Affordable accurate energy insights.
The construction business is changing quickly. Reducing environmental impacts and improving energy efficiency are becoming increasingly important. Compliance with ISO standards is no longer just a competitive advantage but an absolute must to be considered for certain clients or projects. Monitoring and controlling energy consumption on construction sites not only has the advantage that ISO standards are met, it also makes construction companies more energy efficient and saves them money.
Easy, affordable energy monitoring complying with ISO standards.
Major construction companies are typically ISO 14001 certified already. ISO 14001 relates to environmental management and certified construction companies map and report on the energy consumption of all their buildings, but also their various construction sites. However, this is sometimes still done in a very archaic way with data manually recorded on site. To record meter readings, someone has to physically visit hundreds of construction sites every month. This process is costly, time-consuming and a significant source of error. To simplify this process, construction entities can use the Smappee ecosystem.
Smappee’s modular energy management system not only monitors energy consumption but can also control energy flows.
Primary benefits of the Smappee system are the flexible and simple modular installation, compatibility with any distribution and circuit breaker board, its attractive pricing and low total cost of ownership. Once the Smappee units are installed at every construction site, energy managers can use the Smappee Dashboard to capture energy data. The Dashboard reports on the energy consumption of all the different construction sites through one centralized tool.
Saving energy costs and peak shaving.
Using Smappee, construction companies can get more granular data – mapping the specific consumption of power-heavy equipment such as tower cranes and large machines, for example. Smappee may also record the energy used for heating and lighting of the site buildings, shipping containers and similar structures. The derived energy insights can be used to intervene and adjust demand wherever necessary. For instance, data may be used to accurately assess site consumption for more accurate sizing of generator equipment. By avoiding the installation of an over-sized genset, companies benefitting from the Smappee system can avoid unnecessary equipment costs. Based on the Smappee data they can also check whether heating and lighting is actually being switched off when there is nobody on site.
In many cases, effective monitoring and visualization of energy consumption data also helps to raise awareness and actually leads to positive changes in energy usage behavior. In this way construction companies can use energy much more efficiently and thus make considerable savings on energy expenditure.
Reliable communication and remote configuration.
The Smappee ecosystem is also equipped with a 3G/4G communication module. It can wirelessly transfer data from the Smappee Genius in real-time to the Smappee Dashboard. This is very useful in places such as construction sites where existing data network infrastructure is absent. An additional advantage of this instant communications capability is that it supports immediate verification of the Smappee equipment and ensures the correct installation.
If installation errors are detected, there is no requirement for an engineer to go to the site. Instead, the correct the configuration can be arranged remotely from the Dashboard.
Flexible, future-proof solution.
When considering energy monitoring investments, the benefits of a modular system cannot be underestimated. The ability to make changes or expand the system in a straightforward and cost-effective way are a key feature of Smappee technology.
Initially, construction companies can use a basic set-up – comprising of a Smappee Genius, coupled with a Smappee Power Box and a Smappee CT Hub – to execute total energy metering.
Subsequently, this set-up can easily be expanded with additional CT Hubs as more submetering is needed or where different electrical distribution boards on a site are physically separated by a considerable distance. In addition, looking ahead, ISO 50001 will become increasingly important for construction companies.
In conclusion, the Smappee ecosystem offers construction companies an affordable, accurate and reliable sub- metering solution that can be installed at any construction site to monitor energy flows and offering the energy data needed to comply with ISO 14001. Furthermore, if construction companies plan to expand on their energy measurement in the future or want to map water consumption in the context of ISO 50001, they can easily do so by making a few simple additions to the existing modular set-up. Thanks to clear data visualization within the Smappee Dashboard, energy use insights are easily derived from the site data, allowing construction companies to be more energy efficient and making significant savings on costs in the process.
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