Energy Insurance Allstate needed a solution that could aggregate all of their energy usage information into a single central database.

Alissa Baranski, Marketing Assistant, eSight Energy, Inc.

Bringing in over $32 billion in revenue in 2011, Allstate is the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer and one of the country’s leading insurers in urban areas. Allstate encompasses more than 70,000 professionals made up of employees, agency owners, and staff. They help nearly 16 million households insure what they have today and prepare for tomorrow.

The Requirement

In order to monitor energy data from a range of buildings over their extensive Northbrook, IL headquarters, Allstate needed a solution that could aggregate all of their energy usage information into a single central database. They required the ability to monitor and verify that data, for a means of identifying anomalies, reducing overall energy usage across their buildings, and driving down costs. This would only be possible through transparency of the data captured from Tridium Niagara building control systems and advanced energy analysis software.

Perhaps the main condition needed was to meet was their extremely rigorous security requirements. The system needed to be housed in their data center in a virtual ‘POD’ environment and could not interfere with their main network. Their security measures mandated the system to be self-hosted and accessible over the Internet, as well as avoiding any installed components on client machines. 

In order to obtain the maximum benefits of an energy management system, the system was required to update in near real-time and to have instant alarm notifications for missing, or inaccurate data.

The Solution

Allstate chose to install eSight to monitor data from 550 points across their Headquarters. This was a perfect fit because of the scalability, selection of  advanced modules, and its compatibility with their existing infrastructure.

Our seamless integration with Tridium products – running the Niagara framework – allows them to capture near real-time energy data for analyses. With our user-friendly interface, variety of user levels, and intuitive dashboards, energy data is accessible throughout the organization. System administrators have the ability to ration which areas of our product can be viewed based on relevancy to the individual user.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]Our product provides the ability to analyze energy usage data across their buildings, including the capability to drill-down to more granular information at the click of a button. Using the Alarms module, the client is able to receive alerts via email and distribute associated reports automatically. We equips users with the opportunity to create intuitive energy dashboards, but also an extensive collection of techniques to target areas for savings, making eSight an easy choice for Allstate.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]exp US Services

exp US Services is a specialized, value-added integrated services organization providing professional, technical and strategic services to six key areas: buildings, earth & environment, energy, industrial, infrastructure, and sustainability. exp US Services partners with eSight Energy to provide energy management solutions in a number of their building projects. eSight’s integration with Tridium hardware via oBIX, meant that exp could flawlessly integrate in any of their projects including this installation.

Energy Analysis

They found the Energy Analysis configuration screen to be highly intuitive, allowing users to access advanced energy analyses with ease. This option provides the ability to compare meters, date ranges and analyze the cost of consumption as well as compare consumption against a target or budget. Allstate users are able to select the preferred analysis technique, the required meter for either consumption or cost analysis, and the output format. Since the graphs  are interactive, even the most novice of users was able to manipulate the graph into a higher frequency of data when available, by scrolling along to view the next period or interval.

Network Security

Security was one of their top priorities in installing an energy management suite. Allstate chose to have eSight installed locally, within their firewalls. With this installation and the different subnets that were created, only faculties with permission would be able to access the our system. This kept the clients network protected and gave them full control of access levels. For further security purposes, We were able to install the application portion on one server and the database on another. In addition to meeting all of Allstate’s protective needs, we were able to aggregate utility data in a single system for analysis and provide them with the tools to save both energy and money.

About eSight Energy Inc.
Brought to you by eSight Energy Inc., eSight is the most sophisticated and comprehensive energy suite available. Built upon the very latest Microsoft technology, the eSight suite provides an extensive range of techniques for analyzing energy usage and targeting sites for savings.

eSight may be used to monitor data from virtually any energy related system, including meters and loggers, building management and control systems, production data, spreadsheets, supplier data, oBIX and OPC data.

Please contact us for more information on how eSight can help your organization reduce energy costs.

About the Author

Alissa Baranski graduated cum laude from Illinois State University with a Bachelors of Science in Marketing and Minor in Economics. Upon joining the eSight Energy Marketing team in the summer of 2011, she has obtained valuable energy industry experience and knowledge. Alissa’s responsibilities include Marketing campaign management, copy writing, event planning, and social media management. Prior to working with eSight Energy, Alissa worked as a Mathematics Tutor at the University’s Academic Center on campus for three years.

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