Switch on to wireless energy management and switch off rising HVAC costs, says Ivan McKeever.
A hastily put together TV advert in the 1970s warned people to 'switch off some power - NOW'. While we're not facing widespread blackouts just yet, government reports have suggested that by 2017 there will be power cuts of around 3,000 megawatt hours per year. So, does the 40 year-old public information film still ring true?
The answer is: yes. Energy costs have risen by 25 per cent in the last three years and government legislation is set to increase carbon tax for UK businesses even further. If you combine recent announcements by major suppliers of their intention to ramp up energy prices, the only viable solution is to reduce energy usage - suddenly the 1970s 'switch off' message starts to make perfect sense.
Currently, 80 per cent of all buildings in the UK have no energy management systems in place. In essence, heating, ventilating and air conditioning units across multi-building operations are being switched on and left to run without any strategy in place to monitor, measure and control when and why they're being used.
What's more, a recent survey by T-Systems - the IT company - has found that only 37 per cent of businesses consider investment in energy efficiency to be a priority for their company, down from one half when the Carbon Reduction Commitment
(CRC) was launched last year.
It's clear that businesses have the desire to save energy, but in the current economic climate they remain cautious about spending money on effective ways of reducing energy consumption.
So how can we solve the problem? The most cost-effective way to deal with this is by retro-fitting a wireless system, which reduces energy usage and strips out unnecessary cost from a business/organisation that has a large property portfolio.
The technology intelligently manages energy usage, including lighting, air conditioning and heating. And, unlike conventional wired systems, wireless building energy management systems (BEMS) provide simple, remote access to control settings at any site and instant reporting of the system's performance and business critical alarm monitoring.
In isolation, BEMS can work hard for a company in managing its energy usage. But, when combined with a central control function the numbers begin to add up. In May 2011, WEMSinternational opened its first energy centre. This manages energy usage in over 2,000 of its clients' buildings by controlling the wireless building energy management systems, which are installed in each site.
Wireless building energy management systems were principally designed to address the main issues commonly experienced with conventional wired systems.
· The existing systems are complex. Once the BEMS has been installed, a qualified engineer is required if a company wants to manage the equipment.
· Conventional systems are messy to install as they require wiring and cabling to be fitted into the fabric of the building, which can be extremely costly and time consuming. In 2007, WEMSinternational launched what we claim is the first wireless building energy management system. The company's aim was to overcome these obstacles.
It concluded that the best way to achieve this was by using the internet and creating a totally wireless system that would:
· Reduce the amount of wiring and cabling required
· Make it easy to use 24/7 from any location, cutting out the need for expensive engineering assistance. Introducing a new product onto the market can create a variety of obstacles. The greatest hurdle in developing this type of technology was demonstrating that wireless transmitted signals can operate as effectively and securely as wired signals.
Wired technology enables large chunks of information to be sent at any one time. The breakthrough came when we compressed that information into much smaller elements, allowing it to be sent wirelessly.
A second challenge was addressing the range of wireless transmission. The step change came when the system moved to a new radio frequency and began using transmission technology which has a two kilometre range, without losing the integrity of what's being transmitted. As a result, WEMSinternational has gained European approval and a global license and patent. This allowed the company to produce a product that works on a specific radio frequency and transmission protocol which does not interfere with other devices.
So, what makes wireless building energy management systems worth switching to? Using the latest technology and monitoring techniques, companies can achieve typical energy savings of between 15 and 30 per cent, while also reducing their CO
2 emissions with a typical return on investment of 12 months. With certain sectors, such as retail, reporting typical energy bills of between £10 and 40 million per annum, the cost savings are considerable.
The benefits don't stop there. Wireless devices can be installed within three to four days compared to several weeks for conventional wired BEMS - slashing installation costs by 40 per cent. They also cause little disruption to the fabric of the building, are implemented quickly and are much cheaper to install than conventional wired systems. By using the internet and creating a wireless system, there's a significant reduction in the amount of wiring and cabling required and the technology is easier to operate, removing engineering assistance expenses.
The proof is in the pudding. WEMSinternational is helping to reduce energy usage for a national chain of health clubs by 19 per cent. The system is being installed at all 163 sites and the club will see a full payback in 18 months. This equates to 7,102 tonnes of CO
2 being saved every month, which is equivalent to the weight of 71,020 spinning bikes.
• Ivan McKeever is a director of WEMSinternational