Building managers require simple visible access to their building’s data if we are to improve the energy performance of our buildings, Synapsys Solutions has said.
The company believes that by being able to see ongoing, up-to-date information on one screen, building managers will be able to make the necessary changes to improve their building’s performance in both the short- and the long-term and achieve its optimum performance.
Buildings produce a lot of data from various sources, such as metering systems and Building Management Systems (BMS), but bringing all this information together so that it can be effectively analysed is not always straightforward. An Energy Management System (EMS) collects data from a building using an energy monitoring system, and EMS functionality has been added to many BMSs, which allows the collected data to be displayed on charts of the user’s preference so that consumption trends can be spotted easily and acted upon. But with new environmental targets now in place, such as the UK government’s commitment to meet a net zero carbon emissions target by 2050, building managers will need even more control than what an EMS can provide.
Energy Building Information Software (EBIS), such as SIP Insight EBIS from Synapsys Solutions, goes beyond what you would expect from a traditional EMS. Not only can EBIS provide users with all the basic information you would expect from an EMS, it displays BMS points and maps these points against associated energy data points collected from meters. This extra functionality enables users to display meter values and consumption with the option to display related BMS values and status at the same time or overlay on an energy graph.
Efficiency issues can be highlighted by identifying energy consumption and occupancy trends and mapping them against the status and run-time hours of the building’s plant. The system can also be quickly and easily scaled up or down as required. This flexibility allows users to monitor one part of a building, a whole building, an entire campus or multiple sites across a country for example, without being tied to one building or specific location.
Andy Devine, Technical Director of Synapsys Solutions, said: “We all want things to be simple, and EBIS has been designed to be a simple and easy to use solution with a number of tools to make your building’s data easier to understand, correlate and analyse. When a building’s data is presented in a clear and concise format the building manager can view the building’s performance over a selected time period and make the necessary changes to improve the building’s energy performance.”