For
these authors, the words Energy and Analytics belong in the same
breath. That is why the title of McGowan's new book is;
Energy and Analytics, Big Data and Building Technology Integration, The
Fairmont Press 2015. Energy Management in the 21st Century is
being influenced by wide ranging policy, business and technology
trends; none more significant than Analytics, Big Data and the Internet
of Things (IoT). CEM’s can easily be deterred by the complexity
of these topics, but it is critical to develop an understanding of
these topics and how they can take energy management to a new
level. Another important point, perhaps not immediately evident,
is that Analytics technology cannot produce optimum results, unless
there is a robust underlying fabric of building / energy technology
that is fully operational and ideally based upon proven
standards. Integrating that underlying technology, as well as
IoT, with Analytics creates access to the full spectrum of data from
the building and the energy system to truly benchmark a building or
campus. Equally important Analytics is as much about building and
business intelligence, as it is about technology. Highly skilled
building experts, often called Analysts, are critical to deploying the
interface to the building, to identifying that data that is needed, to
understanding meaning in the data coming from the building and to
tailoring Analytics to specific applications in ways that optimize the
business process. It is not enough to simply benchmark historical
data (energy, operations, fault diagnostics or other), rather it is
necessary to utilize that history as a baseline to begin to truly
measure and manage facilities. And that measurement process must
be done in the context of the business process to ensure that the goal
is not just about improvement but continuous improvement. Equally
important is to understand that energy is essential, but also to
recognize that electricity is both the highest quality form of energy,
because it offers the cleanest and most diverse use, but the form of
energy that presents the greatest risk when it is interrupted.
Electricity is essential to business, education and entertainment, and
the buildings in which all of these industries operate. Yet the
system is fraying at the edges, and that means CEM’s must consider not
only energy management but energy resilience. Leveraging the
Internet of Things presents a whole set of new opportunities for both
management and resilience, consider the use of “Bluetooth” for
occupancy strategies in some large urban office buildings.
Accessing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which is built into most of the
latest smartphones, Beacons can be used to determine building
occupancy, particularly on summer afternoons when peak demand is
high. Occupancy changes can allow lighting and HVAC to be
modulated to lower consumption profiles, without creating a negative
impact on occupant. At the same time the occupancy data with such
a strategy also tells the system where people are, opening up further
potential for savings. Accomplishing such strategies requires
that Building Automation and other systems are operating properly and
that tools like fault detection and diagnostics have ensured optimal
HVAC performance. With the advent of LED’s, this same level of
granular control for illumination is possible as well.
Interoperability can be extended to other building systems and
equipment through the BAS, but very likely to the business process
through an IoT interface as well. Interoperability and
interconnectedness of energy consuming equipment and devices in
buildings comes full circle by providing the information necessary to
truly understand and explain energy consumption profiles. At the
same time this technology enables near real time measurement and
verification of building performance and financial ROI of ECM
investments. The book outlines applications such as these, but it
also provides a treatise on the underlying technologies from BAS, to
data communications and middleware, as well as the Analytics tools
themselves, so that even a novice can understand how all these topics
hang together.This Energy and Analytics topic may seem a bit futuristic to many readers, and that is why the book closes with a series of case studies to show what success looks like and show that this is happening now. James M. Lee, CEO of Cimetrics, Inc. has been implementing this technology for decades, even before IoT, and he wrote the introduction to this series of chapters including one from his company and one from Microsoft Corporation. These successes are not limited to the high tech world though; cities, universities, hospitals and a wide range of other building types are seeing great success with Energy and Analytics as well. In fact the pharmaceutical headquarters building mentioned above is a Cimetrics, Analytika implementation. It was a collaboration with the building automation system provider, to connect to and collect sensor and actuator data from almost 9,000 physical points. Data was collected continuously, 24 hours a day, and 365 days a year, totaling over 850,000 data samples per day from air handling units, chilled water and hot water pumps, chillers, cooling towers, over 550 terminal units, solar panel arrays, and a lighting control system. Over 1,000 Analytika software algorithms continuously analyzed the data to identify opportunities to reduce energy consumption, improve comfort, and reduce operations and maintenance costs. Next engineers leveraged Analytika software to identify opportunities, determine root cause, and calculate annual savings impact and make actionable recommendations. The result was an implementation that paid for itself in less than six months and beyond energy savings also produced Sustainability through CO2 emissions reductions. Also of importance, this technology provided information to evaluate and manage vendor performance on service contracts, and allowed the owner to meet code and safety requirements for this building.