Kas Mohammed from Schneider Electric writes on using IoT energy management systems to create commercial buildings of the future

USING IOT ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS TO CREATE COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS OF THE FUTURE

Public awareness of global warming is ever-increasing, with more individuals taking steps to decrease their carbon footprint, writes Kas Mohammed, VP of Digital Energy at Schneider Electric. With one degree of global warming, we are already seeing the consequences of our energy inefficiency, in the form of more extreme weather and rising sea levels.

According to the IPCC, The new generation of energy even if the current management systems harnesses the global environmental benefits of connected technology. This policies are met, it is is achieved through a variety of IoT predicted that global enabled devices modelled on a single warming will rise by online platform, which ultimately almost four degrees provides heightened visibility into by 2100, compared the entire infrastructure from a web to pre-industrial levels. Whilst this is a interface. The volume and variety of data Kas Mohammed, of Digital Energy VP at significant improvement from the predicted effects without any action, it remains points collected allows for in-depth, holistic analysis of an entire electrical Schneider Electric considerably above the two degrees infrastructure, rather than individual regarded as the tipping point at which assets or isolated systems. we will see irreversible effects, including Data is collected in terms of: severe heatwaves and droughts, and coastal flooding. • Energy consumption With cities accounting for 80% of the world’s energy consumption, and buildings • • Power quality Temperature Electrical infrastructures Ensuring efficient operations being the largest contributor, it is clear • WAGES in buildings are Large facilities will usually contain a range that we need to decarbonise our urban • Oil levels complex by nature of critical assets such as servers, medical environments on more than an individual • Demand/usage equipment, CCTV, lifts, fire systems, lab scale. Commercial and industrial scale equipment and many more. These tend to change is needed urgently in order to Using trends, heat maps, benchmarking be power intensive and sensitive to power mitigate these risks. and forecasting, amongst other quality disturbances. Whilst we are seeing a rise in methods, to analyse this data gives full Power quality disturbances come about sustainable technology, zero carbon cities visibility into system performance and when the electrical waveform supplied is not must be the end goal we are working opportunities for optimisation. smooth but rather suffers from harmonics, towards. An entire sustainable city Real-time monitoring and tracking voltage sags and swells or spikes. These sounds daunting, but, like any seemingly impossible task, we must first break it down and tackle the major issues. Looking not only provides event alarms related to benchmarking and compliance but also the trends leading up to these events, “Using trends, heat maps, may cause noticeable faults or failures in the assets, but more commonly they will slowly degrade the equipment and increase specifically at buildings, we must address allowing for predictability in the case of benchmarking its electrical consumption. The effect of the way we use and manage our electrical infrastructure and set KPIs to reduce recurrence. If an alarm is identified on a particular system, it is also possible to look and this on the sustainability of a building is not solely caused by the unnecessary consumption, particularly within those at a virtual single line diagram inclusive forecasting increase in power consumption, but also which are large and critical. Electrical infrastructures in buildings are complex by nature and require some of data readings to determine the causes upstream and consequences downstream of the event. gives full visibility the lowering of design life, which can result in premature failure and replacement of equipment, leading to an increase of level of intelligence to function efficiently. into system electrical waste in landfill. In order to monitor and maintain this infrastructure within large and critical Decentralised performance Sub-optimal power quality will also cause an increase in unusable reactive facilities, an energy management system, ranging from high level metering to more comprehensive solutions, is necessary. As with any effective system, total monitoring With the current needs for decentralisation and remote working, and opportunities for power, brought about by a phase shift between current and voltage waveforms. This unusable reactive power is incorporated in the total kWh charge on an output is greater than that of the individual it is not just logical, but necessary to optimisation.” energy bill and may also incur an additional parts. The key to driving greater results and be able to effectively monitor electrical fee if the root cause is traced back to the efficiencies lies in creating higher levels of infrastructure regardless of proximity. facility internally. Identifying these issues communication, simplifying management With IoT energy management systems and acting on them promptly will minimise and maintaining supply. it is possible to monitor and/or control consumption and pinpointing the root assets and systems from a web cause will allow for corrective equipment to Harnessing the benefits interface, removing the need for physical intervention and on-site presence. be installed at an optimal location. With advanced reporting options one can of the IoT If an event has occurred on a system, it can be located and isolated through the see a clear summary of system performance and if events have likely occurred due to With an increase in the data collection web platform. This allows a maintenance issues within or outside of the facility. In the methods and comprehensive analytics, there team to fix the issue more efficiently, case of an internal cause it is easy to see the is now an opportunity for energy management potentially reducing consumption source of the disturbance and its financial systems to drive hyper-efficiency, empowering through preventing malfunctions such and operational impacts. facility owners with choices that benefit as overheating by minimising the time to both their facilities and the environment. interact with the system. Schneider Electric, se.com