With rising energy prices, stricter regulations, and the proliferation of smart buildings, energy management is a major challenge for energy-intensive buildings. Discover the next-generation energy management solutions presented by Powesco, energy efficiency specialists.
What does energy management consist of?
Energy management involves collecting energy data from a building, centralizing it via a specialized tool, and remotely controlling HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) equipment in order to reduce energy consumption while maintaining occupant comfort
Why implement energy management in your organization?
Energy management offers many advantages for your organization.
To comply with regulations
Some commercial buildings are subject to the tertiary decree: this is a regulation which obliges “all buildings or premises of activity for tertiary use and whose operating area is greater than or equal to 1,000 m2” to progressively reduce their energy consumption.
Furthermore, the BACS (“building automation and control system”) decree also imposes a reduction in energy consumption for “tertiary buildings equipped with a heating or air conditioning, combined or not with a ventilation, whose power is greater than 290 kW or 70 kW”.
If your commercial building is subject to these regulations, energy management will allow you to comply.
Control your energy consumption with energy management
Energy management allows for the optimization of a building's energy consumption through:
- to real-time monitoring of energy consumption;
- to the detection of anomalies and malfunctions through alerts followed by corrective maintenance;
- adjusting consumption to actual habits and needs;
- the transition towards less energy-intensive and more virtuous energy solutions, powered by renewable energies;
- negotiating more competitive energy purchase contracts that are closer to the needs.
Anticipating the energy renovation of the building
Energy management is a valuable first step towards improving a building's energy efficiency. Unlike energy renovation , which requires extensive work (such as thermal insulation), energy monitoring is easier to implement.
Indeed, it generally consists of installing sensors on existing equipment (for lighting or opening automatic blinds or according to the weather) and deploying an internal energy management system
A discreet solution that avoids the nuisances associated with a construction site and preserves the comfort of employees and customers.
What are the energy management solutions?
Energy management relies on advanced technologies : Internet of Things ( IoT ), Cloud for data storage , machine learning for predictive maintenance, etc.
Energy Management System (EMS)
It is recommended to implement an energy management system (EMS) to successfully implement your energy management project. This involves software that allows you to monitor the building's energy data.
Powesco has its own energy management system (EMS) ! With our platform, you can, among other things:
- have access to all your energy data;
- benefit from the automatic annual declaration on OPERAT ;
- Configure your own energy performance indicators
Building technical management
go Building management systems (BMS) even further than energy management systems (EMS). They are computer systemsthat allow for the remote control of a building's energy equipment:
- heating : boiler control, heating zones;
- air conditioning : regulation, management of cold production;
- ventilation : air renewal, humidity;
- lighting : lighting control;
- alarms : equipment monitoring, alert in case of malfunction;
- Meters : data retrieval, remote transmission.
Enerlis supports from A to Z in the technical management of your building : energy audit, monitoring of works, financing etc.
How to implement energy management?
The deployment of energy management takes place in several stages.
Energy audit
The energy audit must be carried out by a consulting firm . It consists of an assessment of energy consumption and existing equipment, designed to identify and optimize the most significant areas of expenditure. This is the starting point for any energy strategy, as it allows for the definition of objectives and their close monitoring.
Deployment of the energy management solution
Following the recommendations of the energy audit, the most suitable solution for the building is deployed. This most often involves the implementation of a building management system (BMS), the installation of IoT sensors and detectors , the deployment of a metering plan, and the connection of the installations.
Energy consumption monitoring
Energy management doesn't end with deployment. It's a continuous process of monitoring energy performance with a view to improvement. While BMS and EMS include features that alert you to deviations or malfunctions, it's important to monitor consumption trends yourself . You can do this by using the dashboards and customized performance indicators provided by these tools. Powesco's EMS tool is one such example!
Communication on energy management
Finally, energy management must be a collective. It is important to involve all stakeholders to ensure its success. To this end, it is common practice to appoint a project manager who will be responsible for training staff and communicating best practices.
At Powesco, we organize coaching sessions with operations teams as well as awareness campaigns on better internal energy management. This is a way to maintain performance while communicating a more responsible brand image
