Automatic Monitoring & Targeting
Automatic monitoring and targeting (aM&T) is an energy management tool, designed to detect and diagnose the wasteful use of utilities. The benefits of metering include:
- Establish breakdown of energy use so that wasteful practices can be highlighted.
- Observe details of when equipment is being used and find peak load times.
- Allows comparisons to be made with industry benchmarks and can be used to help set future targets.
- Show a wide range of values including individual phase voltages, power factor, current and energy (kWh).
- Allows for short and long term cost budgeting and avoids unexpected costs.
- Develop load profiles for various areas and operations.
- Use logged data to acquire better suited utility contracts.
- Use logged data as part of a bill validation scheme to find anomalies.
- Calculate actual energy savings from energy efficiency enhancements by comparing ‘before and after’ data.
- Easy access to data either locally or remotely via the Web.
- Reveal correlations with other factors such as weather, occupancy times or outside temperature to see how they influence consumption.
- Use data to produce EPCs and DECs and to provide the required information for the CRC and ETS Carbon trading schemes.
Available Technologies
Modern Electricity Meters
- Can measure up to 17 different electrical variables including Volts, Amps, W, kWh. (Requires CTs)
- Comms over RS485 or Ethernet using M-bus or TCP/IP
- Fully integrated graphics which can be shown on local PC or accessed via the internet
- Automatic Meter Readers (AMR) can be retro-fitted to standard dial-type meters with this simple device. This reduces the expenditure of replacing older meters.
Monitoring Software:
As part of the metering and logging process, a software package is used to display the data graphically for easy interpretation. Numerous systems are available and usually include the following features:
- Ability to integrate, or work alongside, the existing BMS
- Displays metered data in a variety of graphs depending on the data and timescales required.
- Reports can be generated automatically which can then be sent to finance staff and energy managers to keep them up-to-date with the site’s operation.
- Alarms are generated when energy values go beyond an acceptable limit.
Expected Savings and Further Information
It has been found that using a meter’s readings to your advantage provides around a 5-10% energy saving on the item/s being monitored. Additionally, savings of up to 3% can be made through a bill-validation program.Excess charges on utility bills can be reclaimed up to 6 years after the issue date.The cost of a full metering system, comprising of the meters, current transducers, logging capacity and monitoring software, can be offset against the company’s corporation tax using the Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) scheme.
