Abstract:
A prototype computer based expert system has been developed to aid energy managers
by speeding the energy auditing process and rapidly identifying potential low cost and
fast pay-back energy saving investments for a wide range of businesses.
It consists of a generally applicable energy management system based on sound, tried
theory and practical experience gained from a number of energy management surveys.
These surveys were used to identify key data requirements for the identification of
common areas of wastage. The system uses sparse data analysis and the building
energy signature model. It produces an entire energy audit and list of economic
recommendations for a site based upon minimal input data. This is accomplished by
reference to a number of internal databases containing the technical information
required, as well as the entire set of algorithms and mathematical routines required for
the analyses.
The prototype was tested with a synthetic data set derived from the site surveys and
with real data from a large tertiary college and it was found to give credible results in
line with those produced by extensive and in-depth manual data-gathering and analysis.