A method for estimating an amount of damages sustained by a component operating in an energy system by monitoring the component is provided. The method includes generating a transfer function that is dependent upon an input of at least one operating condition of the component and an output of a crack-initiation time and/or a crack propagation for at least one critical region. The method further includes receiving data from at least one sensor coupled to the component, wherein the data relates to the at least one operating condition of the component, and inputting the received data from the at least one sensor into the transfer function to calculate at least one of the crack-initiation time and the crack propagation for the at least one critical region. The method also includes recording at least one of the crack-initiation time and the crack propagation on a memory storage device.