In these times of economic uncertainty, climate emergencies and concern about staff well-being, any opportunity for businesses to reduce costs, improve environmental efficiency and provide positive impacts on the mental health of our employees is certainly welcome. One way to do this is to take advantage of a technology that can optimise your building energy performance and as a result reduce your energy use – a building energy management system (BEMS).
A BEMS is essentially a smart computer system that looks at the energy use patterns in your building and figures out smarter ways to do things.
It could be part of a wider building management system that handles all the automated aspects of your building, such as energy, security and fire systems. Or it may simply handle the energy side of things – such as lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC).
The systems are typically designed for large buildings such as factories and warehouses or for organisations that have multiple buildings spread around an area, such as health trusts or local authorities. However small businesses can also benefit with mini-BEMs for single or smaller buildings.
A BEMS works by connecting a central computer to your building’s energy components. This sends and receives information so it can optimise energy use. Your system could be set to collect information from boiler flow and return temperature sensors, internal and external temperature sensors, occupancy sensors, humidity sensors and light sensors. And this is valuable information.
It can be used for real-time monitoring and control of buildings and energy appliances – and as it’s an internet-based system, this monitoring and control can be done from anywhere via a computer, tablet or smart phone. Handy when a piece of equipment fails or shows that its in need of maintenance.
Another major benefit is that you can build up a historic picture of energy use in your building or buildings to spot performance issues and savings opportunities. For example, you can check how your building is performing when compared to similar buildings, or across different time periods.
In addition to energy savings, there are well-being benefits too.
A BEMS can be adapted to suit the needs of the people in your business. For example, you could include individual set point adjusters which allow occupants to vary the degree of temperature control. This is particularly beneficial to the well-being of your staff. A recent report identified that temperature was one of the most important factors in an ideal workplace.
BEMS are undoubtedly a smarter way to save money, improve environmental performance and look after the wellbeing and productivity of your staff.
If you would like to find out more about implementing this type of technology in your business, please remember we have a team of friendly advisors and lots more free resources here to help you. If you’re a Scottish SME, we can provide you with a free assessment to identify opportunities, and we can also provide support and interest-free loans to help you turn these opportunities into savings.
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