Energy Initiatives

M&M Systems has developed a suite of energy savings tools to reduce power usage without sacrificing temperature control or facility safety that assists in providing a rapid return on your investment.

Our control systems have been shown to provide energy savings up to 25% compared to electro–mechanical controls and simple PLC systems. By utilizing optional energy management suite features, a properly tuned M&M control system has been able to save an additional 10%.

Cost of Energy and Demand Charges

The first step in reducing your facilities energy usage is understanding how your bill is calculated from your energy provider. To understand more about demand charges and kW usage examples go to the Cost of Energy page.

Energy Management Control Tools

M&M Systems offers many control features to assist in lowering and monitoring energy usage while maintaining necessary operational temperatures. To learn more about these features go to the Energy Management Tools page.

What is Demand?

Demand is the total amount of electricity being used by a consumer at any one time. It is measured in kilowatts (kW). Customers are billed according to kW of demand for their rate. The kilowatt (kW) and the kilowatt–hour (kWh) are the basic units of electricity. Your meter measures these units, and your energy provider uses them to determine your monthly bill.

What is Demand Charge?

Demand charge is based on each customer’s maximum 15 or 30 minute demand on the energy providers distribution system each billing period. Demand is measured in kilowatts (kW). Customers are billed according to kW of demand for their rate. Demand charge may be a fixed charge per kilowatt, or divided into rate brackets: the highest charge on the first bracket, and lesser charges on the following brackets.

Why are Demand Charges Used?

Demand charges are the way your energy provider pays for generation and distribution capacity it needs to meet peak demand that occurs from time to time.

Demand Charge Examples:

Running a 20 kW load for one hour would result in usage of 20 kilowatt hours (kWh) and accrue a demand charge of 20 kW

Example 2:

Running a 2 kW load for 10 hours would also result in usage of 20 kWh but would only accrue a demand of 2 kW

Both examples use the exact same amount of energy (20 kWh) and perform the same amount of work. However, the resulting bill will be very different. Applying a power rate demand charge of $8.80 per kW and an energy charge of 5.4 cents per kWh to both examples produces the following results:

Bill 1:
Bill 2:

Since you are billed for both demand and energy, keeping both components to a minimum will help lower your electric bill.

M&M Systems offers many control features to assist in lowering and monitoring energy usage while maintaining necessary operational temperatures. If needed, customer specific features can be added that are unique to your process or application.

Many common tools are listed below followed by a brief description.

Standalone Compressor Controls

• Scheduling feature provides load shifting capabilities
• Support for variable speed motors to optimize compressor efficiency

Sequencer Control Features

• Sequencer assures compressors are running at maximum efficiency
• Scheduling allows shifting of load to off–peak hours and allows use of thermal energy storage
• Multiple sequencer lead lists allows specific order of compressor to be scheduled for shifting loads

Condenser Control Features

• Wet bulb control eliminates wasted horsepower
• Support for variable frequency drives (VFD) to reduce horsepower

Evaporator Control Features

• Scheduling to shift load to off–peak hours and use thermal energy storage
• Fan cycling to reduce wasted horsepower
• Fan power fail staging to eliminate power–on demand spikes
• Support for Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) to reduce horsepower
• Fan sampling feature provides air movement to provide accurate temperature readings when zone is satisfied

Peak Hour Scheduling

• Provides an easy way to shutdown anything during peak demand periods

kW Monitoring

• Monitor, record and view history
• Calculation of total energy used, current demand, kWh/day, kWh/week and kWh/year are performed and displayed
• Tracks highest demand for the day with time of occurrence
• High demand alarm
• kW log records daily totals
• Historical and real–time trend plots for analysis

Load Shedding

• Automatically shedding zones and other selected equipment to keep peak demand down
• Uses kW monitoring data
• Scheduling allows the user to select between 4 different groups of setpoints at different times of day and day of the week
• Three different daily schedules are provided that have up to eight different time slots per day
• Different schedule can be assigned to each day of the week
• Zones and equipment shed order can be user prioritized

Custom Energy Management Features

The microprocessor based control system provides the flexibility to customize software for specific energy savings plans. Customer requests include but are not limited to:

• Switching lead list based on a plant event
• Shutting down zones based on an input
• Staggered blast starts
• Blast hold during peak time
• Blast VFD control based on product type
• Total plant shutdown in a controlled manner on request
• Automatic generator switch over and demand limiting
• Office receptacle shutdown
• Lighting bank shutdown