ENERGY MONITORING SPECIALISTS
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Case Studies
Sub-metering Facilitates 45%
Savings on Lighting Costs in
Automotive Parts facility
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Energy Efficiency in the Automotive Industry
The automotive industry is known for its diverse range of products, including cars and ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles). As expected, the service and spare parts support for such an extensive product line presents a significant challenge, requiring a large and sophisticated operation to maintain efficiency.
One such facility, located in the Midlands, operates a vast parts warehouse covering 13,000 sq metres and processes around 300 consignments daily. The combined office and warehouse space employs 100s of people and must provide a carefully controlled environment to ensure that valuable parts inventory remains in top condition.
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The Solution
Managing energy costs and consumption efficiently is a key priority, as is maintaining the smallest possible carbon footprint in line with sustainability goals. The Facilities Manager at the site emphasises the importance of having accurate data to drive decisions and improve efficiency.​​​​​​​​​​​
"The starting point is good information," they state. To achieve this, Elcomponent was engaged to supply a sub-metering system covering all major electrical loads. The MeterRing MM package was installed by electrical contractors, and it quickly delivered results by identifying areas where consumption could be reduced. "Initially, it was a matter of good housekeeping really," the Facilities Manager reports. "We cut out the waste and ensured best practice..."
A prime example of good housekeeping was the significant reduction in energy, cost, and carbon emissions achieved by optimising yard lighting. Security and operational requirements meant that the area had to be adequately lit at all times, but metering data confirmed that during winter months, the cost of doing so was close to £800 per month. By carefully assessing the required light levels and adjusting the lighting controls, improvements were made without compromising operations. This resulted in savings of almost 45 per cent – over £2,000 in one year.
The entire site is now undergoing assessment for an improved lighting scheme, with the sub-metering package playing a crucial role in evaluating effectiveness. While the yard lighting project was a no-cost/low-cost initiative, a site-wide scheme will involve replacing luminaires and incorporating new technology.
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Client Feedback
"This time we need the metering to evaluate the pilot installations to make sure the paybacks and savings match our projections. We like to make decisions based on facts wherever possible!"
We couldn't agree more.
Energy management systems for a leading UK university
The University based in London SAVES 25% with Elcomponent Sub-metering
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The University is a major seat of learning with over 25000 students and 2,500 full-time members of staff. It comprises four main campus locations.
With over 170 buildings from listed structures to the brand-new at the campus, energy and carbon management is a major challenge, but the university continues to score highly for green credentials. The university implemented its Carbon Management Plan in 2008, and is on target to reduce emissions by 35% via a combination of focused investment and excellent management.
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Fundamental to the strategy is the implementation of a comprehensive automatic sub-metering system across all three utilities. This provides half-hour data on both tariff and sub-meters, and can be configured to drive realtime Building Energy Dashboard Displays.
This was demonstrated very clearly when a major lighting and air handling upgrade was carried out at one of the university's buildings. Initial performance was good, but a careful evaluation of the sub-meter data showed that some adjustments were needed, which once implemented resulted in a 25% drop in electricity usage. This equated to approximately 320,000 kWh over a year, or around 168 tons of CO2.
According to the Energy Manager...
"It's essential for a number of reasons that the detailed consumption data which the system provides is readily available in a clear and concise form. One of those reasons is that it is crucial for the evaluation of new energy efficient plant and equipment - of which there is
much - to ensure the projected savings are being achieved."
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Commercial Property owner
achieves 50% energy savings
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​​​​Commercial Property Owner Achieves 50% Energy Savings with Elcomponent's Energy Management Sub-Metering System
Elcomponent's helps Commercial Property Owner make significant energy savings in its buildings' carbon footprints, enabling them to pass financial savings on to tenants.
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THE CLIENTS ENERGY MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENT...
The client is a family-owned commercial property company operating throughout the UK
The company centres its business on the needs of occupiers with the aim of delivering property as a service that contributes to the success of the organisations it supplies. That service includes a determination to reduce energy and the carbon footprint of its property portfolio, and with this in mind the client engaged Elcomponent to provide an automatic metering package (a complete energy management solution) to identify where energy savings could be made. The goal was to reduce the utility bills and pass the energy savings on to those businesses occupying the properties - the clients customers.
The solution
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The company invited Elcomponent to provide remote utility monitoring equipment for two of their office complexes where water, gas, electricity energy metering was required, The system monitors all the meters centrally from the clients Head Office. As a result of the measures implemented, the client reported that the client has seen a sustained reduction in carbon emissions, which are now 50% what they were 5 years ago. This has translated into annual energy savings of £25,000 in the building's energy bills. This location was also part of the water saving initiative, and it achieved an incredible 54% reduction in water use, a saving of £1764 in the annual water bill, the equivalent of 70,000 fewer WC flushes!
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Elcomponent engineer comments...
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"The system was quite a challenge - our software fitted the bill perfectly, but we had a basement level oil tank to deal with as well as some pit installed water meters outside the buildings. However our combination of radio and LAN-based data collection made it possible to deliver a working package at a very competitive price, allowing the client to make some significant energy and cost savings."
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