March 2018 - M&V Focus Issue #1

With the fast development of new and relatively cheap data collection and analysis tools, we hear a lot about what is called M&V 2.0 or advanced M&V. This topic motivated our search for articles for this first issue of M&V Focus. We invited Colm Gallagher to tell us more about his research on the difficulties of M&V in industrial applications and how machine learning techniques could help extract valuable knowledge contained within complex data sets collected in industrial facilities. Paul Calberg-Ellen and Eric Vorger volunteered an article which deals with recent breakthroughs in the world of energy simulation and the corresponding questions about the application of the IPMVP to the new capabilities offered by energy building simulation programs. David Jump accepted to re-post an article previously shared on his company’s blog on the concept of M&V 2.0 and normalized metered energy consumption. Many months ago, Greg Kats suggested it would be nice to tell the story of the early days of the IPMVP. The opportunity became obvious with the launch of this first issue of M&V Focus. Greg searched his notes and recollected his memory to tell us more about the early days of the IPMVP. To complement this set of core articles, we feature a practical exercise on non-routine adjustments for a real Option C case. This idea comes from Colin Grenville who originally proposed this exercise during an interactive workshop session at a conference in the U.K.


 

By Pierre Langlois*

As the newly elected Chairman of the Board of the Efficiency Valuation Organization (EVO), it is my great pleasure to present the first issue of this new online magazine on measurement and verification (M&V). As many readers know, 2017 marked the 20th anniversary of the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP). The M&V concepts and options presented in the IPMVP are universal and they have been used throughout the world to assess the performances of energy efficiency projects but also for water savings as well as program evaluation.

In addition to maintain and promote the IPMVP and to develop M&V related documents that are recognised as the international reference on the topic, EVO is also playing a very active educational role. In the past 10 years, EVO and its training partners around the world provided M&V training and certification to more than 10,000 professionals in over 60 countries. Education also means taking additional and continued steps to spread the knowledge to a broader audience eager to access quality information and participate in discussions with colleagues all over the world.

This online magazine is the newest communication tool designed by EVO to encourage information sharing within the M&V community and stakeholders. This is an open forum. As such, authors have been invited to share their research ideas, their field experiences – good and bad, and their knowledge of policy and program development.

I hope you well enjoy reading the articles in this first issue. I wish to thank the authors who volunteered to kick-start this important project. Please share the link with your friends and colleagues and do not hesitate to participate in the discussions. And by all means, if you wish to contribute an article in this online magazine, please contact us to share your views and ideas.

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(*) Pierre Langlois is EVO's Chairman of the Board