Like so many sectors before them (telecom, mobility, hospitality…), utilities are facing mounting pressures on their traditional business model. These driving forces are coming from all directions: shrinking margins due to increased supply from distributed energy resources (DERs) like solar, microgrids, batteries etc., fresh competition from new market entrants from Google to Drift, changing customer […]
Category: Blog
Building Automation vs Energy Management Software [INFOGRAPHIC]
Before investing in the right technology for your building or portfolio, it’s important to understand how energy management systems and building automation systems are used in many buildings to improve operations and minimise energy spend. One thing we realised in our exchanges with hundreds of energy professionals is that the terms EMS and BMS / […]
Closing the Building Energy Performance Gap [GUIDE]
Green building certifications are essential in meeting global climate targets, but here’s the issue: certifications like BREEAM and LEED refer to the intended energy performance of a building, in the context of its design and construction stages. But happens once that building is occupied? The building’s energy performance on paper starts to look very different […]
Lumens as a Service: A Trillion Dollar Business Model?
The transition to low-cost, highly efficient clean energy technology is being accelerated by an accompanying revolution in innovative business models to deploy that technology. As with other similar industry shifts, the fundamental drivers are sound economics combined with the right business model. You’ve no doubt heard of Software as a Service (SaaS) and its advantages […]
EP100: Why Energy Productivity is the New Efficiency [WEBINAR]
Time to face facts: the term “energy efficiency” simply isn’t sexy. Energy manager readers of this blog know it better than anyone else: uttering this bland phrase generates skeptical squints, a few eyerolls, or at best, a half-hearted shrug among colleagues and customers alike. So why is energy efficiency met with such indifference? And what can be done […]
5 Strategies to Optimise Building Performance
These days, facility operators and energy managers have a lot on their plates. Keeping up with rapidly evolving building automation technology, constantly changing occupant expectations and best industry practices and standards is getting increasingly difficult. On top of that, there is the ubiquity and security risk of data coming from the ever-expanding Internet of Things, requiring a new set […]
Auditing Buildings for Thermal Comfort
There are 6 variables that drive an occupant’s thermal comfort: air temperature surface temperature humidity clothing insulation activity level (metabolic heat) air velocity The problem? These factors simply don’t tell the full story behind the maintenance involved in optimising temperature in office buildings, commercial buildings, primary schools or university campuses. Thermal comfort depends on other factors as […]
Understanding P272: Your Smart Meter Questions Answered
As of 1st April 2017, the energy regulation P272 has come into force in the United Kingdom. Officially titled the Ofgem Balancing Settlement Code, this regulation has fundamentally changed the way more than 150,000 businesses in the UK are billed for their electricity use. All told, P272 represents a major step in the nationwide smart […]
Where Do ESCOs Fit in the Demand Response Value Chain?
Demand response programs are opening up new opportunities for ESCOs to play a significant role in the operation and optimisation of energy grids. After all, ESCOs have a unique competitive advantage: they can combine their energy management expertise with granular customer insights to help reduce or shift their clients’ energy usage during peak periods in response to time-based tariffs […]
How to Find Demand Response Flexibility in Any Business [INFOGRAPHIC]
A common myth among energy managers, operations engineers and process managers is that their operations are too small, specific or unique to be able to participate in demand-side response (DSR) programs. Good news: as demand-side management technologies advance and stakeholders push to open up this new market, more players (including smaller ones) are able to participate. That means […]