A Discussion on Occupant Engagement, Part III

(This is the third post in a three-part series, see parts I and II below)

Q: Is there a way to identify the origin of the load through the dashboard?

APS: This all depends on the resolution of the monitoring. For the lighting retrofit, we could isolate it to the specific floors only, not individual offices. However, our engineer looked into purchasing wireless monitoring technologies that could measure each office space. This could be moved around and integrated into Pulse. We haven’t implemented anything like that yet. Frankly, it may not be advantageous to scrutinize consumption to that level. Feels too much like “Big Brother” watching your consumption.

Q: Are there provisions for inputting and analyzing facilities which do not have digital meters?

APS: We are starting a new project with schools in First Nation (Aboriginal) communities with electronic monitoring to come up with some indicators around per-student and per-square-meter consumption.  Once we have established some benchmarks, we plan to design a survey that non-monitored schools can use to identify saving opportunities, maybe using their power bill as the key indicator.  All in all, it is better to monitor.

Q: lighting optimization is quite basic, does the system enable HVAC optimization / free cooling or other equipment optimization?

APS: This is our next goal, focusing on space heating set points. Wurster Hall at the University of California Berkeley has done work on optimizing ventilation rates: http://sustainability.ucsb.edu/conference/presentations/student%20affairs_student%20leadership%20in_Elliot%20Nauman_Perszyk_abesamis.pdf

Q: How easy is it to implement your energy management system to an existing building?

APS: Technically it is easy if you have the budget to install the monitoring software. What is not easy is to dedicate the time to use it properly. We still haven’t instituted a benchmarking system (e.g., energy use per occupant) or programmed the saving target into the Dashboard.  Staff time is the limiting factor.

Q: Can you go over the reporting functions of the software? e.g. monthly etc

APS: Pulse directly measures power (kilowatts) of the various end-uses noted in an earlier response above.  The reporting function allows us to determine electricity demand (kilowatt-hours). So far, we have set up the following reports:
o    2009 Occupant Campaign – 4th Floor Basic Report
o    2009 Occupant Campaign – 5th Floor Basic Report
o    5th Floor Week by Week Energy Consumption Basic Report
o    annual savings Basic Report
o    Daily Energy Savings Basic Report
o    Daily Occupant Plug Load Basic Report
o    elevator energy consumption Basic Report
o    Lighting Energy Consumption – Week by Week Basic Report
o    Lighting Performance – Year Over Year Basic Report – Energy, Energy
o    Retrofit Cost Savings (By Month) Basic Report
o    Retrofit Energy Consumption  Basic Report
o    Retrofit Energy Savings (by Month)