The rise in reliance on technology has also increased society’s net energy usage. But technology is also the key to energy management.
Energy management systems (EMS) are automation tools that collect data about usage across the local energy network and reports or visualise it through an online monitoring platform. No matter your industry or business, energy consumption is a key overhead that affects the bottom line. Monitoring to identify redundant processes, wasteful practices and inefficient systems can help reduce those costs and your organisation’s impact on the environment.
To implement an EMS (energy management system) we first have to work out what points to monitor, and with what sensors, rather than monitor the network as a whole. An EMS system will monitor your microgrid in real time using supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA). That SCADA application can then supervise and control the transmission of electric power generation (say, from your photovoltaic system). SCADA also offers the benefit of topology changes, demand analysis, load analysis, fault checking and intelligent metering to name a few.
While the energy usage metre on a building’s switchboard can measure energy usage over time, it can be hard to know how to roll back Kilowatt Hours (KWh) from a quarterly or monthly bill. By implementing an energy management system, a business or building manager can look at automating processes to run more efficiently. That could mean moving power-heavy processes to off-peak times, adjusting thermostats to suit the weather in real-time, or simply turning lights off in empty rooms.
An energy management system (EMS) monitor and controls energy-consuming devices, such as lighting, HVAC, fans, pumps, dampers etc. Therefore, a reduction in utility costs across is a primary benefit as you have access to historical data that assist in optimising energy consumption and efficiency, resulting in energy savings. Other benefits include monitoring carbon reductions and improved facility performance.
Energy management software (EMS) is a term utilised to describe a collection of energy-related software applications that provide the ability to collect, monitor, benchmark and report on energy consumption within a building or facility. Data is collected in real-time interval, and data analytics enables forecasting and tracking energy conservation measures.