Every organization&#;s use of energy is different due to a wide range of reasons. Are you sure you&#;re asking the right questions to ensure you get the most out of your system? Are you looking to implement an energy management system and are not sure where to start?
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Now that you know what an energy management system is, what are the top ten features that you should look for in order to help you know the right system to choose?
An energy management system should be an all-encompassing tool for organizations to streamline energy management tasks. It should help businesses analyze their energy usage, identify wastage and facilitate the implementation of energy reduction measures; saving money while managing their environmental responsibilities. However, an energy management system is responsible for much more than simply making an energy manager&#;s life easier. There are often complex factors that come into play beyond evaluating your energy data. You need to be assured your system can reflect your goals, be responsive to your unique situations and deliver useful, data-driven recommendations.
Defining energy goals is a collaboration between your energy management team and the system. While your organization creates the goals, the system needs to be responsive and customizable in order to fully meet your objectives.
One of the most difficult aspects of managing energy is achieving buy-in through all levels of the organization. An energy management system should have sleek and intuitive dashboards that clearly display savings to upper management, encourage employee engagement and provide site to site comparisons.
Having the ability to properly set energy objective by using historical and real-time data is an essential characteristic of an energy management system. An EMS needs to be able to evaluate trends and provide data-driven insights to project timelines for all energy goals.
In most cases, energy data in a variety of locations and can make aggregating that data a daunting task. An energy management system should be flexible in collecting that data. Whether it&#;s located in spreadsheets, legacy metering systems or building automation systems, an EMS should seamlessly integrate and pull that data for you.
An energy management system should intuitively and instinctively measure your energy usage with accompanying verification methods. The process should fine-tune your focus and inform you of progress against your savings goals.
While energy KPIs are usually unique to each organization, an energy management system should provide all the necessary data analysis to identify exactly the measures you need to report on.
When evaluating your KPIs, you need critical information like consumption, emissions, financial data, verification of savings and more, an EMS should be equipped with all the necessary tools to build custom reports automatically to help you and your team save precious time.
An energy management system should have the capability to visualize energy consumption to clearly present inefficiencies. Graphing technologies and reports can determine where inefficiencies are and determine where actions need to be taken.
An energy management system should provide you with an in-depth understanding of how your energy is used, the consumption, the areas of inefficiencies and the scope of energy projects. It should provide you all the information you need to make an educated decision on what projects to implement and will monitor and verify all savings you&#;re expected to make.
As you complete projects, and energy management system should confirm you&#;ve achieved your expected savings with verification methods; specifically in accordance with the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol.
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As you embark on the journey to choosing the best energy monitoring IoT provider for your business, it&#;s essential to ask the right questions to ensure you make an informed decision. Here are eight crucial questions that you should consider when evaluating energy monitoring solutions for commercial and industrial programmes:
1. Does the system operate on Zigbee or LoRaWAN wireless communications protocol?
Determine the communication protocol used by the system. Zigbee technology enables the transmission of many data points per second from each device to the cloud, has self-healing capabilities and facilitates OTA (or Over-the-Air) firmware updates quickly and easily, minimising any potential disruptions. LoRaWAN, on the other hand, boasts a longer range but may not be suitable for all commercial and industrial projects due to a combination of duty cycle and bandwidth limitations. You can read more about the merits of Zigbee V&#;s LoRaWAN in this short article by our CEO, Brendan Carroll.
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2. To what level of accuracy is the system operating?
When reducing energy usage, sometimes by single figure % points, it&#;s essential that the data you collect is highly accurate. Accurate energy data provides granular insights that are vital for optimising equipment schedules, identifying energy-intensive processes, and highlighting abnormal energy usage patterns. EpiSensor electricity monitors are calibrated to a system level accuracy of Class 1, making it easier to deliver tangible results, quicker, to your customers, an attribute of our systems that our partners value immensely.
3. Can you clarify the end-to-end commissioning process?
Commissioning traditional energy monitoring systems demands significant time and expertise, constituting a substantial portion of the total energy management project cost. If your goal is to deploy swiftly across multiple sites, opt for a system that (a) features pre-connected and calibrated current transformers, (b) includes all necessary accessories as standard, (c) is enclosed in an IP67-rated, double-insulated housing, enabling safe outdoor mounting and minimising disruption to on-site operations, and (d) incorporates wireless communication capabilities.
A streamlined deployment and commissioning process will ensure a quicker transition to efficient energy management and crucially, will help reduce energy spend quicker for your clients.
4. Furthermore, is specialist system knowledge required to deploy the system onsite?
This is crucial to ask, as by opting for a system that can be deployed and commissioned by any qualified electrician onsite, you free up specialised system integration and management resources to lead and oversee multiple energy programmes simultaneously. This flexibility optimises the use of expert resources, reduces costs and ensures seamless deployment and operation onsite.
5. How quickly can we scale the system, as demands continue to increase and as new locations are added to existing networks?
The rapidly evolving regulatory environment (coupled with companies driving Net Zero priorities) is undoubtedly increasing demand for energy management solutions. Focusing on the European Union specifically, The EU Energy Efficiency Directive (revised September ), expands the scope of energy audit obligations to include all companies, regardless of their size, which are consuming energy above a certain threshold. Meanwhile, the directive makes energy management systems a mandatory requirement for large industrial energy consumers to monitor and optimise their energy efficiency. This, combined with further legislation in the form of The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (&#;CSRD&#;) is accelerating the need for energy audits and energy efficiency to be delivered at scale. Energy Managers, Facilities Management firms and System Integrators need to be ready for these growing demands, making it crucial to select an IoT partner that can provide effective, reliable energy monitoring systems.
Scalability at a customer level will also be critical. For example, where your customer is a large retailer or group structure, it is standard practice to undertake proof of concept in a small number of sites initially, before rapidly expanding the system across multiple locations. Ensure your IoT provider can meet these needs, seamlessly and without delay.
6. Data security is paramount to our clients &#; Can you verify that the system is secure?
Enquire about the security measures embedded in the IoT solution. Does it utilise encryption and authentication protocols to safeguard your client&#;s data? How is the data transmitted? A secure system protects your sensitive information and ensures the integrity of your energy monitoring process.
7. Is it Standards-Based, Allowing Easy Data Extraction?
Interoperability is crucial for integrating IoT data into your existing systems. Ensure that the energy monitoring solution adheres to industry standards, making it easy to extract and analyse data in standard formats. Compatibility with existing technologies enhances the solution&#;s overall utility and efficiency, as well as helping you win business across a variety of sectors and industries.
8. Is it Suitable for a Variety of Environments?
Businesses operate in diverse environments, from warehouses to office spaces and indeed, externally. Verify if the IoT solution is versatile and rugged enough to cater to various settings and environments, broadening your client base and versatility.
Why Market Leaders Choose EpiSensor
EpiSensor delivers on all of these attributes and more. Grounded by 15 years of R&D, our energy monitoring solutions are wireless, scalable, 10x easier to use than traditional systems, offer rapid-deployment and commissioning, are secure from sensor to server, reliable, standards-based, accurate, rugged and developer friendly, making us the preferred choice for leaders in energy management worldwide. EpiSensor products can be installed by any qualified electrician, reducing deployment costs and accelerating the commissioning process.
Manufactured in Ireland in a highly-controlled environment and delivered to you fully calibrated and ready to install, we are the energy monitoring partner you can rely on to deliver C&I energy management programmes at pace.
Not just that &#; our team of experts will help you to design the systems architecture you need, helping you to win more business in energy management, against a competitive landscape.
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