aM&T is ready for 2008
January 1st 2008

Bill Gysin from Elcomponent examines the role that metering will play in the drive to reduce costs and carbon emissions in 2008

As Europe wrangles over emission targets and how they should be imposed, the main topic for discussion among energy consumers is the likely impact that new legislation will have on prices. Increases of up to 15% have been mooted, and presented as the inevitable cost of cutting emissions. This seems to be based on the impact of using a higher percentage of renewables for power generation, but fails to consider the positive contribution that is realised by reducing energy consumption regardless of the generation method employed.

Reductions of 15% and more have been achieved in commercial buildings through the intelligent use of Automatic Monitoring and Targeting (aM&T) and event the industrial "heavy hitters" have realised efficiency savings of 3-5% – sometimes more – using the same techniques. It is of course unarguable that radical changes in electricity generation will be the prime mover behind any truly effective carbon reduction strategy, but the most logical way to reduce emissions and costs is to cut consumption to the minimum practical level before considering how that level should be generated. In practice the two elements must be developed simultaneously, as is indeed taking place, but whilst the investment and timescales involved in bringing new generation on line are considerable, the first commodity needed to cut consumption is information.

Or 'meters' to be more precise.

This fact is increasingly recognised by both consumers and government alike, and Elcomponent saw strong demand for AMR (Automatic Meter Reading) and aM&T systems in 2007 across all sectors from manufacturing industry to University campuses (and everything in between). A trend that will surely continue in 2008.

Government legislation in the form of Part L2 of the Building Regulations ensured that sub-metering was included in all substantial new-build and renovation projects from 2002 onwards and from 2006 recognised that if those meters were linked to an AM&T system such as Elcomponent's "MeterRing MM" the emission rating (BER) of the building could be reduced by 5%. This figure is often quoted by those in the aM&T business, but the fact that a lower emissions rating means a lower operating cost is the real issue for the bill payer, and is the driver behind the business case for aM&T.

There are other government measures arriving in 2008 designed to reduce the UK's carbon footprint – in fact there is no shortage of them – and the most significant of them are consumption related. Energy Performance Certificates for all buildings (EPCs) and Display Energy Certificates (DECs) for public buildings are two such examples, and leaving aside their ability to generate confusion – things will become clearer we are told – both these measures are aimed at improving efficiency, and in the case of DECs is ultimately dependant on metering to offer a truly valid picture of performance.

A DEC must be displayed in all public buildings (space prohibits a definition of the word "public" in this context, but suffice to say it is not as far-reaching as it could be) from October of this year, and is designed to provide a readily assimilated visual indication of how efficiently the building is being operated in terms of carbon emissions. It is hard to argue that the most important element in the calculations required to produce a DEC can be anything other than the consumption data for the building concerned, and where no meter(s) exists to provide this – as will be the case in almost all 'campus' environments such as hospitals, schools and universities etc, the validity of the DEC is inevitably compromised. Pro-rata allocation of energy consumption on the basis of floor area is no substitute for a meter (assuming that it ever gets read)! Where aM&T is installed however, the existence of meters at building level, and equally importantly the existence of a system to read them regularly and automatically, means that the DEC will not only be an accurate reflection of the building's performance, it will represent an opportunity to demonstrate the value of the system that provided the data on which it is based. Any building with an aM&T system in place will perform substantially better than it would without it. In many cases this will be a deciding factor in pushing it above its benchmark, with attendant positive effect on the DEC. The desire to use meter readings rather than estimates or apportionments to calculate building performance is likely to be encouraged in future - at present the statute cannot require meter readings to be used if they are not available – and of course more meters will be available anyway as the Building Regulation requirements take effect.

aM&T providers – Elcomponent included – will ensure that the production of accurate DECs is made as simple as possible from within their software, something which will also reduce their cost. If we return for a moment to the levels of saving which aM&T can produce – over 15% for some of our customers – this may be considered a minor cost saving, but as someone once said "every little helps".

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