During the winter season, it is a given that your commercial buildings consume more energy because of shorter days, increased use of lighting and heating systems. In commercial buildings, Heating, Ventilation and Air-conditioning (HVAC) as well as lighting are the biggest energy consumers as per EPA. As a commercial business owner or property manager, you might be struggling with running your business and paying the utility bills, especially in these trying times of COVID-19. Finding out how much energy your building systems are using can help you with useful information on how to mitigate energy consumption, reduce energy costs and increase the net profitability. This is where building analytics services come to the rescue.
So what is building analytics?
Building analytics services provide you with valuable insights and data pertaining to your building systems such as lighting, heating, temperature, humidity, automation building system and so on. It facilitates you to make improved and faster building management decisions, resulting in a better energy saving building and reduced carbon footprint.
In winter, your commercial building has higher energy consumption, and without building analytics services, it becomes harder to track and identify how energy is being used. In addition, large commercial buildings contain a plethora of data within their myriad of systems and equipment. However, all this data is useless if there is no analytical system to track, monitor and utilize those to implement actions that can improve the overall building system.
Although many progressive business owners have turned to Building Automation System to get better control over their various building systems, the system still has some shortcomings. For instance, not having a way to store data, set benchmark performance and so on are issues of a building automation system without the back up of building analytics services. A-TECH Engineering Ltd. provides building analytics services in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada that augment your Building Automation System and provide important data and insights pertaining to the various building systems. This facilitates business owners and building operators to observe and track the systems minutely in real-time, increase operational efficiency, reduce waste while ensuring occupants’ comfort.
How building analytics can help reduce energy cost in winter?
Winter can wreak havoc on your utility bills, especially when you have businesses operating in climate as harsh as that in Canada. It is your HVAC system that pulls most of the work to keep the building running as well as provide comfort to the occupants. In addition, the HVAC is also a critical component that affects air quality in your building, which is now more important than ever in the time of covid-19. Hence, it is imperative to ensure its servicing and maintenance is carried out regularly to prevent nasty interruptions.
With building analytics services, you can easily optimize your HVAC performance by monitoring it acutely, getting insights on its usage, identifying sources of inefficiencies and making corrective actions faster. For example, with the internet of things – IoT solutions, combined with building analytics services, it is possible to get predictive analysis which can tell you of impending problems and save you major repair costs and reduce downtime.
In addition, having building analytics technology gives you remote access building systems data at all times to be monitored and analysed efficiently. For HVAC systems, this monitoring system measures and analyzes how frequently the system is running, how fast set points are met as well as when the building has occupants inside. For instance, your HVAC system may have a refrigerant leak due to which it is not performing optimally and on top of that wasting precious energy. Using data analytics, you can identify the system error and take corrective measures to rectify the problem sooner. This way, building analytics can be translated into actions that drive HVAC optimization, increase lifespan, reduce energy cost, and at the same time enhance the comfort of the building users.
Building analytics systems are a vast analytical tool that encompasses not only data related to your HVAC system but also lighting, automation systems, meters, alarms and so on providing you with insightful information that you can leverage to reduce energy consumption and maximize building efficiency. For example, during the winter period, due to shorter days, the lighting system can wreak up your electricity bills especially in commercial buildings. With data analytics, you can get real-time data on energy use, find out discrepancies and take actions to optimize use of lighting and lower energy costs.
Building analytics services can be implemented in any kind of industries – be it large commercial buildings, hotels and resorts, shopping malls, apartment complexes, or industrial facilities.
A-TECH Engineering Ltd provides building analytics services in Toronto as well as GTA and major cities in Canada that help you better manage your building facility and reduce energy costs while ensuring building efficiency. Connect with an A-TECH team member to discover your building’s potential savings.