News
Six Signs You Need An Energy Management System
Sustainability and energy consumption seem to be permanent stories in the news with the focus on reducing our impact on the planet and creating a sustainable future. According to the Clean Growth Strategy businesses and industry account for 25% of the UK’s carbon emissions and are now under more scrutiny than ever to reduce their consumption.
From the various legislation introduced to the mandatory carbon emissions reporting, it has meant businesses need to keep a tighter watch on their energy usage, however, this has created the opportunity for savings.
Here are 6 signs you need an energy management system (EMS):
You need to reduce your energy consumption to meet compliance
As mentioned above, there are a variety of legislative and compliance requirements to adhere to now depending on the size of your business and even if you are a landlord of commercial property. These range from the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme to the Climate Change Levy and even many others which are detailed on the government website.
So where does an energy management system comes in? It can aid you in multiple ways, often the biggest focus is by reducing your energy consumption which saves you money and reduces your emissions. Another capability of some systems, like the Pilot Group EMS, is by offering a metering function that allows you to view your usage remotely from any location with a WiFi signal.
You want to reduce your energy spend but don’t have the data to identify wastage
Data is king when it comes to implementing positive change and that is no different when trying to save energy. Without data, it is difficult to pinpoint wastage across your property. This is where an energy management system can show you what you have used on a daily basis, in what area it has been used and how that compares to previous days.
For example, your heaters could be scheduled to come on over the weekend without anyone realising. With an EMS you can simply log in to the system and see any spikes in energy that look like anomalies or energy being consumed at times where you believe it shouldn’t, then in turn it allows you to investigate further and eliminate waste.
You want to compare energy usage across your sites but don’t have an easy platform to do so
We mentioned earlier how important data is, especially if you’re trying to implement an energy-saving or environmental strategy. Often Facilities Managers have multiple sites to manage which will have varying energy bills. Comparing usage month by month for each facility is one thing, being able to see if similarly sized properties are using vastly different amounts of energy gives is another and allows you to investigate further.
The Pilot Group EMS is installed for a variety of multi-site customers across the UK, aiding them in saving energy and gaining visibility on their buildings.
You are struggling to control usage as colleagues regularly amend the heating, air conditioning and lighting levels
Good housekeeping is a quick way to start seeing energy savings and we have seen it many times where the heating is turned up, down and left on overnight or at weekends. With an EMS you can get an overview of the consumption and even set limits of high and low temperatures throughout the day.
The same goes for lighting, especially in areas of your premises that are rarely used. The Pilot Group EMS system can integrate with your DALI controlled lighting to give you more freedom on switching off or lowering light levels across the building.
Your business has set energy targets but you don’t know how to track whether you achieve them or not
It’s becoming common to have environmental policies and strategies for businesses and some companies may have to reduce their consumption by law. As with any goal/target, there needs to be a way to track it and an EMS can help both in meeting that target and tracking it.
Through our experience, our EMS has saved on average 40% on our customers’ heating bills which goes a long way to helping meet targets.
You have to manually turn on and off your heaters each day
It might be a simple task but it can really add up time-wise if you have a big site. It’s also where we see a lot of heaters accidentally left on at times they shouldn’t be. It’s a quick fix by having an EMS with scheduling functionality but one that can save you thousands.
You can learn more about the Pilot Group Energy Management System right here.