Amid rising electricity costs and increasing momentum surrounding energy conservation initiatives, real-time energy-monitoring technology is now more relevant than ever. Just as homeowners continue to invest in smart energy-monitoring solutions to track their power consumption and maximize their savings, so too are businesses seeking ways to reduce their overhead expenses by improving their energy usage management. Read on to learn more about the fundamentals of energy-monitoring devices, including how they work and the various benefits they can bring to businesses, industrial facilities, and commercial rental properties.
What Is Energy Monitoring?
In short, energy-use monitoring involves the deployment of sophisticated software and devices that track the power consumption of a building, whether it be a house, an apartment complex, or a retail business. With the help of this technology, stakeholders gain valuable insights into electricity usage patterns that can assist them in reducing their costs and increasing their energy efficiency. Among other things, energy-monitoring technology makes it easier to identify peaks or troughs in electricity demand throughout a structure, which can support strategies for minimizing the building’s carbon footprint and ultimately lowering its energy bills.
In addition, an energy monitor can be used to evaluate the electricity usage of individual pieces of equipment, such as heating devices, heavy machinery, or appliances, to rapidly locate electrical failures, tripped breakers, and inefficiencies. In much the same way, an organization can use a real-time energy-monitoring system to track electricity usage among individual departments, allowing it to mitigate energy costs in a targeted manner.
With real-time energy-monitoring technology, business owners and other stakeholders can acquire immediate feedback regarding electricity demand or generation, the assets consuming the most power, and opportunities to make operations more energy-efficient. This knowledge translates directly to reduced overhead costs and faster response times when sudden surges or drops in power draw are detected.
How Energy-Monitoring Sensors Work
Energy-monitoring sensors are attached directly to circuits to track the electricity usage of an entire building or connected to individual pieces of equipment for detailed information regarding the power consumption of specific machines or areas of a facility. These two approaches, known as CT energy monitoring and submetering, have various benefits and drawbacks. Here’s how they work.
Submetering
This type of real-time monitoring is used to track the energy consumption of certain areas within a building or specific pieces of equipment. Similar to the energy meter found outside a home, submetering devices are ideal for tracking the energy consumption of individual units within an apartment building where the electricity demands of tenants may vary widely. However, this type of energy metering is also valuable for companies or large facilities that have different departments with fluctuating electricity usage requirements. While the installation of submetering monitors can be somewhat expensive up front, the potential savings throughout their life spans make up for the initial cost.
CT Energy Monitoring
The alternative to submetering is CT energy monitoring, which works well to track the energy consumption of a whole building. CT sensors measure the AC power entering a building and relay this data back to a central controller. CT energy-monitoring devices are especially useful for businesses and facilities that must follow strict guidelines governing energy-leak controls or internally mandated energy management guidelines.
Why Monitor Energy?
Energy-monitoring technology offers numerous far-reaching benefits to businesses, property owners, and society as a whole. By leveraging energy-monitoring devices, stakeholders can play a more prominent role in meeting tomorrow’s power conservation goals while simultaneously minimizing the negative impact of today’s rising electricity prices. Here are some of the main reasons why monitoring energy is a good investment.
Cut Back on Energy Consumption
Energy monitors serve as powerful tools for helping facilities achieve greater energy conservation over the long term. As organizations around the world work together to meet ambitious efficiency standards in the coming years, energy-monitoring systems will encourage stakeholders to develop concrete solutions to increasingly unsustainable power demands across various industries. With the help of energy sensors and other emerging technologies, practically reducing energy usage becomes a much easier task.
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Another direct benefit of energy monitoring is its ability to lower a building’s projected carbon footprint. Following the Paris Agreement, the goal of reaching net zero in carbon emissions by 2050 cannot become a reality unless emissions are cut by at least 45% within the next several years. To meet this objective, decision-makers at companies and facilities must do their part to become more energy-efficient. By using energy-monitoring solutions, you can take greater control over reducing your building’s carbon footprint, taking the world one step closer to a more sustainable future.
Lower Your Energy Costs
As energy consumption and carbon emissions drop in your building, so too will your energy costs. In this way, the impact of real-time energy management on overall electricity consumption offers immediate financial incentives that today’s leaders cannot afford to ignore. With more money saved on heating, cooling, lighting, and other utilities, you can allocate more funds to other necessities, like renovations, emergency repairs, or upgrades to antiquated equipment. Furthermore, the use of energy-monitoring systems will insulate you from future increases in energy prices while also helping to lay the groundwork needed to augment additional energy conservation technologies as they become available in the years ahead.
Experience the Impact of Our Real-Time Energy-Monitoring Systems
At Attune, we provide comprehensive, real-time water- and energy-monitoring solutions to support your building’s sustainability goals. With our wireless submetering retrofits, you can gain up-to-date data to locate costly energy sinkholes that are driving up your electricity costs.
Meanwhile, our water-monitoring controls offer immediate leak and frozen-pipe detection that can help save your building thousands of dollars on avoidable emergency repairs. Whenever water consumption levels suddenly rise or fall, our monitoring system will quickly notify you of the problem. With Attune, you can put all of your building’s energy data into perspective, which will allow you to make actionable decisions that save money and directly contribute to a better tomorrow.
If you’re looking for a way to take greater control of your building’s water and energy consumption, contact us to request a demo today.