Having the right home energy monitoring systems will help you save a lot of money on power bills. Commercial businesses, manufacturers and homeowners should understand that they can manage energy usage only if they understand and monitor their energy usage. If you are interested in reducing your energy costs, here are some useful tips that will help you get started.
You will need buy-in from the top
You can easily switch to LED light bulbs but the real management of energy will require excellent support from the top. You need to know how to sell energy monitoring in your organization at the highest levels. You should think about your office supplies such as paper, pens and staplers. Purchasing and office managers should keep track of these things. They should also monitor how much they are being used in your business.
If you are a manufacturer, you should know if you indiscriminately spend on solder, plastic or aluminum. You should also consider if you spend on other raw materials required for production. In most cases, managers get electricity bills but they never bother to find out where and when the energy was used. They just assume that the energy was used for the good of the business. Utility companies price electricity based on the time it is used. They are even penalizing users who exceed the maximum threshold during the billing period. Energy costs are rising to meet the rising demand of businesses and utility companies are offering incentives to customers who agree to reduce power usage under certain conditions. Investing in the right energy management systems is worthwhile as you will know the best ways to reduce your energy bills.
Gather the right data
After selling energy monitoring to your business, it is time to start collecting data – real-time and detailed data that you can analyze. The collected data should be detailed and timely enough that you can see the spike in energy usage when a compressor or air handling unit cycles on. It should be visible to all relevant people in your organization who use electricity, giving them the motivation and information to reduce costs.
Choose the right hardware
Monitoring your energy usage in industrial facilities and commercial buildings is different from energy monitoring in your home. You should start by summarizing your overall energy usage. However, it is important to know that even a summary will not provide the granularity and details you need to identify which of your machines and systems are your biggest consumers of energy and which ones are costing you the most energy to operate. You should choose industrial grade monitoring hardware that will gather, monitor and distribute energy data in real-time. You also don’t need large and complex energy management or home energy monitoring systems. You can begin with simple appliances as long as they meet the necessary requirements for connectivity with your electrical equipment. Your monitoring systems should be able to connect to a variety of power-related equipment.