Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2019

Document Type

Problem/Project Report

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Industrial and Managements Systems Engineering

Committee Chair

Ashish D. Nimbarte

Committee Co-Chair

Bhaskaran Gopalakrishnan

Committee Member

Bhaskaran Gopalakrishnan

Committee Member

Kenneth R. Currie

Abstract

With the growing world population and efforts to bring better energy access to the people, energy needs of the world are expected to grow in the coming years. Given the limited availability of non-renewable resources, there has been a mounting consensus among the users and the stakeholders to utilize the available energy in the most efficient way by implementing various methods like use of advanced technologies, source reduction, behavioral changes, etc. Energy efficiency in general is considered as a win-win scenario for all the users and/or stakeholders involved as it not only lowers the base load for power generating companies, but it also helps in reducing costs to the customers, emission of greenhouse gases and dependence on the fossil fuels. Energy audit by qualified professionals is a first logical step towards improving energy efficiency. Traditional methods to market energy audit include providing a leaflet or by word of mouth. However, such methods are often generic and ambiguous, and are not specific to the business/facility involved. In this study, the objective was to evaluate effectiveness of a virtual energy audit tool as a marketing strategy in comparison to the traditional leaflet-based marketing approach. We identified the potential Energy Conservation Measures (ECM) and used a virtual energy audit tool to estimate the cost and energy savings for facilities based on publicly available data. The estimated savings were used as a selling point to market the energy audits. A survey study was conducted using a sample size of 200. Results of the survey study were inconclusive due to low response rate (~10%). However, some trends were observed indicating that virtual energy audit may positively influence facility’s decision to request an energy audit.

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