Save Money With Energy Management Systems
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What’s on this page?
- What is energy management?
- Why are energy management systems important?
- The benefits of an energy monitoring system
- The step-by-step process of energy management
- Energy Management Tips
- What is an energy management strategy?
- Energy management systems and energy monitoring software
- What to look for in an energy monitoring tool
- What is the Carbon Trust Standard?
- Energy monitoring tools from Smarter Business
- Why partner with Smarter Business?
Save money by saving energy with proactive energy management systems for your business.
2-10% – Annual energy savings most organisations can achieve through better energy management systems.
Successful businesses rely on sound management – including thorough energy monitoring and management.
Energy costs are on the rise and are unlikely to drop anytime soon. Along with shopping the market to find the best energy deals, implementing energy efficiencies is one of the most cost-effective ways to achieve long-term savings.
Effective energy monitoring enables you to reduce costs through:
- Understanding your energy consumption
- Identifying waste
- Targeting inefficiencies
If the thought of taking meter readings, analysing complex invoices, comparing confusing quotes and validating energy bills instils a sense of dread, fear not! In this technological day and age, energy management is made far more simple and streamlined through dedicated software that does the legwork for you.
Did you know?
The more efficient a building is, the better its occupancy rates and asset value.
Why?
Tenants seek buildings with lower utility bills and environmentally-friendly standards.
What is energy management?
- The systematic use of management techniques, processes and tools to improve the energy performance of an organisation.
- Incorporates all aspects of business energy – including energy procurement, usage and monitoring.
- The process of collecting information about where, when, how, and why your organisation is using energy.
- Effective energy management helps improve efficiencies, reduces cost and improves sustainability.
Energy management systems are an essential component of an energy management strategy. Having this system in place allows you to see how much water, gas and electricity is being consumed. Regular reporting on these statistics will help you track your energy usage patterns and inform decision-making.
Why are energy management systems important?
1. Save money
No matter the size of your business, wasting energy means wasting money. According to calculations by Carbon Trust:
- Every £1 saved on energy = £10 worth of sales to generate the same £1 of profit.
- This means that if your business is wasting £1,000 due to poor energy management, you would need to make £10,000 in sales to earn the equivalent £1,000 in profit.
In addition to the money saved on your actual energy bill, your business may also be eligible for policy-related deductions if you are shown to be taking steps to use energy more efficiently, such as reduced Climate Change Levy (CCL) fees.
2. Help the environment
Wasting energy means causing more pollution than you need to, increasing CO2 emissions, driving climate change, and putting more strain on dwindling fossil fuel reserves.
3. Enhances your business’ reputation
It’s increasingly important to demonstrate to customers and shareholders that your company is environmentally responsible. Creating a greener business helps the environment and provides you with a competitive edge.
The benefits of an energy monitoring system
- Identify avoidable energy waste.
- Assess the ROI on your energy projects and campaigns.
- Provide meaningful feedback for your staff on energy management initiatives.
- Set targets for energy and carbon reduction.
- Check your energy invoices and charges.
- Get the knowledge to secure the right energy contract for your unique needs.
The step-by-step process of energy management
- Commit to an energy management plan.
- Benchmark your energy performance.
- Collect accurate, real-time energy usage data.
- Analyse this data to highlight areas of inefficiency.
- Take action based on the results.
Energy Management Tips
- Make energy management part of company policy to demonstrate management’s commitment to energy efficiency.
- Designate an ‘energy champion’ – a person supported by top management to take responsibility for an organisation’s energy.
- Make use of an online energy monitoring system.
What is an energy management strategy?
Your organisation’s energy strategy is a document that sets out an action plan of how your energy will be managed to meet policy objectives.
Key areas that you energy strategy should address include:
- Organising energy management and team resources – who will be responsible for your energy management?
- Regulatory compliance and incentives – what regulations apply to your organisation? What do you need to do to comply?
- Investment – what investment is required to take full advantage of energy efficiency opportunities?
- Procurement – where does your organisation get its energy and energy-using equipment?
- Energy metering, monitoring and targeting – Simply put – you can’t manage what you don’t measure, and what isn’t measured isn’t managed.
- Organisational culture – staff at all levels should be engaged in your organisation’s energy management strategy
- Communications – part of developing an energy-conscious culture involves good internal and external communications about energy-saving endeavours
- Management review – regular reviews are vital in keeping the energy management strategy on-track and up-to-date
Energy management systems and energy monitoring software
Making use of smart energy management tools and software is an essential enabler of efficient energy management.
