ESA Experts: Training the Trainers in Texas
From the Winter 2007 issue of Energy Matters
Daryl Cox (center), a Qualified Pumping System Assessment Tool (PSAT) Specialist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, trains workshop attendees at a Flowserve training facility in Dallas in 2002. Attendee Jack Claxton of Patterson Pumps (far left), now a Qualified PSAT Instructor, looks on. (Credit: Don Casada)
To get ready for this year's round of Energy Savings Assessments, or ESAs, at some of the nation's largest manufacturing plants, about 60 industry professionals gathered in Dallas, Texas, in December 2006.
Known as U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ESA Energy Experts, the attendees had already passed rigorous exams in order to become DOE Industrial Technology Program (ITP) Qualified Specialists. They then received additional training in conducting ESAs, as part of a national effort to assist industry in reducing energy use and trimming energy costs while curbing environmental emissions. Approximately 250 new assessments are planned for 2007 on top of the 200 completed in 2006.
"This year's assessments are different from typical ones," says Dr. Greg Harrell, an engineer for Energy Management Services in Tennessee and Lead Technical Advisor for the ESA Steam Group.
The main difference is that an ESA Energy Expert will be providing training while working alongside a team of plant professionals to assess a particular industrial system, such as process heating or compressed air. This change provides plant personnel with the knowledge needed to continue to assess and improve their plants' energy use and to replicate assessments at other plants, long after the DOE expert has left the building.
ITP provides training for industry professionals in the use of several different DOE software assessment tools. (Source: DOE)
How You Can Become an ESA Energy Expert
If you're an engineer or other type of professional with expertise in industrial systems and would like to add titles such as "DOE Qualified Specialist" and "ESA Energy Expert" to your portfolio, the Department of Energy's Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) would like to hear from you.
DOE's Qualified Specialists are trained in using DOE-developed software tools to assess energy use and savings opportunities in industrial compressed air, fan, process heating, pumping, or steam systems. Qualified Specialists must pass an exam at the end of a two- to three-day specialist training session developed by ITP and its partners. New sessions for those specializing in various industrial systems are coming up in March, April, May, and June 2007. Space is limited and advance registration is required, so please see the specialist training sessions in the list of trainings on the ITP BestPractices Web site for details.
Being recognized as a Qualified Specialist is the first step in becoming one of the "Best of the Best," an ESA Energy Expert. A mentoring program is being developed to prepare Qualified Specialists for ESAs, focused assessments of industrial process heating, steam, compressed air, fan, or pumping systems, and to help them train in-plant personnel in using DOE software tools. Be sure to check the Save Energy Now Web site over the next several weeks for details.
Clear Objectives for ESAs
The assessments will benefit from the Texas meeting because the ESA Energy Experts are well prepared for their 2007 assignments. The experts will be able to help manufacturing plants by—
Being flexible. Each system and each site will have different issues to deal with (for example, specific issues with compressed air).
Keeping DOE's goals in mind. The experts will conduct training in energy management for a specific system, train people to use DOE assessment tools, and do a field evaluation.
Identifying real projects. The experts will design justifiable, tangible, and repeatable projects that save energy and money.
Setting expectations early. The experts will clarify expectations early on, letting plant personnel know that they cannot do everything but will focus on specific systems and specific elements of that system.
Quickly identifying focus areas. The experts will identify quickly what they will focus on (for example, compressor controllers or dryers).
"The main attribute DOE wants to convey is that the plant's team is vital to this process," Harrell says.
New Power to Help Industry
DOE's energy analysis software tools are making the whole process much easier, says ESA Energy Expert Frank Moskowitz, who attended the Texas meeting. Moskowitz says the new tools discussed at the meeting gave him "a new power to help industry" he didn't have before.
"The new tools also give us a new reason to approach old customers who have turned down energy audits in the past," Moskowitz says.
Quick PEP, for example, is a new Web-based energy performance analysis tool that allows users to see how energy is generally being used in their plants.
The challenge for the ESA Energy Experts this year is to help customers make the most of an ESA and understand how to use ITP BestPractices software tools regularly to continue finding specific energy-saving opportunities. DOE encourages plants to apply for an ESA soon, to benefit not only from the assessment but also from the expert training that comes with it.
Find out more about DOE's Energy Saving Assessments and the ESA Energy Experts who conduct them by visiting the DOE Save Energy Now Web site.
Read More Energy Matters Articles on These Topics
- Energy Cost Management
- Energy Efficiency
- Industrial Assessment Centers
- Plant Assessments
- Software
- Training
