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High-End Energy-Efficient Private Residence
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In an upscale private residence, any losses will be found quickly with this
whole house AND individual branch-circuit monitoring. Any kind of "smart house" with geothermal systems, heat recovery,
thermal storage,
photovoltaic systems, chlorination systems or programmed cycles needs "watchdog" monitoring to
detect and correct problems while warranties
are still in effect, and long afterwards. It is standard in
certain luxury models. If your architect is not
familiar with this, you might want to find another.
Residential high-density submetering benefits fit one of two basic models. In "utilities included"
situations it provides accountability and henceforth, conservation. In "individually metered (by utility)"
scenarios, the savings result from bulk purchase and elimination of individual "customer charges"
(meter rentals).
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Hotel/Motel Property Management System - WITH UTILITIES INCLUDED WITH ROOM
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Most hotel guests leave items turned on to discourage intrusion. Also there is no additional cost to keep a room warm or cool for a pleasant return at the end of the day. If you multiply this three or four dollars by 200 rooms at 80% occupancy by 365 days per year you are looking at a quarter of a million dollars lost! Does an employee making this much need a manager? You bet! What if you could spend $10,000 one time for a permanent manager that could save you $25,000 each year. Would you do it? The hospitality industry has traditionally replaced lighting fixtures in an effort to reduce costs. This provides only a fraction of the possible savings compared to billing guests for itemized usage. See http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/hotels/energy_efficiency/ Interfaces directly with hotel/motel PMS for guest folio insertion (Execu/Tech, VisualMatrix, RentManager(tm). |
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Apartment/Condo/Public Housing - WITH UTILITIES INCLUDED IN RENT
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Many existing condominium and apartment structures still rely exclusively upon the master utility meter installed during initial construction. When utilities are included with the rent, where is the incentive for the individual tenant to turn out that unnecessary light or AC unit when leaving for the day? The cost of operating that unit is spread out amongst his fellow tenants, so his personal increase is small. It is the responsible tenant who suffers, paying for more power than he consumes. |
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Apartment/Condo/Public Housing - WITH INDIVIDUAL UTILITY-OWNED METERS
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Like homeowners, many apartment residents contract individually with the local utility as "customers of record". They must pay deposits, wait for service connect/disconnect and pay a monthly "customer charge" of about $12 to $20, whether or not they use any power at all. They pay the highest kwh rate that the utility is allowed to charge. This is about 12 cents per kwh in Florida. If master demand metering is available the rate is considerably lower, about 7 cents per kwh, depending on time of use and peak demand. There is only one customer charge. This would pay for the necessary submetering equipment for each apartment in a year. Then the rate savings can begin for all residents.
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Commercial Use
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Businesses with tenants can benefit using the two basic models
described in the Residential section. Businesses also can benefit from
demand abatement and equipment monitoring.
They often are penalized when they use too much at any one time or exceed power factor limits. By monitoring
branch circuits to reduce demand
concurrency, your bill can be cut in half! Perform quick analyses at any time!
By detecting impending failures, costly repairs and downtime can be
averted. This is not expensive or difficult to do with microMeter.
In fact, minor to moderate power factor issues can be improved in
real time by simply reversing plugs or moving certain appliances to a different circuit and watching the displayed values change. This must be done on all circuits simultaneously so one small improvement on one branch doesn't make things worse on another. See the technical literature for details on the technique.
This is much more effective than one large fixed-size capacitor added at your service drop.
Some of the best locations have been grocery stores.
By providing a better handle on energy use, metering and monitoring equipment can open up a whole
new world in the realm of
energy management.
Start saving money today!
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