Whether you work in a local community building or a large corporate office building, your operations could benefit from an energy management system (EMS). Your building is equipped with several energy consuming systems that work together to keep it operating at a safe and comfortable level. This includes lighting, heating, cooling, and ventilation. With differing interfaces and varying degrees of necessity, your building engineers or facility managers cannot be expected to manually optimize the performance of each system while maintaining their regular job responsibilities. This is where an EMS comes in.
An EMS continually monitors and analyzes your building’s energy use by connecting to each energy consuming system and detecting any shifts or spikes in consumption. Alerts of abnormal energy usage can tell you which areas need your attention, and which are running as intended. Spikes in energy use can be the result of old or damaged equipment, faulty sensors, or a less than optimal automation schedule. Knowing where your problem areas are will help you address and fix the issue in a timely manner. As a result, you will save energy and money.
Depending on the type of building you have, you may be equipped with an EMS, a building automation system (BAS), or both. It is important to note the distinction between these two pieces of equipment, because the terms are often used interchangeably. While an EMS gives you a high-level look at your building’s operations and energy consumption, a BAS lets you adjust and schedule how your systems operate throughout the day. For example, if your EMS is reporting high energy usage during unoccupied hours, you can program your BAS to turn your lights off and adjust your temperature setpoints when the building is closed.
Think of your building as a car, the BAS acts as the steering wheel and the EMS acts as the global positioning system (GPS). While the BAS where you go, the EMS guides you in the right direction. By using both systems together, you can ensure that your building operations are accurate and optimized to increase the efficiency of your building and lower your monthly energy costs. Lowering the energy consumption of your building will in turn save you money on your energy bill, lower your carbon footprint, and increase your property value.
Even if you have an EMS and a BAS in place, there still may be room for improvements. Despite your best efforts, many buildings are not calibrated to operate the way they are intended. With a retro-commissioning study, you can uncover operational opportunities to tune-up your building and optimize the way your building uses energy. Whether it’s through scheduling measures, sensor calibration, or temperature setbacks/resets, our expert engineers can identify low-cost ways to improve the efficiency of your building and make your EMS and BAS efforts more impactful. Contact our Senior Program Manager, Ryan Curry, at 312-267-2864 or ryan@360eg.com to get your building’s energy usage on the right track.