Elly Yates-Roberts |
The climate is changing, and we are certainly seeing and feeling the effects. Reducing our greenhouse gases, which largely result from our energy consumption, is necessary to mitigate those effects. We must consume energy to live our daily lives but we need to commit to becoming a more sustainable species to protect the Earth.
Finding new ways to use energy as efficiently as possible is paramount to increasing sustainability. Organisations must play a crucial role in this because they use a tremendous amount of energy when manufacturing and transporting goods, and when managing their offices and buildings.
There are many steps to sustainability, but there are three key requirements for every journey. First, organisations must be able to accurately measure energy consumption and generation. Next, they must track that knowledge so they can identify who and what is consuming that energy. Finally, they need to aggregate all the data and put it into easily digestible reports to facilitate accountability and target the tracking of sustainability initiatives. This is where ICONICS comes into play.
Automation software provider ICONICS enables data collection at scale. Through use of open standards like Modbus, BACnet, and OPC Unified Architecture, customers can connect to various meters and equipment. Data can then be brought into product platforms like GENESIS64 or published to Microsoft Azure using IoTWorX to be visualised in real time and historized for further in-depth analysis.
ICONICS also has analytics solutions built on these products, with one specifically designed for energy monitoring: Energy AnalytiX. This software consumes data from accumulated or instantaneous meters to calculate energy consumption and turn it into actionable insights. This means trends can be visualised, tracked, historized and reported on. Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo provides an example of how an organisation can use ICONICS to achieve its sustainability goals.
With its extensive building portfolio, Intesa Sanpaolo needed an automation system to monitor the operations, efficiency, energy use, and fault detection of these buildings. Using technologies from Microsoft and ICONICS, the bank installed an advanced building automation system, enabling it to attain its sustainability initiatives and save €500,000 ($562,345) annually.
We only have one Earth, so it is imperative for us to become sustainable. And ICONICS is committed to developing the technologies that will enable organisations to achieve this goal.
Mary Anne Ballouz is marketing communications writer for ICONICS
This article was originally published in the Winter 21/22 issue of Technology Record. To get future issues delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for a free subscription.