From gas stations to office buildings

In a context marked by energy uncertainty, a changing international geopolitics that has a direct impact on energy prices, regulatory changes that affect companies' efforts to improve efficiency and the shadow of the climate crisis making headlines, the search for solutions to improve energy management can become a tedious business.  

Companies are currently facing a double challenge: to reduce their costs and improve their energy efficiency in order to reduce their environmental impact, an equation that may seem simple but is not always so if they do not have the right tools.  

To bring you closer to the world of energy management systems, today we want to talk about EMS technology and how it can help you reduce costs and make better use of energy without sacrificing comfort.

Although, let's start at the beginning.....  

What is an EMS and how does it work?

An EMS, or Energy Management System, is an intelligent technology that monitors, analyzes and optimizes the consumption of one or more facilities. In practice, it is a product that, with the right hardware, allows organizations to develop and implement actions to achieve more efficient energy management.  

Its operation is simple and is based on five phases:

1. Data collection: The EMS collects a large amount of data from different types of devices to provide a complete picture of the facility's energy consumption.  

2. Data analysis: Thanks to Artificial Intelligence algorithms and data processing, the information collected is analyzed to identify patterns, trends and possible anomalies.

3. Model building: With the analyzed data, mathematical models are built and automatically adjusted as new data are included. At this point, measures such as turning lights on or off or temperature management in air conditioning systems can be included.

4. Consumption forecasting: Taking into account factors such as weather, seasonality, anomalies or special events, estimate future consumption.

5. Optimization and recommendations: Recommendations and strategies are provided to optimize consumption, identifying changes in energy management with specific actions that maximize efficiency and reduce costs.  

How does EMS work in Smarkia?

The EMS makes predictions of different parameters (ambient temperature, outdoor temperature, electricity tariff, thermal inertia of the building, occupancy, seasonality... among others) and prepares an optimal consumption plan for the following hours according to the results obtained.  

At Smarkia we can boast of having use cases in the Commercial & Industrial field in both small and large commerce, corporate buildings, industry and even soccer stadiums. Yes, yes, you read that right. Moreover, it is a technology transferred by Repsol that had already been previously tested in large projects and that we have improved, achieving the best results, among others, in the management of cold chain and HVAC equipment, and in other functionalities such as the management of photovoltaic panels, batteries and electric vehicles.  

But the best way to understand how it works is to see it in action. That is why, in today's post we share two examples of real cases in which we applied our EMS to revolutionize energy management.

EMS at service stations:

In a service station, a large number of elements and variables come into play that an EMS has to take into account when acting. In this example, we will see how it interacts with all these variables when it comes to managing the loads in the refrigeration chambers where we can find drinks or sweets when we stop to refuel.  

First of all, it will take into account the opening hours which, in a typical service station, can be from 8:00 am to 11:00 pm. This information, together with the statistics on the volume of users received by hours, provides data of interest that the system can cross-check with the data on the price of electricity in advance. Depending on the results of the algorithms, the EMS will manage the different loads to achieve the best possible energy optimization.

With the example of the refrigerated chamber, the load management performed by the EMS would work as follows: knowing in advance that the price of electricity peaks between 14:00 h and 15:00 h, the outside temperature, the occupancy at that time and the minimum and maximum temperature necessary to ensure the quality of the products; it would lower the temperature of the chamber below the minimum conservation around 13:00 h, consuming more at a lower price, and taking advantage of the inertia to maintain an optimum temperature at peak time. In the same way, the EMS will take advantage of the closing time to program the chambers at the maximum possible conservation temperature, consuming less energy and thus making consumption more efficient.

Hot or cold in the office and the concept of user flexibility:

I'm sure you've tried to vary the temperature in your office through the visible thermostats and found that it doesn't respond the way you'd like. Have you wondered why? Chances are there is an EMS at work in that cold ring. And it's a very good example to introduce a concept that comes into play in this system, user flexibility. In other words, the user's ability to set limits on the algorithm when it comes to programming the temperature to achieve greater efficiency.

Depending on the intervention that the user wants to have, the system will be understood to have greater or lesser flexibility. Thus, the greater the flexibility, the greater the capacity of the EMS to manage loads and optimize consumption. In a practical situation: a user who allows the system to manage the temperature of his office between 16º and 30º degrees will be giving a lot of flexibility, since it will be the EMS itself that decides what is most efficient according to various parameters.  

However, if you do not give the system decision capacity and only allow it to act, for example, between 22 and 24 degrees, you will be giving it little flexibility and, consequently, the EMS will have less margin for movement and, therefore, for optimizing consumption.

Why have an EMS in your company?

At Smarkia we are leaders in the implementation of this technology, with which we have managed to reduce energy consumption by up to 40% in cold chains and up to 20% in air conditioning. And yes, in both cases, without altering the comfort of users. But, in addition to the significant cost savings, having our EMS provides other benefits such as:  

• Savings in management time: thanks to #IA algorithms and process automation, EMS works independently of schedules and in real time.
• Greater control over processes: offers greater insight into productivity, stability and processes, among others, through customizable reports.
• Facilitates regulatory compliance: thanks to its customized reports, it allows the collection of data to undertake the necessary improvements to comply with the different energy regulations, such as 50001, among others.
• Perdurability: It has the capacity to adapt to the changes of each organization and installation, independently of the new tools that are included in the process. All this, centralized through the same system.
• Contributes to greater sustainability: the energy savings achieved translate into a reduction of emissions and, therefore, of the carbon footprint of any activity.

Do you want to take your energy management to the next level and benefit from all its advantages? At Smarkia we can help you!

Join the energy (r)evolution.

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