The effectiveness of combustion can be determined with a flue gas analyzer, but the amount of steam produced or really any other information about what's going farther down the steam system cannot.
You can locate uninsulated surfaces with the use of an infrared camera (if they are hot). RPM is measured with a tachymeter. A psychometer is used to assess humidity. To gauge static pressure, use a Bourdon gauge (usually in a tank).
Ratchet penalties are effective measures to encourage energy consumers to reduce kW spikes because if you have a ratchet penalty, you will pay the ratchet percent for the next 11 months (even if you don’t use any demand during that period). In this case, if you set a new peak 700kW above your normal operating load (old peak), you will pay:
= (700 kW)(0.8)(11 months)($10/month*kW)
= $61,600 in extra charges (over the next 11 months)
This problem provides a lot of extra information (much like the “real world”). The dollar savings has two components: Demand and kWh Savings:
Demand Savings:
= (25 kW)($10/kW per month)
= $250 per month
kWh Savings (Note the savings would be in the 2nd Tier, so the price would be $.09/kWh):
= (25 kW)(300 hours)($0.09/kWh)
= $675 per month
Total Savings:
$250 + $675
=$925 per month
If the load is less than 20% for this motor type, the power factor and resultant efficiency suffer significantly.
