Energy Efficiency in Industry for Beginners
In this course, you will:
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Understand the critical role energy efficiency plays in the fight against climate change
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Learn how to develop a mathematical model for the energy consumption of a process and use it to increase efficiency
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Learn how to make a business case for an energy efficiency project
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Calculate how much money was saved by implementing energy efficiency measures
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Describe and calculate the risk associated with a project
What you'll learn
Features
What is energy efficiency?
Learn the what, why and how of energy efficiency in this online course
Energy efficiency is eliminating energy waste.
It allows the same work to be done with less energy.
This simple concept quickly raises a number of questions.
Here are a few:
Read more
Why is energy efficiency important?
How can energy efficiency be achieved at the level required to mitigate climate change?
Can you show me an example of a current energy efficiency innovation?
Why is energy efficiency important?
Did you know that energy efficiency is just as important to fighting climate change as the transition to renewable energies?
According to the IEA (International Energy Agency), if all cost-effective energy efficiency measures were implemented between now and 2040, greenhouse gas emissions would fall 12% relative to today despite a doubling in the size of the economy.
Implementing all cost-effective energy efficiency measures between now and 2040 would result in achieving 40% of the total carbon emissions reduction target.
Source: IEA Energy Efficiency Market Report
Back to the questions about energy efficiency
How can energy efficiency be achieved at the level required to mitigate climate change?
Achieving the level of energy efficiency required to control climate change would require significant investments in the transport, building and industrial sectors.
Energy Efficiency Investments by Sector and Region, 2017
Source: IEA Energy Efficiency Market Report
Although 236 billion USD were invested in 2017, to reduce carbon emissions enough to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, investments in energy efficiency projects overall must double between now and 2025, and then double again after 2025.
This would result in many other economy-wide benefits such as reducing the need for energy imports and lowering energy costs for households, businesses and industries.
Of course, renewable energy technologies can also help to reach these goals, however, improving energy efficiency is the cheapest – and often the quickest – way to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Back to the questions about energy efficiency
How can engineers help?
In this course, we ask the question, "How can engineers play an active role in improving energy efficiency?"
Here's a summary of the steps engineers should take.
Determine Energy Consumption Drivers
First, engineers must determine what is driving the energy consumption in their product, process or structure.
Model Energy Consumption
Then, they must derive mathematical models to determine how energy consumption would change under different conditions. This helps to identify energy savings opportunities.
Build a Business Case for the Investment
Once technical solutions have been chosen, engineers must convince the financial officers of their companies to take on these energy efficiency projects.
To do so, engineers must translate their technical case into a convincing business case based on capital budgeting principles.
What is covered in this course
This course provides engineers with a solid understanding of the importance of energy efficiency to the fight against climate change, the techniques employed to model energy consumption and estimate energy savings and includes a crash course in capital budgeting.
By the end of this course, you will be able to present both the technical and financial merit of an energy efficiency project.
Back to the questions about energy efficiency
An example of an energy efficiency engineering innovation in transportation:
The Hyperloop
The Hyperloop is a term coined by Elon Musk for a hypothetical high-speed mode of transportation which would essentially consist of passenger cars travelling in a network of tubes.
The Hyperloop passenger capsules would be designed to travel at nearly two times the speed of commercial airplanes while using less energy.
The Hyperloop
Source: The Daily Mail UK
How?
The Hyperloop design minimizes the two major energy consumption drivers of ground-level transportation:
Friction with the ground
Friction with the air.
It overcomes them by:
Having each passenger capsule float on a 0.02–0.05 inch (0.5–1.3 mm) layer of air using a method resembling the levitation of pucks over an air hockey table.
Containing the passenger capsules inside a steel tube maintained at a partial vacuum.
Using these techniques to eliminate friction with the ground and greatly reduce air resistance, the capsules could glide for the bulk of the journey.
Back to the questions about energy efficiency
Video
Reviews
What engineers are saying about this course
Excellent!
