Installing smart meters and collecting energy data is the first step towards understanding site energy consumption, but without context it can be difficult to make sense of the kWh values. If the site has consumed 450 kWh or 2.5 MWh, what does this really mean? For example, increased utility bills may be a sign of increased production output and a growing business. In energy management the detail matters, and making sense of energy consumption requires understanding the key energy drivers.
Non-energy data can be used for normalisation and benchmarking. Production data, occupancy data, weather data and building floor area are useful for putting context around your kWh consumption. For example, an appropriate benchmark for a Hotel would be kilowatt hour per Room Booked, as illustrated below.
A variety of benchmarking standards exist including the Building Energy Rating system in Ireland, BREEAM in the UK and LEED in the US. It is important to monitor building energy performance and to verify that the building is performing as designed.
An effective energy analytics platform will streamline energy data analysis through automatic trending and normalisation of energy data against key variables. The goal is to enable everyday users to perform complex task with a few clicks of the button.
If you would like to talk to us about your energy efficiency projects, please contact us for a free demo of our platform.
