Building Analytics – the Future!
So why now? Surely energy and CO2 emissions have been on the radar for just as long, if not longer; energy costs are rising and budgets are shrinking? The simple answer is technology has changed. Computers are more powerful, internet speeds are going through the roof and memory & storage capacities are at levels unimagined just 5 years ago.
Incidentally, did you know when Apollo 11 landed on the moon its computers had the memory capacity of your average credit card!
We are now living in the age of “big data”, it has been a buzz-word or perhaps phrase in various circles for a while but the buzz-word in Building Energy Management right now is “Analytics”.
Buildings are a huge source of data; temperatures, valve positions, fans speeds, meter readings, the list is almost endless. Building Analytics comes in different ‘flavours’ but it takes this data, makes sense of it and outputs actionable information. Wow, so what? Well Analytics doesn’t simply monitor a fault status from a packaged plant item, it monitors and analyses the performance of your buildings systems. It is the level to which Building Analytics can drill down into those systems and the recommendations it can offer that make it so powerful.
If the supply air temperature on an air handling unit is higher than the inlet air when the heating valve is reading closed, that valve may be letting by. Over time this wasted energy will cost money. If the heat output of the AHU coil is know, this can be converted into a real cost and accorded a priority among other issues for your maintenance team to investigate.
This ability to prioritise is very powerful. We at ABEC fully understand the importance of planned, regular maintenance. We also understand the constraints of limited resources. Analytics can direct those resources to the higher priority issues which are costing you the most money.
The Cloud is another factor promoting this change. SaaS (Software As A Service) is software which is not installed on a user’s computer but is run from the cloud and accessed via a web-browser. No compatibility issues with your existing IT systems and no need for continual upgrades. With a cloud based service, your information can be accessed anywhere in the world, even on the move.
As mentioned earlier buildings are a huge source of data and the building’s BMS is the perfect delivery system for that data. But ABEC go beyond that, Building Analytics is not just the future, it is something we can offer right now.
With all the best will in the world a Dashboard will not save you energy. AM&T (Automatic Metering & Targeting) services do a great job of analysing your energy usage but Building Analytics is pushing hard to be the next step in this evolution, don’t be left behind.