As National Energy Efficiency Day kicks into gear it’s an opportune time to remind everyone why it’s such an important tool in the fight against energy wastage, in supporting our energy systems as they transition away from carbon heavy fuels and in the pursuit of eliminating emissions from our society.
As a planet we waste in excess of 58% of all the energy we generate, that quite literally means we burn two lumps of coal and only use the energy from one of them. I remember when I heard this statistic for the first time and to this day that number blows my mind. I still cannot reconcile why society would be OK with that much wastage especially when the price of energy has been on a steady upward trajectory for quite some time, let alone the climate crisis we find ourselves staring down the barrel at.
The Swiss army knife of the energy world has evolved quite a lot over the years. The digitization of our buildings has never been more economical to achieve and now delivers some of the highest resolution energy data we have ever seen and it’s not slowing down. Long gone are the days of waiting months on end to access hourly interval data from utilities. We can now generate billions of data points each year and serve them up in real time. This visibility now enhances our ability to identify business case remediation projects, de-risking investments in energy retrofits and upgrades.
The maturation of the IOT industry now means we can not only visualise energy consumption at levels we have never been able to achieve before but we can now pair this visibility with control solutions. This is where the fun really begins. All of that data we are generating can be fed to the cloud where the real magic happens. Once in the cloud all of that data can be put to good use, it can be crunched for something as simple as delivering 21 degrees to a suite for the least amount of energy possible to identifying how much flexible capacity is available to a utility to help them balance the supply and demand needs of our grids.
we forecast as we transition away from carbon heavy generation to renewable energy and storage technologies our gross energy demand
Energy efficiency is the tool that can swing the needle in the right direction, and at a scale that means something. It is widely regarded as the cheapest form of energy capacity on a grid. 1 kW of curtailed load is still cheaper than any generation technology and is now digitized, connected, intelligent and, best of all, highly responsive.
Energy Efficiency 2.0 comes with all of the toppings. Guaranteed savings, cloud based intelligent controls, incredibly detailed ESG reporting and of course the opportunity to generate Demand Response revenues when our systems step up to the plate and support the grid.
When 58% of all the energy we produce is wasted, we know that at least 58% of the emissions generated from energy production is 100% unnecessary. We have the tools and the desire to change this frightening statistic. Now all we need is the “do”. And “we” means everyone – governments setting the right policies and incentivizing EE technology advancements, businesses placing energy efficiency as a strategic priority, and lastly local communities and their residents making the conscious choice to curtail energy consumption. So, on this 6th day of October 2021, the only question you need to be asking yourself is “how much energy am I wasting, how much is it costing me and what am I going to do about it”.
Together “we” can make the change that will preserve this amazing planet for future generations to come!
Glen Spry
CEO & President at SensorSuite, Inc
A former energy utility executive with extensive knowledge of Asia Pacific, European, and North American energy markets, Glen is now applying his detailed knowledge of Distributed Energy Resource business models to accelerate the transition of our grid to a cleaner, greener, and more customer-centric environment.
