Any building or plant engineer will have hurdles to jump when tendering proposals for building or plant infrastructure. Extensive research and planning is needed for justification of any sort of plan the involves an outlay of cash for an infrastructure improvement. But electrical monitoring investments can bring dividends in savings, efficiency and saved down times that will contribute positively to the bottom line. This is the information age, and information is the analysis of data, and data must be collected to build an informed consensus on planning future infrastructure investment and upgrades.
Electricity Prices are Increasing
Increased energy costs are for many businesses threatening the bottom line. And have you ever heard of an electrical utility lowering their rates? Probably not, the cost of energy is going up, and in some areas at an alarming rate. The effective and efficient use of energy can save thousands of dollars.
Role of Power Monitoring System
Power monitoring systems can monitor your buildings power usage 24/7 and produce a wealth of data for analysis and subsequent implementation of planned upgrades to the energy delivery infrastructure. Most building and plant managers either have no idea or offer just a guess at how their facilities use and distribute energy.
Who Needs to Monitor Electricity Usage?
Who needs to monitor their energy and power usage? Any energy consumer. Even residential monitoring of power has produced dividends in savings. There are numerous diversities of power loads throughout the facility. There are various demands and types of usage as well. An office facility differs from a manufacturing plant in how electrical power is delivered and used. There are four types of power consumers. These vary in expectations of usage and power objectives but share many commonalities.
– Industrial
– Commercial
– Government
– Residential
What Affects Electricity Prices?
Energy usage costs and the reliability of the electrical systems are common concerns across the board. Most residential users are not cognizant that different rates apply to different customers of the power utility. Residential costs are at a fixed rate or a tiered billing structure. Industrial power consumption billings are usually much more complex. It is understandable that the heavier consumers will benefit more from monitoring and power management. A semi-conductor fabrication facility or a pharmaceutical industry’s operations have a very low tolerance for power fluctuations. Products lost, the expenses due to equipment downtime and restarting, affecting the bottom line. This consumer will pay a premium for clean reliable power, and as such energy monitoring and power management are extremely important to these energy consumers. The quality of the energy supply can have an adverse effect on its operation, power failure leads to the loss or degradation of product, equipment, revenue and the company’s reputation.
Installing a Power Monitoring System
Data collection and analysis can lead to a more in-depth understanding of the operation parameters of the electrical system. Items that can be deduced from monitoring data can include:
– Environmental – a complete understanding of a facility’s power usage allows for the identification of opportunities to improve efficiency, minimize waste and reduce overall energy consumption.
– Reliability – analysis can produce insight of imminent failure issues. Both acute problems requiring immediate attention can be identified, but those ongoing chronic issues will be identified as well. Bottom line is an increase in productivity.
– Maintenance – all equipment operates within discrete operation parameters. Monitoring can identify when the operation parameters are being exceeded, leading to premature failure.
– Safety – monitoring can identify potentially hazardous environments. By providing data reporting the remote status and operational parameters of equipment in a hazardous area, not only power but temperature, pressure, flow rate, vibration, status indicators can be monitored with the installation of transducers. This gives an overall safety picture of potentially hazardous areas of the facility.
– Financial – any of the above, or in combination of the factors listed can and will affect the bottom line. Failure in a hazardous area can lead to injury and subsequent attention by state and federal regulatory agencies.
Electrical Power Monitoring, Logging and Chart Recording & More in Arvada, Aurora, Black Hawk, Boulder, Broomfield, Centennial, Cherry Hills, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Greenwood Village, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Parker, Thornton, Westminster, Wheat Ridge & Greater Denver, CO | Jefferson & Gilpin County, Colorado
There is more to come in the next installment of Monitoring Magic Part 2. Contact Advanced Electric Solutions, Corp. for all your power monitoring and management needs.
