One of the most significant activities in the world of real estate nowadays is green energy retrofitting. Existing buildings present an excellent opportunity for investors and owners to enhance the economic activity while providing greener environments. Submetering technology is an integral part of that effort since it allows the implementation of energy efficiency programs. Although these devices don’t save energy by themselves, they provide property managers and operators with the data they need to detect opportunities for energy savings.
Sub-Metering Retrofits
Energy retrofit of an existing property could include anything from installation of new heating to mounting solar panels on the building’s roof. Today’s building owners are retrofitting properties to convert them into models of sustainability. The upgrades may need an initial investment, but lead to lower operating and energy costs through future energy savings.
In existing buildings a retrofit can be an expensive proposition, labour costs involved in piping and wiring can easily discourage owners from installing a sub-metering system. Fortunately, today there are technologies that can allow serial communication (RS-485), pulses or data using permitted frequencies under the frequency allocation of the electromagnetic spectrum of each country.
True energy retrofits need qualitative-oriented, benchmarked, and fact-based energy-efficiency interventions with a concise and clear payback analysis. When it comes to facilitating the in-depth analysis required by investors and owners, Smart submeters play an important role in providing critical info to make fast financial decisions.
Reducing Retrofit Costs with Wireless Solutions
There are specific situations that don’t allow meters to be hardwired. Utilizing wireless submetering solutions can significantly reduce cost in submetering retrofits.
In situations where hardwired solutions are difficult or impossible to integrate, wireless submeters are the perfect solutions as they utilize a wireless radio frequency. The RF radio is immediately turned on to transmit the real-time data to another radio, a repeater or to the wireless gateway from where the information would be sent to the cloud.
In order to obtain a detailed picture of where the energy is being used in a building, the owner can install a submetering system, capturing the consumption in various electrical panels throughout the property, and using radios to transmit all those values to a central point where they can be concentrated. Energy monitoring details from before and after a retrofit will give you a clear picture of the impact of the intervention. The readings are justified with Measurement & Verification plans and correlated with real savings to achieve a quantitative approach.
Wireless Sub-Metering Retrofit Benefits
The essential wireless sub-meter benefits to retrofits for building investors, owners, and operators are:
- Access to information – anytime and anywhere
- Reduced installation cost
- Fast deployment
- Advanced intelligent reporting
- Energy usage optimization
- Systems control
When performing a sub-metering retrofit, wireless solutions can be of great help for well-planned building energy retrofit projects. Frustrations and additional costs can be avoided with wireless technology, allowing you to submeter properties and estates that have been too difficult to cover.
