Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS)
Key use for commercial buildings in terms of energy efficiency has evolved in the years after the introduction of the BMS: building energy management systems.
BEMS is a little more advanced energy management system for business buildings, yet it is quite like BMS. BEMS provides monitoring and information specifically focused on systems involving energy use and demand that facilities managers can then act on to create savings. A BMS provides the ability to monitor and control all systems centrally; a BMS provides monitoring and information specifically focused on systems involving energy use and demand that facilities managers can then act on to create savings.
For example, if a utility initiates a demand response event, a BEMS may receive the utility’s external signal and respond by sending control instructions to building systems. BEMS may command lights to dim in specific locations, raise the temperature set point, and/or switch from utility production to a battery storage system to minimize overall load. BEMS may also monitor, aggregate, and analyse data at a fundamental level to guide logic-controlled reactions. Despite its use, BEMS are still predominantly utilized in a reactive way to resolve problems after they have occurred. Organizations seldom utilize them in such a manner that they may be used to anticipate and improve future building performance.
BEMS is a better option for new construction than BMS because of its more extensive capability. The future of building energy management, on the other hand, is moving away from conventional systems and toward more creative IoT-based energy management platforms.
Here are three examples based on BEMS,
1. Data centre and office building CLP (Hong Kong, China)
Context:
· CLP operates a data centre and office with over 1000 people (Sham Shio Po Site).
· Traditionally, facilities management had to rely on engineers being onsite to manage the HVAC system and other major facilities and BMS alone does not provide enough data to take preventive action
Project description & objectives
· CLP Building Scope was deployed to prevent device and facilities faults through analytics from the current BMS
· Investment costs were USD $15,000 in the first year (2018).
· Partners and partnership model: SaaS platform charge per data point.
· Started in January 2018
Main technical data
· CLP Building Scope is an AI building energy management system
· Capacity: scalable cloud platform
· Operational characteristics: hardware agnostic system that uses AI to tag all traditional BMS data and identify device faults.
· The technology is launched, and use is growing.
Benefits
• USD $21,000 in energy bill was saved in one year.
• 45 days per year for manpower were saved as all issues are repaired before breakdowns occur and fault investigation value at USD $8,000.
• 161,574KWh or 85.84 tCO2 are saved annually.
2. Childcare centre (France):
Context:
• Child Care Centre in France that offers educational services.
• Issues/challenges/targets that led to the project: — Occupant complaints due to discomfort. — Risk of non-compliance with childcare building regulations. — Concern with undersized heat pump used for heating and cooling. — No data to identify issues and confirm assumptions
Project description & objectives:
• Schneider EcoStruxure Facility Facility Advisor Energy was deployed with the following objective:
• Monitor and accurately assess the building’s energy performance.
• Monitor heat pump performance and status.
Benefits:
• EUR €40,000 was saved over a two-year period.
• Right level of comfort achieved, eliminating occupant complaints.
• 33 percent potential energy savings identified.
• Heat pump energy consumption reduced 40 percent; life expectancy extended.
• Better management of air handling unit
3. Automobile distribution centre Volkswagen (Wolfsburg, Germany)
Context:
• AutoStart GmbH — a fully-owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group — is a visitor and automobile distribution centre.
• It operates a site with 20 buildings.
Project description & objectives:
• Honeywell Enterprise Buildings Integrator (EBI) was deployed with the following objectives:
• Increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon footprint.
• Reduce the system’s running time and minimizing energy costs.
• Integrate thermal and electrical energy.
• Minimize risks to guarantee availability during the entire system lifecycle and optimal building functions at all times.
• EBI connects 37,000 data points out of which approximately 23,000 are hardware points at field level.
• Partnership between Volkswagen and Honeywell goes back to 1998.
Benefits:
• Energy savings of 41% per year and CO2 emission reductions of 460 tCO2 annually.
• Lower system running time and reduced energy costs.
• Successful integration of thermal and electrical energy.
• Optimized building functions and enhanced availability during the entire system lifecycle.
SWOT analysis:
Strengths
• Economically feasible option, even for smaller sites when taking advantage of economies of scale.
• Mature technology and ongoing developments to collect data with lower costs via IoT.
• Co-benefits, such as better space utilization and employee satisfaction.
• GHG emission reduction
Opportunities
• (Part of) the hardware costs for building energy management systems are often subsidized by the government.
• There is an opportunity for partnerships between different suppliers — each with their unique capabilities — to offer more BEMSs at a lower cost and with more functionality.
• Further reduction in energy costs could be achieved by using BEMS for demand response.
Weaknesses
• Building owners lack awareness on potential energy savings from a BEMS.
• Requires input from building users and attention from technical staff throughout its operational life to maintain optimal settings and maximum effectiveness.
• Staff are not aware of what steps to take for a successful introduction of a BEMS.
Threats
• Potential landlord — tenant conflict: the landlord may need to invest in a BEMS, but cost savings realized by the tenant.
• Payback times might be perceived as too long to justify upfront investment when design and costing is not carried out properly. Cost data for BEMS can be quickly outdated. Applying the newest BEMS technology substantially decreases the BEMS costs
Conclusion:
Building energy management systems (BEMS) are essential for improving energy efficiency and reducing operating costs in buildings. They analyze and optimize energy consumption, helping building owners and managers make informed decisions about energy use. With the increasing importance of sustainability, BEMS are becoming more prevalent and sophisticated, offering advanced features such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. BEMS are likely to play a crucial role in the future of building management, helping to create smarter, more efficient, and more sustainable buildings.