Apparatus, System, and Method for Quantifying Energy Usage and Savings

• US 20090228406A1
• Filed: 12/31/2008
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EQS Incorporated
• Original Assignee: EQS Incorporated
• Inventors: Baker, James A., Lopez, Teresa
• Granted Patent: US 8,266,076 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/412
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 40/70 Smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the energy generation sector
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method for quantifying energy usage and savings enables applying the savings to a financial transaction. Quantification includes estimating and/or monitoring usage of utilities by detectors, comparing the usage to a predetermined baseline value, and valuating an energy savings. Quantification relies on a comprehensive database to establish the baseline and to predict usage and savings. A portion of the savings may be applied to any of early repayment of a mortgage loan, investment in securities, and a request for a credit. The method and system standardizes values of energy units and/or monetary units, and quantifies savings. The method and system aids in qualifying the building project based on a concrete estimation of energy savings or a savings within a range. Thus, the method forms a bridge between green, other energy conserving, or sustainable technologies and the financial markets.

Claims

1. An apparatus for quantifying energy usage and savings comprising:

an analysis module configured to predetermine a baseline value of energy usage for a conventional energy building;

the analysis module configured to;

quantify at least one of an actual energy usage and a predicted energy usage for at least one of a green energy building and a sustainable energy building;

compare the at least one of the actual and the predicted energy usage to the predetermined baseline value; and

determine a savings of energy; and

an execution module configured to save at least one of the base line value, actual energy usage, predicted energy usage, and energy savings to a database.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one of the modules configured to convert a plurality of units of usage for a plurality of utilities into a single common energy unit.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising at least one of the modules configured to convert at least one of the units of usage and energy usage into a single unit of currency.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an energy usage factors module configured to receive input regarding at least one energy usage factor category from the categories consisting of a building shell, climate zone, HVAC, renewable energy, appliance, building occupancy, and utilities.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the analysis module further comprises a modeling module configured to model financial risk to facilitate capital funding for at least one of a retrofit construction and a new build construction that includes at least one of sustainable energy features and green energy features.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one detector operably associated with at the at least one utility.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a metering module configured to receive signals from the at least one detector representing energy usage from at least one of energy, temperature, flow, current, volume, and mass of at least one utility.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

the at least one utility is a first utility of a plurality of utilities from the group including fuel, water, power, sewer, and trash; and

the metering and analysis modules quantify actual usages of the plurality of utilities and compare the usages with predetermined baseline values of the respective utilities.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the analysis module further comprises a calculation module for calculating a concrete value of energy savings, and at least one of the analysis module and the execution module forms a nexus platform between a green energy building industry and a financial industry.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the analysis module quantifies a plurality of financial incentives;

the execution module further comprises a bundling module configured to selectively combine the plurality of financial incentives into a package, and

the execution module selectively applies the package to at least one of a retrofit construction or a new building construction that involves at least one of sustainable energy features and green energy features.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a tax incentive module configured to identify, quantify, and apply at least one tax incentive for at least one of a retrofit construction and a new build construction having at least one of sustainable energy features and green energy features.

28. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the execution module is configured to apply at least a portion of the savings to a financial transaction.

12. A method for quantifying an energy usage and determining an energy savings, the method comprising:

quantifying an energy usage;

automatically quantifying an energy savings; and

saving at least one of the energy usage and the energy savings in a database.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein quantifying the energy usage comprises determining usages of a plurality of utilities.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein quantifying the energy usage further comprising converting a plurality of units of energy usage for the plurality of utilities into a single common unit.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein quantifying at least one of the energy usage and the energy savings further comprising converting one or more units of energy into a single unit of currency.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein determining usages of the plurality of utilities further comprises accumulating data for the plurality of utilities by a single application.

17. The method of claim 29, wherein:

automatically quantifying the energy savings comprises analyzing the energy savings by comparing the quantified energy usage with a predetermined baseline value of conventional energy usage and calculating a difference; and

applying comprises applying at least a portion of the difference between the predetermined baseline value and the quantified energy usage to the financial transaction.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein quantifying the energy savings comprises quantifying a value of an incentive credit and analyzing includes factoring the value of the incentive credit into the energy savings.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein:

quantifying at least one of the energy usage and the energy savings comprises receiving input through a user interface regarding at least one of a plurality of energy usage factors, and

the operation of receiving input comprises receiving input under control of machine readable code physically embodied in storage media in a digital processing device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein:

the operation of receiving input comprises receiving input regarding a particular regional climate; and

quantifying comprises analyzing at least one of a cost of energy and an energy savings for the particular regional climate.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein quantifying the energy savings comprises a preliminary operation of quantifying a baseline value of conventional energy usage.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein quantifying the baseline value of conventional energy usage comprises accessing data pertinent to a particular building from a single database.

29. The method of claim 12, further comprising applying at least a portion of the energy savings to a financial transaction.

23. An article of manufacture comprising a computer program storage medium readable by a processor and embodying one or more instructions executable by a processor to perform a method for determining an energy savings and applying at least a portion of the savings to a financial transaction, the method comprising:

automatically quantifying an energy savings according to the instructions; and

applying at least a portion of the energy savings to a financial transaction.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein automatically quantifying the energy savings comprises quantifying at least one incentive credit for at least one of a green energy feature and a sustainable energy feature.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein automatically quantifying the energy savings further comprises:

quantifying a baseline value of conventional energy usage for a particular building;

determining an actual usage by at least one of detecting and predicting the actual usage; and

analyzing a difference between the baseline value and the actual usage.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein determining the actual usage comprises detecting by at least one sensor and receiving a signal representing the usage in a processor from the sensor.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein determining the actual usage comprises predicting by accessing data from a single database.