Overview

In most high-rise office and apartment buildings, utility usage is monitored and billed for the entire building. Tenants are typically billed for their utility usage on a per square foot basis as part of their rent or as a proportion of the common costs. This method of allocating usage does not encourage tenants to be more efficient in their energy use since they are not billed based on their actual consumption.

College campuses and industrial facilities, which are often metered centrally, lack the necessary information to properly allocate usage costs to departments, functions or manufactured product lines. Without the ability to allocate costs based on actual consumption, today’s facilities managers struggle to implement successful energy management programs and the ability of a company to accurately determine the profitability of specific products or functions is severely limited. Problems are:

• Energy costs are rising
• Current utility cost allocation methods do not encourage accountability for usage – there is no incentive for individuals to conserve energy
• No good methods for determining if energy saving procedures and policies are being followed
• No means to determine if faulty equipment is resulting in increased energy usage
• Energy retrofit projects are traditionally very disruptive to building occupants and business operations
• Many energy retrofit projects either never achieve projected pay-backs or fail to sustain initial savings due to ineffective means of monitoring and verifying energy savings

Solution

Spinwave’s wireless mesh sensor networks provide a non-intrusive, easy-to-install solution for reducing utility costs through accountability metering. Using Spinwave pulse counters as part of a complete wireless mesh sensor network; facility managers can easily assign utility costs to users within a building or organization and thus create a level of accountability for consumption. The low overall installed cost of a Spinwave wireless mesh sensor network makes it easy to justify the use of more data points in order to better understand and control energy consumption in commercial office buildings, college campuses, shopping malls, strip malls and other multi-unit buildings such as condominiums and apartment complexes.

• Enables program to sub-meter energy usage and allocate utility costs
• Plays a key role in monitoring environmental conditions in order to get a clear picture of comfort levels, where energy is being used, where energy can be saved and whether or not existing energy conservation procedures are being followed
• Non-invasive installation process means no inconvenience to occupants or disruption of business operations
• Flexible, scalable solution makes for quick and easy system expansion
• Integrates with virtually any building automation system
• Protects return on investment of energy retrofit projects
• Ensures a comfortable and healthy environment for building occupants

» Download the Sub-Metering solution paper ...

Example

Spinwave's wireless pulse counter connects to the pulse output of gas, water and electricity meters. The pulse counter accumulates meter pulses and transmits the meter data wirelessly to a BACnet, LON or Modbus gateway or to a PC. Pulse counters can be installed within buildings or outdoors inside weatherproof enclosures. Pulse counters can be either battery-powered or line-powered. Repeaters significantly extend the range of a wireless network and allow Spinwave's wireless devices to form an extremely robust self-healing mesh network.