Monitoring and controlling
energy and water usage in buildings is an extremely hot topic these days. As costs continue to rise for electricity,
gas, and water most organizations are looking for ways to reduce these costs –
automated ways that really work.
One conventional approach
may be as simple as conducting an energy audit of the facility and then implementing
policies designed to reduce usage on an ongoing basis. Checking the utility bill each month should confirm
that the measures are still working. But
what if they are not? If one or more of
the reduction methods did not occur as planned it may be too late, the money
has been spent, the resources wasted.
Mistakes will happen, so a certain amount of contingency may already be
in the budget to cover overruns. But
does it have to be that way? Shouldn’t there
be a way to put affordable checks and balances in place which give us
confidence that the plan is working?
Another method, for
buildings which have a computerized control system, an energy management or a
building management system (EMS or BMS), would be to have out of compliance
conditions texted or emailed to key personnel.
Automated warnings or alarms could be sent out automatically and early
enough so personnel can correct problems and maintain savings or minimize excess usage.
But what about automation,
automation that really works? Shouldn’t
today’s EMS be sophisticated enough to do all
this without human intervention? The
simple answer is yes, however the right level of system design, installation
and maintenance must be in place.
This is where it begins to
get complicated. The majority of
installed EMS are not necessarily
“hardened”. Companies will budget a
significant amount of both capital and operational dollars to ensure that their
information technology (IT) systems are both redundant (for reliability) and
hardened (for security). Many of the IT
systems are monitored 24x7 whether by personnel or automated methods to ensure
proper functionality. But what about the
EMS?
The EMS
is often one of the last systems to be installed at a facility. It most likely came with the HVAC equipment
and was designed by an engineering firm to use the proper amount of energy in
order to keep the occupants comfortable during typical weather patterns for the
area. So it should be able to
automatically adjust itself as needed to make this happen, forever. What happens if something goes wrong? What if the building’s occupancy or use
changes? Is there sufficient staff to
react if alarms or warnings are annunciated from the EMS?
Our experience shows that
most buildings do not have personnel dedicated to monitoring their EMS. Or if they do
these people are also responsible for many other building operations from janitorial
and landscaping, to security and IT. There
is too much on their “plates” to analyze the daily operation of the EMS. Their focus
tends to driven by hot and cold complaints from occupants rather than ensuring
the system as a whole is operating as efficiently as possible.
So what is the answer? You’ve invested in a computer controlled EMS for your building. Some months your energy and water usage is
right where you expect it to be; but every once in a while you still see excessive
use and higher bills. What are you
missing? How can you get the peace of
mind you deserve?
The answer is BMS Assurance™
from energy
etc.
BMS Assurance is a
subscription based service from energy etc
that will give you confidence that your systems are performing as you intend
them to be.
Customers choose from a menu
of services that our automation engineers will perform so you can be assured
that your EMS is lowering your energy bills
while increasing customer satisfaction.
Sign up for energy etc’s BMS Assurance program and gain the peace of mind you
deserve.
Choose Your Level of Assurance
Base service:
Once daily system review, priority access to Help Desk
includes 2 hours of support per month.
Additional
Help Desk hours:
Purchase extra 1 hour blocks of support.
Manage server
operating system software:
Stay up to date with patches and updates, hardware checks.
Manage server
BMS application software:
Patches and updates, backups, database management
Additional daily
checks:
Morning and afternoon, weekends, holidays.
Active
system management:
Energy management, critical system tuning, fault
analysis.
Many
customizable options to fit your situation:
Contact
sales@energyetc.com to design and
price your BMS Assurance plan (Brochure)
