SOCIAL - BLOG
Bertie van Wyk linkedin.com/in/bertievanwyk
Workplace Specialist I TEDx I Keynote Speaker
Belgium’s government introduces 4 day work
week. #Wellbeing #Workplace #Innovation
Health and Safety Executive @H_S_E
Need data to support your stress risk
assessment? Our Stress Indicator Tool is an
online survey that can be used as part of your
assessment to gather anonymous data and
information. It now includes a module for home
and remote working: https://bit.ly/3K2v38J
@Facilities_Show It’s finally almost time to
get back to business how it’s done best — with
thousands of #FM peers and suppliers, in
person, and all in one place. Who’s ready?
http://ow.ly/YyX950HVAzj #FAC2022
#facilitiesmanagement
Nick Fox Deputy Director of Capital Projects and
Estate Management at North Bristol NHS Trust
linkedin.com/in/nick-fox-fiwfm-mapm-miheemmiam
aifiree-23447039 After two years of being
an IWFM awards judge, I am really pleased to
have been asked to be a lead judge for this
year’s awards. I will be lead judge for the ‘Best
SME Led Innovation Award’. Thanks to Mark
Griffiths (MSc CIWFM) for asking me.
@GrosvenorPropUK Our first #NetZero carbon
office development, Holbein Gardens, has been
featured as a @UKGBC The designs by
@BarrGazetas centre on retaining the existing
structure, applying principles of #MaterialReuse
& extensive greening. https://bit.ly/3M9Vk72
Phil Matis Operations Director linkedin.com/
in/philmatisfm Fantastic day at the Workplace
Futures Conference yesterday #WPFUT22.
Our call to action as individuals, businesses
and #FacMan as a sector is clear, and the
presentation from James Bradley Churchill
Group highlighting the need to embed longtermism
in FM regarding #ESG was inspiring.
BRE Group @BRE_Group Our report for
@scotent identifies the needs of low #carbon
heat technologies to bring down consumer
costs, showing the need for:User-friendly &
smart technologies. Alternative approach to
district heat networks. Waste heat Utilisation.
#netzero https://bit.ly/3HALkjS
18 MARCH 2022
BLOG FROM FABIO MONACHESI, GLOBAL LEADER OF ENERGY
MANAGEMENT, FOR ABB ELECTRIFICATION
HOW TO USE DATA-DRIVEN ENERGY
MANAGEMENT TO MEET ESG TARGETS
Establishing an e ective sustainability
strategy is essential to helping facilities
managers and their organisations meet
increasingly stringent environmental targets.
However, without knowing how much energy
is being used and where its being used most,
it’s di icult to understand the most impactful
improvements that can be made. A er all,
you can’t manage or improve what you can’t
measure.
That is why being able to visualise your facility’s
energy consumption using energy management
tools is important and why more and more
organisations are choosing a data-driven
approach to support the development of their
sustainability strategies.
The first step for organisations who want to
introduce energy management for either single
or multi-site facilities, should be to carry out a
concise assessment of current energy usage. The
best place to start is with your bills.
At the first stage of energy management, facility
owners and managers need to use the data from
their utility bills as well as any available building
information, to investigate and virtually separate
their energy costs to identify possible areas of
excess energy consumption. To do this e ectively,
you’ll need a large dataset as this will help you
reveal trends and patterns (seasonal peaks for
example). Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms can
be really helpful in analysing the information too.
If you aren’t sure how to go about this, call in
the services of an energy service company (ESCO)
who can do audits and start creating actionable
reports on your behalf. Enlisting the support of an
expert service provider early on in the process can
really pay dividends when it comes to maximising
energy management as quickly as possible. If
you need to kickstart your sustainability and
environmental plans, this could be a good place
to start!
Usually, a consultant will request as much
historical site data as possible, so gathering
information is always the right place to start,
using the utility bills of the facility, building
information systems and any on field sensors.
Once you have assessed how much energy you
have used historically, you can develop realistic
benchmark targets for your sustainability strategy.
Next, you need to understand what’s happening
now, as that’s what you can influence.
To be able to monitor your energy use
and identify where there are issues that
need resolving, you need access to real-time
information about how your energy-consuming
equipment is performing. This requires device
connectivity. Many circuit breakers, meters,
relays, EV-chargers and inverters for example are
now digital-enabled and these products can be
connected – along with IoT sensors - to an on-site
connectivity infrastructure or dashboard with
Fabio Monachesi, ABB Electrifi cation
widgets so you can visualise the energy use of
your key assets.
Using the data gathered during your monitoring,
you can create output reports to analyse KPIs
and recommend energy saving actions that could
help you achieve your benchmark targets – for
example, upgrading ageing plant which is not
operating e iciently. Energy forecasting analytics
can make this stage easier and more accurate.
This stage defines and visualises asset targets
and looks at how performance can be optimised
to reach your target KPIs. Smart connected
products such as power quality converters,
uninterrupted power suppliers (UPS), transfer
switching and advanced relays feeding into an
optimisation engine, can all help you realise
improved outcomes.
The last step is to control and carefully adjust
the asset setpoints for energy e iciency and
service continuity strategies to meet your
changing ESG targets. To help, facility managers
could also consider pre-engineered reference
architectures with Edge controllers, smart
connected products, and perhaps investment in
on-site renewable-based technology solutions,
such as microgrids, battery energy storage
systems (BESS) and renewable energy generation,
like solar panels.
By following these five stages, FMs and their
organisations can begin the journey towards
more e icient energy management practice. As
well as saving energy and meeting sustainability
targets, there are other benefits for FMs and their
organisations, in not only boosting their green
credentials but saving on OPEX. Data insights
can help with the forecasting of energy usage,
increasing e iciency up to 30 per cent and
reducing costs with a potential payback of less
than three years.
Meeting sustainability targets can feel like
a mountain to climb, but with smart energy
management tools to help visualise energy use
and highlight the areas where excess usage is
occurring, putting an informed strategy in place
that will help meet ESG commitments suddenly
becomes much more achievable.
ADVICE & OPINION
/3M9Vk72
/YyX950HVAzj
/3K2v38J
/3HALkjS
