Comment by Marcus Alexander, Advisor – Sites at Energy Systems Catapult
Data is often overlooked when looking to cut costs and carbon across public sector buildings. In theory, it offers everything needed to monitor, predict, and reduce energy use and emissions. In practice, real-world complexity and resource constraints result in data being filed in the ‘too frustrating’ bin. Data can be a North Star, guiding the way to better projects and energy procurement, and budget-friendly buildings that help direct funds to vital public services.
The Open Data Strategy laid out a clear roadmap and action plan as to how industries should be harnessing data to realise the economic, social, and technological opportunities that it holds. The energy sector is no different. In recent years it has made significant progress in developing its data capabilities; utilising data across the full energy supply chain to improve the planning and operation of the network. Programmes such as the Energy Data Taskforce have stimulated the industry and spawned a myriad of initiatives that make up the energy data ecosystem.
The good news is that the resulting data and tools can be utilised by organisations pioneering the use of energy for their decarbonisation journeys. Data strategies can start simple, identifying some of the key elements and challenges that need to be addressed, and then iterated on as it develops to provide continual value from your data activities. The Energy Data Management Canvas tool provides an extensive, flexible framework that can be used to shape and plan this development.
Stakeholders and Threads
A key first step in managing energy data is understanding everyone who has a stake in that data and what they hope to get out of it. These “data stakeholders” include building owners, facility managers, utility companies, technology vendors, tenants, regulators, and others.
The Energy Data Management Canvas tool encourages the creation of short “data stakeholder profiles” for projects. These explain who the stakeholder is, what their goals are, what questions they’ll want answered, and what data could help provide those answers. For example, a building owner may want to track the performance of new HVAC equipment to prove payback.
Documenting user needs makes it possible to follow the data from origin to collection, storage, analysis, and reporting. Doing this mapping upfront prevents dead ends or gaps from cropping up later. It enables trade-offs and priorities to be balanced across multiple parties.
Sources and Collection
Once data stakeholders and their needs are defined, the next piece is identifying data sources and collection methods.
For a building retrofit project, data sources might include meter readings, equipment sensors, weather data feeds, utility bills, and tenant surveys. Legacy systems, proprietary platforms, public databases, and custom collection tools may all play a role.
As options are considered, the canvas prompts several key reflection points:
- Data quality – What accuracy or granularity is truly required? How can consistency be ensured across disparate streams?
- Costs – Are there fees to access certain datasets? What is involved in new infrastructure for gathering data?
- Risks – Are there contractual terms or legal requirements governing the use of certain data? How vulnerable is the data pipeline?
Thinking through these aspects in advance prevents unwanted surprises. It focuses collection efforts on what is essential for stakeholders, leading to responsible data management.
Storage and Governance
Once relevant energy data sources are identified for building projects, decisions must be made about storage infrastructure and governance policies.
On storage, factors like frequency of access, retention requirements, and disaster recovery tolerance determine whether databases, data lakes, or warehouses are most appropriate. The canvas helps assess needs for data security, backup systems, and patching schedules.
Documenting rules that apply to managing privileged data is crucial—from customer privacy policies to regulatory compliance mandates. Roles and responsibilities should be defined across partners. For example, who is authorised to access raw tenant energy usage data?
Taken together, storage and governance tactics ensure operational reliability as well as oversight. They also facilitate trust and participation from tenants. Following established protocols allows more impactful use of building energy intelligence.
Implementation and Operation
Onsite metering can be challenging. Often, sites lack sub-metering, especially when it comes to heating demand or fossil fuel consumption. Additionally, it may be that fiscal meters are not automatically read, and there’s a lack of ownership and skills for data monitoring. Solutions include upgrading meters, more resource allocated for regular data monitoring, a unified dashboard for all meters, and better granularity of metering to provide valuable insights on fossil fuel and heat use. Free tools like the Business-as-Usual (BAU) Estimator can help.
Once you have a comprehensive baseline, you can begin planning for decarbonisation. This forms the basis of your plan – and a measure against which you can assess the impact of your proposed interventions. By including aspects such as asset lifetimes and future plans or anticipated changes to your estate, you can estimate the size of low-carbon heating solutions, as well as outline costs based on sizing and necessary alterations.
What does the future hold?
The true potential of energy data is yet to be unlocked. With machine learning and AI, we can manage buildings more efficiently. Big datasets will help us create accurate benchmarks, better understand decarbonisation pathways, and the performance of different technologies in the real world, paving the way for more sustainable practices. Help is available. Step forward ‘InSite’!
Backed by Innovate UK, InSite is a new project to develop a national energy database that holds and synthesises data from 1000s of sites, projects and technologies. The aim is to set benchmarks, unlock finance by demonstrating returns, and cut costs and carbon across UK sites. A pilot is currently underway with NHS England.