Curriculum
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1
Introduction and Course Structure
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2
Section 1. Measuring Profitability
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Outline
FREE PREVIEW -
Energy Efficiency and Climate Change (2 min 15 sec)
FREE PREVIEW -
Capital Budgeting Crash Course
FREE PREVIEW -
The Profitability of Energy Efficiency Projects (15 min 17 sec)
FREE PREVIEW -
Energy efficiency in the buildings sector (1 min 04 sec)
FREE PREVIEW -
Practise Quiz
FREE PREVIEW
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3
Section 2. Turning Energy Efficiency into Cash Flow
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Outline
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Measurement and Verification Protocols (24 min 30 sec)
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Which Countries Are The Most Energy Efficient? (3 min 21 sec)
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Sustainability via energy efficiency in industry (17 min 31 sec)
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Practise Quiz
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4
Section 3. Risk Assessment in Energy Efficiency Projects
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Outline
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How Risky is this Energy Efficiency Project? (12 min 37 sec)
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An Introduction to Monte Carlo Simulation (21 min 10 sec)
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Practise Quiz
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5
Section 4. In a Nutshell...
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Conclusion
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Energy Efficiency in a Nutshell (7 min 01 sec)
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Industrial symbiosis (7 min 25 sec)
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6
Section 5. Graded Quiz
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Get Your Course Completion Certificate
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Graded Quiz
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7
Section 6. Feedback
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Survey (3 questions)
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Shareable Certificate
Enroll in the full course
Instantly download your completion from your student dashboard. It will state that you've earned 2 professional development hours (2 PDH).
Share your certificate by:
1. Posting directly to social media: Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter
2. Sharing its link
3. Downloading it as a PDF
Free Preview & eBook Download
Access this course from your desktop or mobile device
See the first two sections of this course and download the complete course notes for FREE. No credit card information required.
Enrollment Options
Option 2:
Save 15% when you buy The Better Buildings Course Bundle (4 Engineering PDH)
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All Courses, English
Better Buildings Course Bundle (4h)
Increasing energy efficiency is as important as adopting renewable energies in the fight against climate change. Find out how to conduct an energy efficiency assessment, make a business case for an energy project and learn about eco-buildings.
Instructor
Energy Efficiency Specialist
Andrés Mercado Salomon, CMVP, RCx
Frequently Asked Questions
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Are you an approved professional development course provider in Canada?
Approval is not required. Canadian engineering boards do not approve, recommend or endorse any professional development course providers or courses.
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Are you an approved professional development course provider in the USA?
Approval is not required with the exception of the following states: Florida, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland, and Indiana. iPolytek has not yet sought to be approved in these states. Therefore, engineers from these state should not use our courses to accumulate professional development hours. If you are from one of these states and would like to take our courses in the future, let us know.
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How long do I have to complete the course once I have purchased it?
You have 2 years to complete this course. You can find the course expiration date on the invoice saved in your account's order history. You will receive a notification email 30 days, 7 days and 1 day before your enrollment expires.
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What is your refund policy?
Due to the digital nature of our courses, we do not issue refunds. We encourage you to preview our courses and download the course notes for free before purchasing. ATTENTION ENGINEERS FROM FL, NY, NJ, NC, MD, IN: The engineering boards of Florida, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland, and Indiana require pre-approval of professional development course providers. iPolytek has not yet sought to be approved in these states. Therefore, engineers from these state cannot use our courses to accumulate professional development hours.
Professional Development
This course has been written to meet the professional development requirements defined by the orders of engineers of the following Canadian provinces and territories and the engineering boards of the following US states. These governing bodies do not require pre-approval of courses or course providers. For more information on the continuing education requirements set forth by your order or board, please click on your province or state below.
CANADA:
AL, BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, NT & NU, ON, PE, QC, SK, YT
USA:
AL, AK, AZ*, AR, CA*, CO*, CT*, DE, GA, HI*, ID, IL, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MA*, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI*, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA*, WV, WI, WY
* These states do not have a professional development policy at this time.
It remains the engineer’s responsibility to determine whether an activity meets the guidelines set by their licensing body. It is also the engineer's responsibility to maintain and submit records of professional development activities to their engineering board.