The more meters the merrier…with a BEMS
It is not possible to over-emphasise that there has never been a more vital need to meter and monitor your energy usage. While this is required under legislation it is a business necessity to control the ever-increasing costs of energy. It simply won’t go away.
Many businesses now find themselves obligated to various government schemes that require energy tracking; most recently the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) was introduced with those organizations that qualify for ESOS carrying out assessments every four years, and this includes audits on energy used in their buildings whilst non-dwellings requiring Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) when sold or rented;
Metering is vital to this process, and all non-dwellings should be metered according to Part L of the Building Regulations. Under this legislation, 90 per cent of each type of incoming energy should be measured through the installation of sub-metering.
Energy meters are frequently disregarded and under-estimated as powerful technology but they are already of huge significance within many buildings. As a result, energy and facility managers may well be missing out on many opportunities to cost save, supplement predictive maintenance and implement energy conservation measures.
The truth of the matter is that energy does not need to be a fixed cost of business, and opportunities frequently exist to increase operational efficiency by simply looking beyond your buildings electric bill and taking preventative measures when energy consumption is too high.
Smart meters for non-dwellings can facilitate automatic collection and sending of half-hourly energy data to any recipient. Sub-meters (as required under Part L) provide more detailed insight into how energy is used, for example on cooling, heating or lighting and can enable decision makers to take action, including infrastructure improvements, reduce unnecessary heating and ventilation as well as plant equipment costs.
Unfortunately, some controls engineers are finding meters that are not connected to the BEMS, therefore, whilst the energy may well be measured in the building the Facilities or Energy Manager cannot see or utilise the data to manage the buildings energy requirements or its impact on operation.
CIBSE’s Technical Manual on Building Energy Metering (TM39:2009) makes the important point: “Sub-metering in itself does not save energy…It is action taken as a result of installing meters and using the information that can achieve quantifiable energy savings.” *
Quite why non-connection of metering occurs is something of a puzzle.
To read the full article, see the latest January edition of EiBI by registering for free here.
