What is the Quick PEP tool?
The Quick Plant Energy Profiler, or Quick PEP, is an online software tool provided by the U.S. Department of Energy to help industrial plant managers in the United States identify how energy is being purchased and consumed at their plant and also identify potential energy and cost savings. Quick PEP is designed so that the user can complete a plant profile in about an hour. Quick PEP should be thought of as a scoping tool that provides rough estimates instead of an accurate engineering analysis tool. Quick PEP provides a quick diagnosis of the overall energy picture at your plant and provides you with a plan for investigating further.
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What inputs are required for the tool?
The Quick PEP tool requires the following basic inputs:
- Purchased Electricity Information - you will need to provide the average quantity and cost of electricity purchased for your plant. This data can come right from your electricity bills.
- Purchased Fuel Information - you will need to provide the average quantity and cost of all fuel purchased for your plant. This data can come right from your fuel bills.
- Purchased Steam Information - you will need to provide the average quantity and cost of all steam purchased for your plant. This data can come right from your steam bills.
- Production Information - (optional) you may provide a measurement of the average production at your plant.
- Energy Use System - you will be asked to select the major energy use systems that are in use at your plant.
- Energy Use Information - you will need to enter average energy use for each of the major energy use systems at your plant. You will do this by entering the percentage of total energy that each major system at your plant uses. Quick PEP will start by providing you default values for your selected industry.
- Energy Savings Opportunities - you will characterize the overall health and energy efficiency of each of the major energy use systems in your plant.
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What outputs does the tool produce?
The Quick PEP tool will produce a customized report with the following information:
- Supplied Energy Information - This section of the report has graphs and tables that show the average annual amount of energy that is purchased or generated onsite. The tables display the amount of energy as well as the cost of the energy.
- Annual Energy Consumption - This section of the report has graphs and tables that show the average annual amount of energy consumed at your plant. The graphs break down the energy consumption by each major energy use system in the plant.
- Potential Annual Energy Savings - This section of the report has graphs and tables that show the potential annual amount of energy that could be saved. The potential savings are broken down by each major energy use system and also include potential cost savings.
- Suggested Next Steps - This section of the report has a listing of suggested next steps that could help the plant save energy and money. The next steps are broken down by major energy use system. Some of the next steps include a link to learn more.
This report can be viewed online, printed, or downloaded as a PDF file. View a sample Quick PEP report. (PDF 112KB) Download Adobe Reader
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How long will it take to complete Quick PEP?
If you have collected your basic utility data, you should be able to complete the Quick PEP tool in about an hour. Entering detailed utility data and completing the Quick PEP score cards will increase the amount of time required to completed the tool.
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Where is my data saved?
By default, your data is saved to a file on your computer. However, this is not automatic and you must click on the Save link at the top of the page to save your data to your local computer. You may also save your data to the web server if you wish. If you create an account with a username and password, then you can save your data and retrieve it back from the web server at any time.
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Is my data secure?
Any data that you enter in to Quick PEP will be saved to your computer (unless you decide to create a username and password and save the data to the web server). At no time during the Quick PEP process are you required to identify yourself. You may fill out Quick PEP completely anonymously! Any data that you decide to save to the web server is saved to a secure database server behind the U.S. Department of Energy firewalls and can not be accessed by the general public.
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What are the default energy distribution numbers in Step 7?
One of the most difficult steps to complete in Quick PEP is Step 7 - Energy Use Distribution. In this step the user must distribute all available energy among the selected energy use systems for the plant. Without reliable metering data, this step usually ends up being a "best guess". Quick PEP makes this step a little easier by providing a default distribution that you can use as a starting point. You may use the default distribution as is, or you may adjust any of the numbers to make the distribution better reflect actual energy consumption at your plant. The default distributions for each industry were calculated from a U.S. Manufacturing and Mining Energy Footprints report prepared by Energetics, Inc. for the U.S. Department of Energy. You can read more about these footprints here.
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How accurate is the Quick PEP tool?
The Quick PEP tool should be thought of as a scoping tool. The purpose of Quick PEP is to identify and prioritize major energy savings opportunities. The major inputs used to calculate energy savings are all rough estimates: purchased energy quantities and costs; energy use distributions; energy savings opportunities. Quick PEP should not be thought of as a precise engineering tool. It is a tool that helps give you a general idea of where your energy is being used and where your best opportunities are to save energy.
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How precise are the suggested next steps in the Quick PEP results?
The suggested next steps that Quick PEP provides are broad in nature. Quick PEP maintains a database of suggested next steps and provides you with a list that best matches the calculated opportunities at your plant. Most likely there will be suggested next steps that either do not apply to your plant or have already been implemented. The purpose of the suggested next steps is to give you a starting point for saving energy and money at your plant.
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Why doesn't Quick PEP include implementation costs or anticipated payback periods in the results?
Quick PEP is a scoping tool that is designed to be completed in about an hour. It is a tool that should help you focus on a few large energy saving projects at your plant. However, Quick PEP is not detailed enough to provide any realistic implementation costs or payback periods for these projects. That type of detail is beyond the scope of this tool. A future version of Quick PEP or a more detailed version of a Plant Energy Profiler tool may include financial estimations.
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How do I save the Quick PEP report?
In Step 9 you view the Quick PEP report. On the top right hand side of the screen there is a link to view a printable version of your report. If you click on this link you will be able to download an Adobe PDF version of your Quick PEP report. This PDF version can be saved to your computer or sent to colleagues.
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