USING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS TO REDUCE ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND ENERGY COSTS

The twin problems of steadily rising energy costs and global warming have made the issue of energy conservation a very high priority for both regulatory agencies and water and wastewater utilities. More and more utilities are realizing that a systematic approach for addressing their energy challenges is the best way to ensure that energy issues are continually addressed on an ongoing basis. Energy management is also at the heart of efforts across the entire sector to ensure that utility operations are sustainable in the future. Working closely with a number of utilities and the Water Environment Federation, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is proactively addressing this issue and has developed an energy management guide entitled Ensuring a Sustainable Future: An Energy Management Guidebook for Wastewater and Water Utilities that provides a detailed, step by step, management systems approach to reducing energy consumption and energy cost. This paper will describe the USEPA's new Energy Management guidebook and discuss how water and wastewater utilities can use this guidebook to reduce their energy costs. In addition, the paper will also include a case study example describing how the Camden County (NJ) Municipal Utilities Authority (CCMUA) used an Environmental Management System, akin to the Plan-Do-Check-Act systematic approach set forth in the USEPA's Energy management guidebook to realize significant reductions in energy consumption at its wastewater treatment plant, and corresponding cost savings for its ratepayers.