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Energy monitoring software is a valuable tool to cut energy usage and save money. It helps you maintain energy efficiency in your commercial buildings and can contribute to your sustainability goals. Here's how.
Energy prices are a large expense for most building owners. Depending on where your business is located, you could be paying as much as $0.47 per kilowatt hour for electricity and over $3 for gas. Even if you save money with alternative energy sources, there are still ways to maximize your savings, including energy monitoring software. Find out more about programs you can use for a wide range of energy tracking and management applications.
What Is Energy Monitoring Software?
Energy monitoring software is a category of computer program that helps you track your energy usage and spending. An energy monitoring system refers to an application that provides more than one function. You might use one of these apps to track your utility bills, energy meters, and your commercial building’s heating and cooling and electrical systems.
Top 5 Benefits of Using Energy Monitoring Software
Using software to monitor and oversee your energy consumption not only helps you save money but can also help your commercial buildings become greener. Here’s how.
1. Real-Time Energy Consumption Insights
Monitoring your energy consumption in real time gives you an idea of how you can optimize usage. You might decide to remodel your building with green design elements to maximize natural light or heating and cooling. Real-time insights also help you identify peaks in your energy usage so you can budget for those times of the year when your consumption is highest.
The information generated by an electricity monitoring system and other software can also clue you in when something goes wrong. For example, if you notice your cooling costs escalating, but you’re not in the middle of a heat wave, you know you might need to check your HVAC system.
With a real-time energy analysis, you can catch problems in your building’s systems early on and fix them before they become costly.
2. Improved Energy Efficiency and Cost Savings
The right software allows you to make your commercial buildings more energy efficient. Use a platform to identify your energy sinkholes. Find out which parts of your building are using the most energy and devise solutions to use less energy.
Some energy software lets you program your heating, cooling, and light systems based on when each room is in use. Instead of using large heating and cooling systems throughout the building, you can install devices that control the climate in smaller areas during times at which people are actually in the area.
For example, if you run an office building, you can control heating and cooling in conference rooms, and other common areas that aren’t always in use, differently than areas in which people work throughout the day.
Since many energy monitoring software apps are cloud-based, you can monitor each building on a mobile device. You don’t have to visit each property to take readings or look at system reports. Because you can see energy data at any time, you have a more accurate idea of how much energy you are actually using instead of having to guess based on monthly calculations.
3. Enhanced Sustainability and ESG Compliance
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) compliance is a set of guidelines and regulations related to sustainability and emissions, among other topics. These guidelines refer to how companies disclose their efforts to be more sustainable. They were created to help business owners, developers, and others take a more proactive approach to reducing emissions.
Energy management solutions help you improve your sustainability efforts and stay compliant with these ESG guidelines. With some platforms, you can calculate your building’s carbon footprint and add it to your disclosure reports.
More importantly, any energy management solution will allow you to track your energy usage and eliminate wasteful practices. You may be able to identify building systems to run with alternative energy or flaws in your building design that are leading to energy loss.
4. Predictive Maintenance and Fault Detection
Old or faulty HVAC systems and other building systems can waste a lot of energy. In current buildings, air conditioning makes up the bulk of energy usage, and the average office building owner spends $30,000 a year on energy.
Real-time energy monitoring helps you see fluctuations in energy usage that might signal a fault in the system. Some energy management software includes predictive maintenance and fault detection monitoring. With these tools, you can maintain your building systems to extend their useful life and optimize their energy usage for decreased energy costs.
These platforms offer accurate fault detection alerts that give you insight into which systems may be malfunctioning. You don’t have to run multiple tests or fix systems through a process of trial and error.
Some building energy monitoring software also assesses other systems, letting you detect water leaks and other faults that could be costing you money on operational costs.
5. Data-Driven Decision Making
Energy management software also gives you the data you need to make informed decisions related to your commercial buildings. You can renovate older buildings to see energy savings. You might choose to invest in alternative energy, such as solar panels, to reduce your impact on the power grid.
Best of all, you get tools that help you optimize energy usage without impacting your tenants. Instead of putting restrictions on a tenant’s heating and air conditioning use, you can install smart solutions that manage a building’s climate in a more energy-efficient way.
How To Choose the Right Energy Monitoring Solution
Business energy management is a smart and cost-effective way to save money on utilities while improving your sustainability efforts. So what do you look for in energy management systems? Choose a platform with all the features you need. Opt for a cloud platform that gives you instant access to energy insights.
Attune offers energy management solutions with real-time insights that help you improve the health and energy efficiency of your buildings.
Our sensors gather real-time data from the environment, working with IoT hardware to measure and analyze data. You can use the app to see insights from your sensors and monitor your buildings’ energy use, water consumption, and air quality, among other aspects.
This energy management system gives you the data you need to improve performance, saving you money and helping you attract tenants who are committed to sustainability.
Get started with a demo and learn how we can help you.