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QuEST is an industry leader in developing state-of-the-art measurement and verification (M&V) methods, and in providing these services to our customers. Our M&V services provide objective evaluation of an energy conservation project's savings.



The chart above demonstrates the fundamental concept of M&V, according to the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP), which is the standard for the industry. Energy measurements are made before and after efficiency improvements are installed in a facility or in its subsystems. The savings are determined by subtracting the post-installation usage from the baseline usage when adjusted to the same set of conditions. In the right hand side of the chart, the savings are demonstrated by the difference between the blue line (projected baseline) and the red bars (post-installation energy usage).

There are several important aspects of this M&V approach:
  • It provides a daily record of accumulated savings since an energy conservation measure (ECM) has been installed.
  • It provides a historical record of baseline energy performance that facility managers can use to demonstrate their effectiveness to their managers.
  • It allows calculation of savings confidence intervals, which provides managers with a level of certainty that savings are realized.
  • It allows daily tracking of energy usage, allowing energy managers to monitor, identify, and correct deficient performance.

QuEST has numerous resources to complete this process cost-effectively, including:
  • Several example M&V plans for different types of projects (energy efficiency, demand response, etc.) in different facilities, employing multiple M&V Options (see below).
  • A large inventory of monitoring instruments, including temporary data loggers, handheld instruments, and wireless sensors and data archiving systems to monitor electric power, gas consumption, water flow, and air and water temperatures, pressures, and so on.
  • Spreadsheet tools, such as the QuEST Energy Modeling Spreadsheet (QuEMS) to consistently and quickly build baseline and post-installation energy models based on monitored building energy and independent variable data.
  • Expertise with whole-facility energy use simulation models, such as eQUEST, to develop calibrated simulations and verify savings.
  • Integration of M&V and energy performance tracking with customer's monitoring systems enabling them to maintain optimized system performance and savings over time.

Brief History of M&V

M&V procedures were originally developed to provide project sponsors and energy service providers with a fair, independent, and transparent methodology to quantify energy savings under performance contracts. M&V has since been adopted by energy efficiency program sponsors and state regulatory authorities to quantify and verify the savings impacts of energy efficiency, demand response, and on-site generation programs throughout the country.

Contributions to the Industry

QuEST personnel are intimately familiar with and experienced at developing and implementing M&V plans and strategies for our clients and customers. We have developed and implemented rigorous M&V methods employing IPMVP Option B Retrofit Isolation, and Option C Whole Building approaches in several existing building commissioning projects. Our transparent M&V process, from data collection and preparation through analysis and thorough documentation, has minimized technical review and provided our customers and financiers with confidence that savings have been realized in their projects.

QuEST's experts participate in and lead technical committees to develop and revise M&V Guidelines. This includes:
  • A Principal at QuEST is the current chairperson of the Efficiency Valuation Organization's International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP) Committee. The IPMVP is the M&V Guideline most often cited as the industry standard.
  • QuEST personnel have authored the California Commissioning Collaborative's "Guideline for Verifying Existing Building Commissioning Project Savings: Using Interval Data Energy Models: IPMVP Options B and C."
  • QuEST personnel have developed and tested QuEMS which develops energy models based on ASHRAE's Research Project 1050's linear change-point regression toolkit, allowing users to quickly determine the best fit model, determine its statistical coefficients, assess the level of uncertainty in the expected savings, and determine the actual uncertainty in the resulting savings.
  • QuEST personnel are active participants on the committee that develops ASHRAE's Guideline for Measurement of Energy and Demand Savings.

Monitoring Based Commissioning Projects:

  • UC Berkeley Tang Health Center - 2008
  • UC Berkeley Koshland Hall - 2008
  • UC Davis Memorial Union - 2008
  • UC Davis Lower Freeborn Hall - 2008
  • UC Davis Shields Library - 2007
  • UC Berkeley Soda Hall - 2006
  • UC Berkeley Tan Hall - 2006

Commercial Building Projects:

  • Applied Materials (review) - 2009
  • Network Appliance - 2008
  • UC Office of the President - 2008

Guideline Development