There are a number of applications on the market, but many of these can prove cost-prohibitive. As a first step, check with your energy broker or supplier whether they have proprietary energy data management software to offer.
What to look for in an energy monitoring tool
When assessing an energy monitoring system, ensure that it is:
- User-friendly
- Secure
- Reliable
- Scalable
What is the Carbon Trust Standard?
The Carbon Trust Standard sets performance criteria for the measurement, management and reduction of your carbon footprint. Organisations awarded the Carbon Trust Standard include:
- Tesco
- O2
- HM Treasury
- London Fire Brigade
- Manchester University
How to achieve Carbon Trust Standard:
- Measure your carbon footprint over two to three years.
- Demonstrate a reduction in carbon emissions.
- Provide evidence of good carbon management.
Energy monitoring tools from Smarter Business
Smarter Business offers two proprietary energy data platforms exclusively for its clients.
Dataview
What is Dataview?
Dataview is a dynamic, online energy measurement platform using smart meters connected to the Internet of Things. Through automated reporting and energy analysis, Dataview gives your business insight into how and when you use your energy so that you can easily identify cost-saving opportunities.
Dataview features
- Instant access to half-hourly data
- Instant reporting on consumption and demand
- Portfolio view of capacity
- Free monthly reports
- Energy validation reporting
- Customised reporting
What can Dataview measure?
Dataview can measure all your energy sources:
- Electricity
- Gas
- Natural gas and LPG
- Oil
- Renewables – solar energy, wind power
- Water consumption
- Environmental impact
The benefits of Dataview
- Access accurate energy consumption and cost data
- Monitor your usage and portfolio
- Identify energy cost-saving opportunities
- Effective energy management
- Improve your profitability and competitiveness
Where can Dataview measure?
Dataview can measure ‘everywhere’:
- Applied on multiple sites
- With multiple energy sources
- Sub-metering can enable you to measure different activities on a site, such as manufacturing, plant, office, sales operations.
Dataview can provide numerous reports
- League tables
- Usage targets
- Site-by-site comparisons
- Time of day operational demands
The Dataview platform is customised to suit your business to help you identify where you can make the most significant energy savings.
With all your energy data gathered into one set of online reports, your energy data is presented in the form that suits you with appealing visuals make your data easy to understand.
Dataview is free with Smarter Business’ energy management service.
Openview
What is Openview?
Exclusive to Smarter Business customers who consume over 200,000kWh per year, Openview is the most advanced energy management platform in the marketplace, giving you complete control over your energy contracts and site portfolio. The platform enables you to see a breakdown of all commercial energy costs for current and future contracts on a daily basis. This empowers you to take advantage of favourable conditions in the energy markets and save money on energy procurement.
Openview features
Openview is the only platform to allow all supplier participants to view each other’s bids. This provides much greater competition and results in the best price outcome aligned with your business needs.
- The most advanced energy management platform in the marketplace.
- Transparent and accurate assessment of tenders from over 20 suppliers.
- Cost forecasting for up to 5 years (including past the contract end date, and accurate NNC forecasts).
- Invoice validation to ensure the accuracy of suppliers’ billing, together with a query resolution service.
- Onsite energy trader for flexible contracts.
- Regular market updates and information to increase internal knowledge.
- Real-time forecasting – an overview of your company, portfolio, site data, tenders, market intelligence, fixed and flexible procurement, risk management and forecasting in real time.
- Data Management – delve into energy management from both a usage and cost perspective by detailing each price component together with the timing of consumption.
Openview benefits
- Complete control of your energy contracts – site information, non-energy costs, and, most importantly, your future energy contract prices.
- Simplifies the management of all your sites, meters, consumption and utility contracts.
- The ability to break down your usage by department or site enables you to identify points of high or unusual consumption, which in turn helps drive efficiency opportunities.
- Driving prices down – Openview is the only platform that allows suppliers to view each other’s bids and re-submit their contract prices. The result is much greater competition, which means that your business gets the best price outcome aligned with your needs.
- Simple tender negotiation and execution with your preferred suppliers.
- True price transparency at all levels.
- Set benchmarks and cost targets for future budget and purchasing requirements.
Why partner with Smarter Business?
Smarter Business is already helping thousands of companies manage, monitor and save on their energy. We’d like to have the opportunity to discuss your unique requirements. For any more information on our services or for a demonstration of our exclusive energy management systems, please email: [email protected] or call 01444 220060.