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Do you ever wonder about your building’s energy usage patterns, and yearn for a more detailed breakdown?
Are you a property manager spending too much time administering billing tenants for the energy they use?
As an energy manager, we have been there, grappling with the need for precise information. In our quest for effective energy management, an indispensable tool we use is sub-metering. Let’s explore how you can harness its numerous benefits.
You’ll typically find main meters positioned at the entrance, diligently monitoring the overall consumption of energy, gas, and water. However, to truly grasp the energy use in your building, more granular data is needed. This is where sub-meters become our heroes.
These are installed separately, downstream of the main meters, enabling us to measure the individual energy use by specific plant and equipment. Essentially, they reveal detailed energy consumption patterns, offering invaluable insights into the components of our total utility bill.
Imagine equipping yourself with a microscope to delve into the energy consumption in your building. This is where sub-metering changes the game by supplying us with minute-by-minute data on specific energy loads. It’s like peering through a window into the energy use of a single tenant or even a specific piece of equipment. This allows us to identify outliers – parts of our building guzzling excessive energy, like an overworking HVAC system or lights that are left on too long. With sub-metering, we can find these energy hogs and take corrective measures.
The realm of sub-metering is expansive and varied, featuring a range of sub-meters designed for distinct needs. You might encounter smart meters, wireless meters, and more, each bearing unique features and capabilities. Choosing the right meter for your needs might seem overwhelming, but it’s a vital step to maximise the benefits of your sub-metering initiative.
Sub-metering can target specific locations (areas within the site/building) or particular energy loads. For instance, in a multi-tenant building, sub-meters can record the energy/water use of each tenant. This not only enables us to bill each occupier accurately for their specific energy use but also pinpoints the energy/water use of separate assets such as lighting, heating, and cooling, uncovering detailed consumption patterns and potential areas of waste.
Since 2014, Part L of the Building Regulations has made sub-meters a requirement in all new buildings with floor areas over 1000 m². But, did you know that large buildings erected before 2014, like warehouses, commercial offices, retail units, and manufacturing plants can also reap enormous benefits from sub-meters? Understanding energy use by various processes and equipment is particularly crucial for high energy users.
Sub-metering serves several key functions:
Every technological implementation brings its own set of challenges, and sub-metering is no exception. Concerns may include integration with existing systems and ensuring data privacy. But fear not! Here at Inteb, we provide solutions that not only help overcome these challenges but also streamline your energy management operations.
With the rising focus on sustainability, sub-metering is now playing a pivotal role in accomplishing sustainability targets. By providing a detailed understanding of energy use, it helps us identify and implement effective energy-saving measures, which contribute to broader environmental goals.
The value of sub-metering extends beyond immediate resource management, providing a roadmap for long-term efficiency and conservation improvements. It sheds light on seasonal, weekly, daily, or even hourly consumption patterns, equipment performance, and occupant behaviours, equipping us with valuable information for effective building management.
As conditions evolve over time, data from sub-meters can help us identify system issues or efficiency measures that might have initially slipped under the radar. This ensures we’re always on the path of improvement, consistently becoming more efficient.
Possessing data from sub-meters is just the beginning. To make energy-saving decisions that truly make an impact, we must ensure this information swiftly reaches the decision-makers. Whether it’s behavioural changes, operational tweaks, or investment decisions, data from sub-meters and other sensors must be easily accessible.
Technologies like cloud-based analytics solutions or integration with existing Building Management Systems (BMS) prove invaluable. The BMS controls and monitors the overall operation of a building’s systems, such as HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) and lighting, simultaneously acting as a central hub for collecting and processing data from various sensors and devices throughout the building.
A simple alternative is processing data using simple analytics software or power BI reporting such as below.
As we gaze into the future, we envision sub-metering at the convergence of IoT, AI, and machine learning. This integration could revolutionise energy management, enabling real-time energy consumption tracking, predictive analytics, and more.
AI integration particularly, opens up new possibilities for predictive analytics and real-time energy management. Imagine a scenario where your sub-metering system is not just passively recording data but actively analysing it.
Using machine learning algorithms, these smart systems could learn your building’s energy consumption patterns, predict future usage, and even identify inefficiencies before they become costly problems.
Such a system could generate alerts for abnormal energy usage, suggesting immediate interventions. It could also model the impact of different energy-saving measures, helping you to prioritise investments based on projected savings.
This evolution could revolutionise energy management by making it more proactive and less reactive. It would allow for real-time tracking, predictive analytics, and more sophisticated control of energy consumption. Such advancements would empower businesses to manage their energy more effectively and sustainably.
The potential is exciting, and we at Inteb are dedicated to staying at the forefront of these advancements. We look forward to helping our clients leverage these emerging technologies to drive their energy efficiency to new heights.
At its core, sub-metering is about visibility and control. It allows us to see exactly how, when, and where energy is used. This visibility empowers us to make informed decisions, identify inefficiencies, and implement effective energy-saving measures.
By allowing accurate billing for each occupier based on their specific energy use, sub-metering fosters a sense of responsibility and promotes energy-conscious behaviour. Sub-metering will play a significant role in reducing your energy bills, lowering your carbon footprint, and making your building more sustainable and energy efficient.
From initial site audits to the development of an effective metering strategy and ongoing energy management, we’ve guided many organisations to benefit from sub-metering. Are you intrigued and want to learn more? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Sub-metering could be the tool that propels your energy management to new heights. Let’s embark on this journey together!
Sub-metering revolutionises building management, ushering in a new era of energy efficiency. As experts in this field, Inteb is committed to helping you harness its full potential:
To learn more about how we can support your business in embracing the power of sub-metering, visit our Services page, contact us or follow Inteb on LinkedIn
Call us now on 0151 601 3476 or email [email protected]
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