Energy efficiency should be a priority for any business. SSE Airtricity offers tailored energy management packages to all our commercial customers, helping firms understand how power is being consumed within their business, and ultimately helping them reduce their energy costs.
Step one in any company’s energy efficiency plan should be ensuring management support of the project. A successful plan is one that is supported at all levels within the business. It should be embedded into the company’s culture as the business changes and evolves. Next, the firm needs to assess where it is consuming power and create a road map that allows it to achieve clear and measurable goals in reducing energy usage.
At SSE Airtricity, we have the technology and expertise to help companies target the areas of their business that are operating inefficiently and implement changes. In late 2012, we launched our Intelligent Building Energy Management System (IBEMS). IBEMS is a dynamic monitoring and targeting package that assists our customers in working out how energy is consumed within their business. The system is made up of sub-meters that interface with powerful software to allow customers to build up a picture of their consumption minute by minute.
The system is supported by energy engineers who will assist the customer in selecting areas of their business to target and work towards reducing their energy consumption. In addition, we have developed relationships with third party suppliers who can offer solutions in different areas of our customers’ businesses. The IBEMS package can be tailored to suit any business, regardless of size. At the beginning of any project, we sit down with the customer and find out their specific requirements, focusing on the areas that are key to their individual business.
For example, SMEs can often make a significant impact on their energy consumption without any major capital investment. We would encourage them to take a look at their general housekeeping first. Slight changes and greater awareness of the areas of significant use can have a big impact on their monthly bills. A targeting and monitoring system like SSE Airtricity’s IBEMS can show these companies where and how they are using energy so that they can adjust accordingly. Our system will also help establish whether larger capital investment is needed.
Companies using data centres have a great opportunity to cut costs through IBEMS. In data centres, energy consumption is caused not only by the server equipment, but also by ancillary devices such as lighting and cooling equipment. Consumption could be reduced by targeting the cooling system with free-cooling solutions. The Irish climate is something data centres can take advantage of, with almost year-round cool temperatures. Although this is not technically a free solution as the system would require fan operation, it would reduce the requirements of cooling coils in the cycle.
Remember, a successful energy efficiency plan is simple and sticks to the five key steps: Commitment from management; establish and assess current energy consumption; set goals and targets; implement change; review and evaluate.