Monitoring Energy: A Business Case

The author follows a business case approach to promote the adoption of energy monitoring as a financially viable and effective tool for driving energy efficiency measures in the built environment. Drawing on his experience gained in design and deployment of energy monitoring systems globally, the author delves into the general types of available monitoring systems, deployment timelines, stakeholder involvement, installation challenges, and costs of implementation. Using specific project cases, it is demonstrated that energy monitoring can prove to be a financially more efficient tool than other methods available in the energy management ecosystem. The author presents research on implementation costs for a variety of building types to foster an understanding of how the costs relate to the building manager's operating expense budget. Although strong theoretical understanding about energy monitoring exists, there is a lack of market-level research to develop a business case. This article makes a concerted effort to consider all the factors that can help in the rapid adoption of this method.