Studies show that simply measuring your energy consumption can reduce your consumption by 10% to 20%. If we act obviously.
Let’s study a concrete case. That of a 460 m2 office building, which can accommodate up to 30 people.
An energy sub-metering has been put in place, making it possible to identify, beyond general consumption, under-consumption for Ventilation (including heating/air conditioning), lighting, sockets, and others. consumption.
Monthly consumption, for the month of February 2023, aggregated by day and by type of consumption, is presented in the following graph.
Several things can be observed:
- The main source of consumption is ventilation/air conditioning. In February 2023, it represented 49% of the overall monthly energy consumption of 4,382 kWh.
- If this consumption obviously varies depending on atmospheric conditions, we also note that it does not vary much between working days (Monday to Friday) and non-working weekends.
Out of a monthly consumption of 4382 kWh, 49% of the energy is dedicated to ventilation/heating/air conditioning.
A first conclusion emerges from the analysis of this graph. If we want to reduce consumption, working on consumption linked to ventilation could, at first glance, generate the most impactful effects, since this consumption item represents half of overall consumption.
Let’s continue the analysis with daily consumption…
Daily consumptions, for the week of February 27, 2023
Our first analysis is confirmed. Consumption during working hours (on average 516 kWh per week) is equivalent to consumption outside working hours (503 kWh over a week – evenings and weekends).
Out of a weekly consumption of 1018 kWh, 49.5% of the energy is consumed outside the company’s operating hours!
Actions taken
Based on this observation, the customer decides to program the ventilation activation times. An investment of €50 in a simple timer (on/off) for time slots. This operation is carried out on the evening of Friday March 10, 2023.
The result is visible instantly. The following dashboard shows consumption for the month of March 2023, compared to consumption for February 2023. We immediately see the change in consumption profile from Saturday March 11, 2023.
Consumption for the ventilation station disappeared on weekends, and decreased for weekdays, from this date. While this modification was made in the third of the month, we have already seen an overall reduction of 21% for the month of March 2023!
When we analyze daily consumption, the impact is even more significant.
Hourly Consumptions - Week of February 27, 2023
Hourly Consumptions - Week of March 27, 2023
The comparison between these 2 weeks shows that we go from a weekly consumption of 1018 kWh to 627 kWh. That’s an overall reduction of 38%!
Based on total monthly consumption in February (4,382 kWh), and an average cost per kWh of between €0.2 and €0.4 depending on the region, this reduction of 38% (1,665 kWh) corresponds to a saving of 333 € to €666 per month!
In terms of the impact of work on consumption, we also see the difference. The ratio between consumption during working hours and overall consumption increases from 50% to 63%!
Conclusions
Measuring your energy consumption allows you to make significant savings and take action on the environment by reducing your carbon footprint. All kilowatts not consumed are greenhouse gases not emitted.
Energy efficiency is an iterative process.
- Consumption is measured continuously.
- We analyze these consumptions
- We identify problems, sources of optimization
- We implement modifications
- We measure the results of these modifications
- And we start again…
This process allows substantial reductions in consumption, often without significant investment.
IOT Factory offers a platform for energy monitoring and optimization. It allows the configuration of analytical dashboards which allow you to understand your consumption profile, identify optimization points, and then measure the impact of the actions taken.
IOT Factory can also help you in this analysis, and in suggesting actions to take.
