Energy Assessment of Pressurized Water Systems

Abstract

This paper presents three new indicators for assessing the energy efficiency of a pressurized water system and the potential energy savings relative to the available technology and economic framework. The first two indicators are the ideal and real efficiencies of the system and reflect the values of the minimum energy required by users—the minimum amount of energy to be supplied to the system (because of its ideal behavior) and the actual energy consumed. The third indicator is the energy performance target, and it is estimated by setting an ambitious but achievable level of energy loss attributable to inefficiencies in the system (e.g., pumping stations, leakage, friction loss). The information provided by these three key performance indicators can make a significant contribution towards increasing system efficiency. The real efficiency indicator shows the actual performance of the system; the energy performance target provides a realistic goal on how the system should be performing; and finally, the ideal efficiency provides the maximum and unachievable level of efficiency (limited by the topographic energy linked to the network topography). The applicability and usefulness of these metrics will be demonstrated with an application in a real case study.