plogg: energy efficiency

for the enterprise

 

Energy costs are a major, often unpredictable, overhead for businesses of all sizes as well as for the public sector. While the benefits of energy monitoring in this respect are often well recognized at the corporate level within large organizations, individual departments and smaller businesses may be unaware of potential cost savings. Yet field studies by the UK-based Carbon Trust show that even SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises) are likely to identify potential savings averaging 12% of overall consumption using a basic smart meter attached to the mains electricity supply.

Energy Optimizers’ Plogg wireless-network metering and logging technology is rather smarter than that, and so its potential benefits are correspondingly greater. While Plogg technology can also be used to monitor total energy consumption across a site or organization, its main focus is flagging up habitual waste at the appliance level — such as computers, peripherals, or even more power hungry heating and cooling equipment left on overnight — by recording a range of energy use parameters in near real time.

• Plogg communicates wirelessly with a host PC, laptop, PDA or smartphone. Once plugged in, devices can be left unattended so that you can conduct an energy audit on selected appliances across one or more sites even while you are busy at another location. Back on site, you can download logs to your laptop or mobile, or simply read off data in real time.

With an appropriate network set-up, energy data can be monitored across multiple sites from a central location, and devices switched on or off remotely. If you operate a number of similar appliances across several sites, you can compare their performance against each other and against specific building conditions. Should an unexpected energy use pattern be observed in one of the connected appliances, routine maintenance can be scheduled ahead of possible failure, reducing the need for expensive emergency call-outs.

Complementing its monitoring functions, Plogg’s management software provides tabular (CSV) output and graphical displays of various energy use parameters so that potential savings can be presented convincingly to those responsible for managing and operating appliances. Similarly, evidence of good or bad performance can be useful in negotiating prices and maintenance contracts with equipment suppliers.

With the inherent flexibility of wireless communications, Plogg networks can be reconfigured and scaled to suit any business or government structure, from a single office to a large multi-site organization.