that there may be opportunities to obtain savings from operations and recommissioning of old HVAC systems. The BC Hydro Continuous Optimisation Program may be an option available to RBCM, unless there are firm plans for significant capital projects within the next 2 years. The raw data (unadjusted for a particular year’s weather) is as follows:

Graph 1: Raw E+ Consumption by Calendar Year

E + CONSUMPTION

1,818,0001,920,000 1,927,800

2,079,6002,208,000

2,541,600

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

3000000

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

YEAR

kW

h

The RBCM established a consumption benchmark in 2007. It was based upon 13 months of consumption - up to and including Nov 07. The E+ consumption and the outdoor temperatures were entered into a linear regression model. Heating degree-days were found to produce a strong correlation with consumption, as indicated in the graph below. Graph 2: Consumption vs Weather Regression – Base Year 2007

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

10,000

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Heat DD (18C HDD/day)

Ele

ct

(kW

h/d

ay

)

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Energy Accounting June 11, 2010 3

Avalon Mechanical Consultants Ltd.

The graph above shows that there was no weather-related consumption, when the outdoor temperature (OAT) was at or above 18C during 2007. In warm weather of this type, the non-weather-sensitive loads (domestic hot water) consumed 2000 kWh/day. As the OAT got colder (moving to the right on the X-axis of the graph) the consumption went up at a very predictable rate (slope = 526 kWh/HDD). Each month, we enter in the average daily temperatures into the model (from the Environment Canada website), and it compares the PREDICTED CONSUMPTION (based on the above, and the actual weather), with the ACTUAL CONSUMPTION from the bills. A weather-corrected cumulative “savings” graph is produced below to compare weather-corrected performance versus the 2007 baseline. Each month, the actual kWh consumption is subtracted from the consumption predicted by the model (based upon actual OAT) to determine the savings. If the line in the graph goes up, then the actual consumption was higher than the predicted consumption that month – which is the case for every month except during summer ’08, May 09, and March ’10. The downward trend at the end of the graph is an indicator of savings and may be a positive trend going forward.

Graph 3: Adjusted E+ CUSUM, December 2007 to 12 March 2010.

Note: There was an extra meter reading in March 2009. Base year to which savings are compared: 2007

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Energy Accounting June 11, 2010 4

Avalon Mechanical Consultants Ltd.

2.2 FIRM ELECTRICITY – LIGHTS & EQUIPMENT

The situation for the firm Hydro usage is better. The daily consumption in 2010 is 11% lower than it was in 2007.

Table 4 Firm Electrical Costs and Consumption

2007 2008 2009 2010 kWh/yr 3,945,600 3,932,400 3,666,000 1,184,400 days 364 365 365 123 kWh/day 10,840 10,774 10,044 9,629 $/day $625 $621 $579 $555 $/yr $228,164 $226,778 $211,415 $202,688

No occupancy or weather data has been found to have a statistically significant correlation to consumption.

Graph 4: Firm Daily Consumption by Calendar Year

Firm Hydro kWh/day

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

2007 2008 2009 2010

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Energy Accounting June 11, 2010 5

Avalon Mechanical Consultants Ltd.

Graph 5: Firm Monthly Consumption

RBCM Firm kWh/mo

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

2007

2008

2009

2010

Month