A new report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds that the installation of energy management and information systems (EMIS) is a cost-effective measure. The installation of EMIS created a median energy savings of 4% ($0.04/sq. ft) for energy information systems (EIS) and 9% ($0.24/sq. ft) for fault detection and diagnostic (FDD) software among study participants after only two years. An initial cost-effectiveness analysis showed a one- to two-year simple payback period for EIS and FDD technologies. The recently released Smart Energy Analytics Campaign year three report reflects the aggregation and analysis of data from 96 commercial organizations across the United States, totaling 518 million square feet of gross floor area and nearly 6,000 buildings, making this the most comprehensive dataset available on analytics installation and use.

As building energy and system-level monitoring becomes more common, facilities teams are faced with an overwhelming amount of data that can be stored, organized, analyzed, and prioritized in automated ways in order to lead to insights and corrective actions. The right analysis can uncover incredible energy savings potential. With analytic software applied to everyday building operations, owners are using data to their advantage and realizing cost savings through improved energy management when coupled with corrective action.

The Smart Energy Analytics Campaign, part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Better Buildings initiative and funded by the Building Technologies Office within DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, is a public-private partnership that encourages the use of a wide variety of commercially available EMIS technologies and ongoing monitoring practices to help uncover those energy-saving opportunities and improve building performance. Since its launch in 2016, the technology campaign has brought together commercial building owners who are using or planning to use EIS, FDD tools, and/or monitoring-based commissioning (MBCx) services.

The year three report presents a characterization of EMIS products, MBCx services, and trends in the industry. Savings demonstrate the reduction in energy use achieved at buildings in the campaign that are utilizing EMIS. However, the savings cannot be attributed solely to the operational improvements achieved with the support of the EMIS since energy savings are determined at the whole building level, and other energy-impacting projects may be occurring simultaneously.

To date, 24 participating organizations have been highlighted for their achievements, each one described in a success story. Hear from the next four campaign participants recognized with New Installation awards on best practices and lessons learned on Wednesday, November 20, 2019 at 11 a.m. PST, or stream the year three report overview recording for more information on the most recent updates from the Smart Energy Analytics Campaign.