Dashboards are used to visualize and report on energy usage before,during, and after energy conservation measures have been implemented.
Monitoring and verification after the implementation of an energy management program is a very important, but often overlooked, quality control step. This is the process of tracking energy use to determine the success of implemented energy management measures.
Data from the dashboard can be exported to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet using the Export Dashboard option from within the selected tab. Information from different utilities will appear on different tabs in the export.
Usage Profiles
ManagingEnergy generates several usage profiles for any meter, facility, or group of facilities over any required time period:
1. | Baseline - What the usage would have been if nothing had changed, calculated using the Baseline Model. Any meters that have not been modeled will not appear in these dashboards. The number of meters included will appear in the title for reference. Meters may not be modeled when there are not enough data points, or when there is absolutely no statistical correlation between billing period and consumption (an anomaly which can defeat the industry-standard calculations ManagingEnergy uses). |
2. | Actual - Usage taken directly from utility invoices. |
3. | Typical - Notional usage based on typical year weather, and without any adjustments. |
After opportunities have been turned into measures, Conservation & Renewal subscribers can also generate a fourth usage profile:
4. | Target - Expected usage, including the expected impact of energy conservation measures. |
5. | Goal - Set by corporate executives and are often published in communications to employees, customers, and shareholders. By their nature they are high level and are not explicitly tied to specific activities or conservation investments. |
With these profiles, as presented in the Dashboards, users can visualize energy performance of utility meters against the baselines and against expectations. The three key questions are:
1. | What did we expect to save by implementing these measures? (Expected Savings = Baseline - Target) |
2. | What did we actually save by implementing these measures? (Actual Savings = Baseline - Actual) |
3. | By how much did we exceed (or fall short of) the expected savings? (Variance = Target - Actual) |
ManagingEnergy includes several Dashboards designed to answer these questions, accessible under the Dashboard tab in the Work Area, and individually selectable using a pull-down. The reporting engine generates Baseline, Target,Actual, and Typical profiles for Meter Reading Components. Information is shown in physical units (kWh, m3, therms...).
A Conservation & Renewal subscription allows users to define Measures, which are used by the system to calculate the Target Usage Profile. Without Conservation & Renewal functionality, the Target and Baseline Usage Profiles are exactly the same.
Cost Profiles
ManagingEnergy uses marginal rates to generate usage cost profiles for meters, enabling users to report costs and savings in the currency being used. The four usage cost profiles are similar to those for unit components, and are denoted as Baseline$, Actual$, Typical$, and Target$.
Drift (Advanced Analysis Tab)
The Drift Dashboard identifies and displays undesirable trends developing over time. In utility analysis, usage is creeping up, but there may not be enough difference from one invoice to the next, or enough deviation from expectations to generate an alarm. ManagingEnergy automatically creates a tolerance band and displays where the actual readings are coming in over time. An event is generated when the actual reading is outside the tolerance band. The underlying statistical method is used in industry to spot process control drift, and is technically referred to as CUSUM analysis.
If Drift Test is turned on for the utility account, then unacceptable drift will be detected at the time of invoice entry.
Drift testing can be used in combination with ManagingEnergy Event Messaging to send out email notices when meter readings are drifting out of tolerance.