Building the Future with a Building Energy Monitoring System
Building energy monitoring systems are giving landlords, property owners, and business owners a revolutionary toolkit for energy efficiency. With environmental, social, and statutory pressure on a greener future, these systems could be the key to driving simple, speedy, sustainable energy-saving changes. The good news is that implementing a smart building energy monitoring system has the power to unlock an exciting range of business-wide benefits.
An Energy Monitoring System: the First Step in Effecting Change
The UK’s CO2 emissions have been reduced by 38% since 1990. There are a few reasons for this, but one of them is more responsible energy usage by industry and residential consumers – accounting for an 18% drop in emissions. As environmental concerns mount, so the importance of managing our greenhouse gas emissions grows. As you strategise around how to reduce your carbon footprint, the collection of data is always a powerful first step in effecting change.
Smart technologies are giving businesses detailed insights into energy consumption and empowering change – with benefits for both the environment and your bottom line.
A building energy monitoring system is an important component within the greater smart building ecosystem. Find out more in the Complete Guide to IoT Smart Buildings from Smarter Technologies Group.
The Benefits of an Energy Management Monitoring System
Remote energy monitoring systems create data-inspired change
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. As businesses aspire to achieve net zero carbon, simple beginnings include reduced emissions and energy usage and a move to greener, renewable energy sources. Smart technologies create awareness around usage, providing the information to change processes with reduced emissions in mind.
The collection of real-time data gives insights into behaviour, patterns, and unusual activity. In turn, this expedites responses in emergency situations and gives managers and owners daily and long-term control around their energy usage. These data insights are available right down to an individual level and right up to an organisational, multi-location level. This empowers strategic decision-making through accurate data, which removes trial and error from the management and decision-making process for easy gains.
Smart energy management using an energy meter monitoring system
Smart IoT utilities solutions are all about precision. Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) provide alerts which drive high-level energy management, including automated peak usage warnings. By strategising around peak usage and devising a peak usage management plan, you reduce the burden on the grid and stand to cut business costs at the same time. This is easily achieved via data, allowing you to identify high-usage equipment or act accordingly around surges and outages.
Using commercial energy monitoring for sustainable change is good for the environment – and your reputation
We live in a world that is increasingly aware of the need for widespread green changes – particularly in the commercial sector. Together with growing public awareness, government regulated climate change targets make green changes essential. Businesses of the future need to factor the simplest, smartest sustainability measures into their plans for the future in order to remain competitive, relevant, and in order to survive.
Smart energy monitoring systems empower businesses to make green changes and monitor progress. The most important – and most obvious – benefit here is for the environment. At a business level, this also serves to bolster your environmental profile. As consumers are more green-minded than ever, this has positive effects on public perception and marketability. It is also increasingly becoming a factor considered in awarding contracts and within the business-to-business arena.
The benefits of AMI centre around accuracy and automation
AMI puts control back in the hands of the consumer. These data readings remove the need for estimates, which paves the way for reduced manual processes and detailed data analytics. This mitigates the risk of human error and makes for more accurate billing, reduced manual processes, and minimised disputes. Customers can expect to pay for their actual energy usage, rather than estimates, within a context that makes evolving energy strategy a reality. This system also provides customisable, automated reporting, which alleviates the administrative burden around record-keeping and compliance.
Remote control through real-time data
The coronavirus pandemic has seen a vast shift towards remote working. It is reasonable to expect the future to include hybrid and remote working as the new normal. Remote energy monitoring systems mean real-time data is accessible from anywhere, so owners and managers can keep their finger on the pulse of their energy usage no matter where they are – across multi-site and remote locations.
Within the greater smart building structure and together with automation, data can be utilised intuitively for smart remote building management and dynamic condition control. For example, data readings around occupancy can turn on or off lights and equipment as needed. This can be adapted to suit remote working schedules to great effect. As sensors pick up on temperature changes, automated adjustments can be made to air-conditioning and heating – all of which holds enormous benefits for energy efficiency.
Another benefit as an offshoot of this is employee and tenant satisfaction. 83% of employees in the UK say that the company they work for could do more towards sustainability. While addressing environmental concerns is important for the happiness of both your staff and customers, these intuitive benefits of smart technologies also have the potential for personalised profiles and preferences.
Saving money and streamlining operations creates room for growth
The cumulative effect of energy savings, cost-savings, and increased productivity can only be good for business. It lays the groundwork for using resources to do better business. This focus on doing what you do as well as possible has the potential to spearhead growth. The good news is that building energy monitoring systems and smart technologies like those available from Smarter Technologies Group are scalable solutions you can use to great effect as your operations expand.
IoT and green buildings
Smart technologies around utilities can be used on their own or as part of a business’s broader green building architecture. In general, many smart technologies can inspire greener, more sustainable business practices where data is used to maximum effect. This can be attributed to detailed, accurate data collection – and this data can then be analysed to inform decision-making and strategy.
Smart consumption reporting
Across multi-site operations, over entire buildings, and down to a single piece of equipment, IoT utilities solutions are simplifying consumption reporting. Things like retrofitted smart meters and sub-metering solutions are invaluable infrastructure for effective energy monitoring. With insights that drill down to energy patterns on a micro level, you have the chance to make the most of every opportunity to reduce usage and so your carbon footprint.
Maintenance
Smart technologies streamline machine and equipment maintenance in a variety of ways. The more well-maintained equipment is, the better it tends to be for the environment. Smart technologies provide accurate, detailed records on the day-to-day operations of machines. They have the capability to report on changes in terms of vibrations, emissions, heat, noise, and other metrics – signs that equipment is not running as efficiently as it could be.
Frequently Asked Questions: Commercial Energy Monitoring
What is energy monitoring?
Energy monitoring systems collect and analyse data around a business’s energy consumption, giving owners and managers the ability to make optimal energy management decisions to increase efficiencies, accurately forecast, and save costs.
Why is energy monitoring important?
Energy monitoring systems allow business and building owners and managers to see and understand their energy usage. In turn, this holds benefits for the environment, resource efficiency and reduced wastage, cost savings and competitiveness.
Which are the best energy monitors to reduce bills?
Smart electricity monitoring systems are a powerful tool to reduce bills. Look for a system that offers real-time data insights; a cloud-based IoT-powered reporting system, and personalised options. Choose an energy monitoring system that is SIM-free, long-lasting, and that’s easily integrable and scalable to cover your needs today and into the future.
A smarter start to carbon efficiency
If your business is interrogating how to reduce your carbon footprint, the IoT utilities solutions from Smarter Technologies Group are both simple and cost-effective. Seamlessly integrated into your operations, the real-time data insights are a vehicle for sustainable change and enhanced efficiencies.
About the Author:
Bradley Wingrave has a wealth of business experience spanning more than two decades and his success in a number of entrepreneurial ventures makes him a forerunning expert on businesses, offices, facilities and legal compliance.