Blog Entry | November 21, 2014Recently, we announced a strategic partnership with Panoramic Power on utilizing their industry-leading real-time wireless energy management system and analytics. I’d like to walk you through some of our thinking.
Traditional Energy Management
Most Commercial and Institutional facilities have a Building Automation System (BAS), and these systems are hard-wired and they can be quite sophisticated in controlling and managing energy in these facilities. We are designers, resellers and installers of several BAS brands ourselves. It makes sense to optimize building systems.
BUT, in a typical commercial facility, the building systems would account for less than 50% of the impact on demand load for the entire facility. Lights, plugs and loads are typically not part of the BAS and thus left out of the energy management system. Basically, more than half of your total utility bill is impacted by demand users, and they’re not part of being managed. This is the crux of our revamped strategies to holistically manage the Total Demand Load.
Total Demand Load
In the last few months, as I’ve been speaking with dozens of energy management firms, I would hear the same message on the concept of trying to manage the total demand load: “You can’t manage the behaviour of staff”. I’m not surprised that this would be their attitude, but it certainly set the challenge to do just that.
We set out to monitor the lights, plugs and loads and certainly for non-BAS facilities comes challenges of how do we connect it cost effectively. Even though we have over 55% of the load to generate more energy savings to pay for the new monitors, it has to be compelling… Meet compelling.
Wireless Wins, Hands Down
Let’s be clear; there are plenty of so-called low-cost wired meters but they are typically 1/4 of the overall cost when you factor in labour and wired costs. I have heard of sticker shock from asset owners who clearly hadn’t understood the costs involved.
The only knock I’ve heard of wireless, to-date, has been disbelief that wireless sensors could send signals outside of a steel electrical panel, and Panoramic Panel proves that it can easily read its devices. The challenge is over. Wireless win, hands down.
Yes, my default is to recommend wireless from now on. BUT, we’re not done.
RFID Advantage
Panoramic Power figured out a method that further reduced the overall capital costs of wireless. They used Radio Frequency ID (RFID) to send the signals to a more efficient collector/reader several feet away from the panel, and that further reduction of power requirements for the sensors then further enabled the sensors to use its very small drain of power from the circuit itself to send the signal. I haven’t seen a wireless sensor come close to this innovation.
Opportunities?
Here are the immediate opportunities:
- Compete with typical BAS for energy management systems
- Bring wireless performance management to non-BAS facilities
- Provide competitive pricing on a wireless energy management system and ongoing analysis
- Create an entire new focus on demand users and the impacts they have on loads
We will continue to expand relationships on heads-up displays, analytics and protocols managing demand users. We have changed the Rules of the Game.
We’re optimizing building performance for customers, and we’re building performance in their business.
Sincerely,
Frank Carnevale
SVP, SustainCo Inc.