Problem addressed

According to the Climate Change Committee, buildings are responsible for circa 60% of UK electricity consumption. However, there is often a lack of visibility about what energy is actually being used for. Office space can be underutilised by 30-40% on a typical day, so energy is inadvertently wasted despite some areas being completely empty. Metrikus’ real-time energy monitoring solution gives users a complete understanding of their energy consumption, so that steps can be taken to improve efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of buildings.

Solution overview

The Metrikus software platform helps real estate owners, facility managers and occupants understand and optimise their building’s energy usage. With a combination of DC, single-phase and three-phase meters, Metrikus can monitor any circuit up to 500 amps. All of these have optional battery power modes for quick and easy installation.

Using the LoRa wireless protocol, the Metrikus system doesn’t interfere with wireless networks in the building. It also has an extensive range, allowing for hundreds of sensors to be deployed with a single gateway. With this solution in place, companies are able to monitor usage trends from an individual device, to a floor, to an entire building. And this provides granular detail, both real-time and historic, around consumption so that action plans can be developed to improve efficiency.

Alerts and rules available:

• Set bespoke alerting thresholds when energy consumption exceeds expected levels.
• Create customisable rules to notify key staff members by email/SMS.
• Track current and previous alerts for better alert management.

Real-time heatmaps and dials available:

• Log into the platform to get a complete overview of a current environment.
• Create a heatmap for any live data feed to identify unusual behaviour.
• Build responsive indicators allowing staff to immediately recognise assets that are performing abnormally and are at risk of failure.

Metrikus can also combine their energy monitoring solution with occupancy and indoor air quality monitoring solutions, to identify further opportunities for reducing consumption.

Results vary from company to company, but this solution tends to deliver at least a 5% improvement in energy efficiency. For large buildings, this translates to a transformative impact on overall emissions.

Cost Benefit

The Metrikus software costs on average 2p per square foot annually. By significantly reducing consumption, real-time energy monitoring can provide a significant return on investment. With the right data in their hands, companies can immediately identify opportunities to save money, quickly outweighing the initial installation cost. To better understand the exact cost for a specific building(s), please contact Metrikus.

Case study

Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU):

By connecting to the building management system (BMS), Metrikus were able to pull data from the energy meters in the Business School. They also deployed footfall counters, so that occupancy data could be overlaid against energy data. MMU was immediately able to see that a high amount of energy was being used irrespective of the occupancy levels. As a result of this data, they decided to reduce operational hours and stagger BMS settings in line with footfall. This quickly helped them to significantly reduce their carbon emissions, an important step in reaching their sustainability goals.