Energy consumption monitoring is the key energy management tool. It provides essential information on where and when energy is consumed in all types of businesses and organisations and is essential for achieving energy efficiency goals.
Energy consumption monitoring can be categorised as follows:
- Initial monitoring/data collection in order to identify areas with high energy consumption.
- Monitoring in order to determine load profiles (where and when energy is consumed);
- Knowing when electricity is consumed can be important, as tariffs can vary throughout the day – this information is useful for planning when to use energy and/or the installation of a PV system to cover some of the electricity needs.
- Ongoing monitoring in order to enable the effective management of energy consumption:
- Appropriate displays can inform staff which equipment consumes a lot of energy and raise awareness of the issue.
- Data can be collected and analysed using computer software.
Example of an energy consumption data collection system with computer interface.
Monitoring equipment is available for equipment powered by electricity, gas, liquid fuels, etc. All types of energy consumption should be monitored.