Sustainability Champion Award
The Sustainability Champion Award recognizes an individual who takes the initiative to foster behavioral change in their immediate work environment, organizational unit, and/or site. Recognition will focus on efforts that advance the progress to meeting goals identified in statute, the annual Sustainability Report & Implementation Plan (SRIP), and Executive Order 13834 such as those pertaining to energy and water efficiency, green buildings, renewable energy, etc.
With Amy Albaugh’s determination and leadership, ORNL FMD became only the THIRD FEDERAL LOCATION to attain the DOE 50001 READY Certification (May, 2019). After Amy explored ISO 50001 at Energy Exchange 2017 she studied options and chose DOE’s 50001 READY Navigator as the best way to develop a uniform means for improving sustainable operations and energy and water savings at ORNL. Amy’s knowledge of the energy data systems and her reputation for action and delivery drove the approvals needed to proceed with a project that would require a heavy load, but promises to follow-up with value and results. All the more remarkable when considering that Amy graduated from the University of Tennessee (Industrial Engineering) and joined the lab in 2016 (she obtained her Master’s degree this spring). Amy quickly identified her passion when she worked as an intern at ORNL in 2014. She was introduced to Predicted Understanding of Smart Meters in residential buildings and the light-bulb came on, showing her the value of the Central Energy Data System (CEDS). Amy’s vision, enthusiasm, fortitude, and work ethic are valuable assets to ORNL!
Even before the implementation of DOE 50001 READY, Amy Albaugh was instrumental in the buildout of CEDS at ORNL, recognizing that innovative facility metering holds the key to data-driven performance. With CEDS as the platform, Amy has become a leader in improving the extensive site-wide metering system consistent with DOE SRIP directives focused on utility metering. In FY19 ORNL installed an additional 42 advanced meters connected to CEDS for data archiving and analysis. CEDS enables trend analysis, report generation, energy awareness dashboards, and data exports for performance reporting.
With Amy’s recognition of the importance of data-driven decisions, ORNL incorporated a new module for the CEDS system called “Resource Advisor” (RA). Amy develops RA’s advanced configuration capabilities to display building energy consumption in dashboard configurations for visual impact. RA provides comprehensive energy-analysis capabilities that align with CEDS connections and capacities. Amy also developed the process to directly feed metered energy data into Energy Star for benchmarking and other EISA requirements for DOE SRIP compliance.
Currently, Amy is focused on developing a system for continuous energy monitoring by using METER ALERTS in CEDS. Alerts are placed on real-time mechanical utility meters including steam, chilled water, natural gas, and potable water. Alert parameters are determined by reviewing meter trend history to establish baselines and/or normal operational trends. Alerts are custom designed for each utility to identify problems and prevent waste. Alerts result in communications to designated representatives to investigate and correct the issue.
Amy was the champion and architect for utilizing the ORNL meeting plan, CEDS, RA, and Meter Alerts as key role players in achieving the DOE 50001 READY certification for the 65 FMD buildings at ORNL. The documentation of the Meter Plan, the utilization of the energy systems collecting and reporting energy data, and the corrective action of the Meter Alerts helped ORNL complete all the tasks needed for READY certification.
Amy is the owner of the Sustainable ORNL’s INTELLIGENT BUILDING ANALYTICS ROADMAP, using communications and data-driven decisions to improve energy and water use on the campus. She is engaged in continuous efforts to expand the RA platform for energy & demand data management for all real data sources and estimated building energy consumption. This allows for sequence of operations data collection and improves visibility of data; leading to better real-time decisions and actions. Amy promotes the system capabilities to encourage awareness and to actively engage facility managers and field engineers in utilizing her new METER ALERTS program for prevention and diagnosis of operational issues. She continues to explore capabilities, document actionable issues, and notify others about success with METER ALERT implementation for catching operational problems such as valve issues with steam and water delivery.