Case Study of Energy Utilization/management at the Nccrc

Abstract

Energy demand has been escalating mainly because of the growing population and increasing standards of living for many. However, consumers have not used energy efficiently due to either lack of energy management principles or negligence. High consumption or energy wastage has been linked to climate change because of CO2 emissions. This project report focused on energy assessment and management at the National Climate Change Resource Centre facility to recommend energy-saving measures for significant energy savings and a decrease in environmental impact due to CO2 emissions. This study further examined sources of energy and established that the facility has a hybrid system composed of KPLC utility, standby generator, PV solar system and biogas digester. It was determined that only two sources of energy are currently utilized: KPLC utility company as a primary source and 50kVA standby generator to take over in case of the primary source outage. From the findings, several energy-saving opportunities were identified that could be implemented. Economic evaluations were done to ensure the implementation of these saving measures is viable to produce the best results. The simple payback period calculations established that this could be achieved at a maximum of 2.5 years, while the potential maximum carbon saved can be expected to be 3.4 tons/year. Finally, the energy-saving opportunities of Ksh 2,501,500.00 investment were recommended that could result in an annual cost saving of Ksh 979,291.00 at the NCCRC facility.