subject: What is Energy Management? [print this page] What is Energy Management? What is Energy Management?
"Energy Management System" is a term that has a number of meanings, but we're mainly concerned with the one that relates to saving energy in businesses, public-sector/government organizations, and homes:
The energy-saving meaning
When it comes to energy saving,energy management systems are used to monitor, control, and conserve energyusage in a building or organization. Typically this involves the following steps:
Metering your energy consumption and collecting the data by using an energy monitoring software
Finding opportunities to save energy, and estimating how much energy each opportunity could save. You would typically analyze your meter data to find and quantify routine energy waste, and you might also investigate the energy savings that you could make by replacing equipment (e.g. lighting) or by upgrading your building's insulation.
Taking action to target the opportunities to save energy (i.e. tackling the routine waste and replacing or upgrading the inefficient equipment). Typically you'd start with the best opportunities first.
Tracking your progress by analyzing your meter data to see how well your energy-saving efforts have worked.
How To Choose an Energy Management System
1. Ensure the solution specifically focuses on the HVAC system.
Most energy management products on the market today are too complex to appropriately leverage or too simple to achieve the desired goal. To maximize your energy savings, minimize related costs and realize a fast payback, seek a product that specifically focuses on the HVAC system the largest controllable source of energy drain and, thus, the quickest and easiest way to produce material savings. Additional sensors to monitor and control other sources of energy use such as lighting, security, and office equipment can always be integrated into today's flexible, scalable products.
2. Seek a product that offers both on-site and remote measurement and control.
Not only should an energy management system be controllable on-site, but it also should be controllable remotely by either company personnel or even the manufacturer's operations center professionals. By connecting to the installed system via the Internet, manufacturers offering remote capabilities, and dedicated administration thereof, can monitor a company's real time energy consumption and ensure that temperatures do not go beyond the business' pre-set parameters.
Such continuous monitoring also enables the immediate flagging of consumption swings and other anomalies, which can indicate larger mechanical malfunctions early on. Ultimately, remote monitoring better assures that the installed product is being used to the best of its capabilities and is facilitating the expected energy and cost savings.
3. Obtain a product with a robust yet user-friendly core feature set.
In addition to graphical viewing of real-time and historical resource consumption, today's best-of-breed energy control products provide a robust feature set that, among other capabilities, allows users to establish thermostat heating and cooling limits and set points for different times of the day, and offer an automated "peak shaving" option designed to reduce consumption during peak demand periods.
Such advanced systems can also readily block unauthorized access and changes to the settings, and allow enabled users to view and alter the settings and presentation information via the Web, smart phones, or the on-site display.
4. Ensure the solution is proven with an established track record of success.
When evaluating a product, it is imperative that the manufacturer can point to a critical mass of real-world, not trial, installations in the field, and will allow you to speak with actual customers. When evaluating competing products, be sure to check references not only about the quality and user-friendliness of the product, but also the ease of installation, the hard cost savings realized (and how quickly), and the level of post-deployment support they receive from the manufacturer.
By using these five tips as a guideline, businesses can best assure they'll secure a well-rounded and cost effective energy management system that will reduce their carbon footprint and energy consumption while delivering notable monetary gains.
