The Trillion Dollar Reason Energy Efficiency Can’t be Ignored
Using energy inefficiently in commercial buildings is leaving trillions on the table.
Energy efficiency is invisible fuel: it does good for the planet while saving businessesserious cash. In fact, the value of energy efficiency could be in the trillions, according the the New York Times. With so much to gain, why aren’t more businesses racing to recover this free cash?
Energy efficiency is missing one critical element: data.
The current system of electricity metering in the US simply doesn’t deliver useful insights into building energy use. Utility-installed “smart” meters generate opaque monthly bills. Building operators don’t receive enough data to measure progress toward goals, or make decisions about what to even change in the first place. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
Measuring energy efficiency at the utility meter is like pushing on a balloon; when you push on one side, the air just shifts around. You never really know if you made a dent. Investing time and capital into a big energy retrofit might reduce consumption, but it’s extremely difficult to measure the efficacy when a hot month of active air conditioning makes your bill look the same as it has always been.
Without data, building engineers are left wondering if they really made an impact. And CFOs want to know why the entire capital budget was wasted.
That’s where high resolution energy data transforms gains in energy efficiency.
High resolution energy data solves the measurement problem in energy efficiency. The right data combined with smart analytics can transform the industry. Bringing energy metering inside the breaker panel shows exactly how much energy is consumed on each circuit. Energy bills can be segmented by end use, down to the device. Engineers can compare those circuits to each other, track consumption over time, and understand those shifting usage patterns. Now it’s possible to actually measure real changes in energy and costs, with granularity.
With granular energy data, energy bills finally make sense, and can be changed.
Building engineers can measure exactly how well retrofit projects are performing. CFOs can hold vendors accountable. Executives can justify capital investments and prove real ROI.