~ How demand side energy monitoring helps meet sustainability goals ~
With rising costs and ever-changing regulatory demands, energy efficiency has become increasingly important across all industries. Here, Lawrence Katz, director at Omnisystems Engineering Consultants, outlines the role remote monitoring technology can aid energy management in any modern building development, and how working with remote monitoring specialist Omniflex helped.
An increased focus on sustainability in building design, combined with environmental concerns and challenges, is changing the demands placed on building professionals. As a result, designers, engineers and developers may need to incorporate energy management solutions to help streamline the design and operation of industrial facilities as well as to comply with local energy efficiency codes.
Modern, multi-use buildings often have diverse energy demands. In commercial buildings in Australia, for example, stringent energy codes and target energy efficiencies need to be achieved during commissioning as well as over the building’s operational lifecycle covering everything from energy usage, water usage and associated building operational metrics. This requires tailored energy strategy that will account for diverse uses and peak load considerations, minimisation of energy infrastructure provisions as costs and energy efficiency factors are balanced across the lifecycle of a building. To help address this, demand side energy monitoring (DSM) is required.
This helps to balance energy supply and demand to encourage consumers to modify electricity use and achieve NABERS targets, which can be done with incentives including price signals and energy consumption displays in common areas. In addition, managing variability in these energy loads can be done through granular DSM data and diversity factor analysis – particularly in residential buildings.
Improving commissioning practices will help to minimise commissioning costs, in turn making the process more efficient. A reliable commissioning process can outweigh product cost given the high engineering labour costs associated with it. Installation and commissioning of energy monitoring systems is required to comply strictly with the building services design criteria. An efficient commissioning system can ensure there are energy savings from the outset – making the associated system costs insignificant.
Striking a balance
Managing costs and meeting energy demand can be a balancing act. While there might be demand in the residential space, for example, for luxury apartments with full air conditioning, this is likely to send energy costs soaring as well as large capital expenditure on the required infrastructure. A substation is one option to increase the electricity supply in this case. However, eliminating this need is essential for bringing down costs and can be done by managing power used for air conditioning. AC systems can account for up to 70% of energy load, meaning that on a hot day, when peak demands are encountered, power trip outage risk is mitigated. Installing appropriate interface cards in AC units allows for the AC energy demand to be automatically modulated – thus reducing the site maximum demand together with the associated energy costs.
Omnisystems Engineering Consultant’s collaboration with Omniflex has facilitated such projects. From our initial relationship working in industrial applications such as rendering plants to monitor energy and water processes to contribute to a circular resource strategy, we have expanded into building services. Omniflex’s Omnergy energy management technology has helped track and control energy consumption in large buildings which has enabled efficient commissioning and operation. This has included a cable manufacturer saving AUS$1.5 million in power supply upgrades by allowing energy use to be managed remotely via the Omnergy website.
Omniflex’s cloud based Omnergy energy management systems have ensured seamless energy management and regulatory compliance during commissioning, while AC load management in the residential and commercial buildings has avoided the need for substations and major infrastructure upgrades by applying Demand Side Management.
These innovations are crucial for energy management and helping to create sustainable and efficient buildings. Developer and engineers can help optimise their building designs and reduce environmental impact using Omniflex’s remote monitoring and control range by visiting its website.
