Computerized energy management systems have been in use for a long time now. In the nineties, these were offline systems based on energy management control systems (ECMS). Recent developments in IT have also affected energy management domain. Today's building automation systems (BAS) handle all the energy and equipment related tasks and provide operating information and control interfaces to other facility systems including facility management systems. Modern cloud-based energy use analysis and audit software can run large building simulations and equipment design programs. The software requires the input of weather data, operating times, and other energy-consuming parameters such as number and type of lights and equipment, the efficiency of various devices, etc. as well as the parameters of the building shell such as wall construction, insulation levels, amount of window area, etc. It will then simulate a year of building operation (or whatever cycle is chosen), and develop energy consumption and energy bills. When the simulation model has been built, various efficiency improvements to the building envelope or to building equipment can be fed into the software and receive the identified saving opportunities. Combined with financial analysis features this will help select the most cost-effective energy conservation opportunities (ECOs). Research has shown that buyers on average spend $15-20 more per every $1 on annual energy savings. That means that
Software List
EMAT
The company behind EMAT provides both software and ASHRAE level 1 and level 2 energy audit services if required. It was established in 2014 by a group of energy auditors. The software consists of 3 components:
- EMAT Field Auditor - audit data collection tool
- Applicable for residential and commercial audits
- Cloud-based
- Unlimited number of customizable templates
- Photos are automatically tagged to the area
- EMAT Light - for lighting projects (coming in 2019)
- Monthly license subscription + setup fee
- Essentially, has the same interface as EMAT Field Auditor
- EMAT Analyzer - for report generation, data analysis, energy conservation measures (ECMs) (coming in 2019)
- Utility data
- Load profiling
- Built-in and custom ECMs
- Photo logs
TREAT
TREAT stands for Targeted Retrofit Energy Analysis Tool. It is a comprehensive energy analysis and building modeling software. The software is available in 2 versions: single and multifamily.
- 30-day free trial
- Approved by the DOE for all residential housing types (including multifamily)
- RESNET accredited
- Projected energy savings reports
- Allows users to build mathematically accurate models
- Reporting types
- Home Performance Report.
- Energy Savings Plan.
- Weatherization SIR Independent and Interacted.
- Raw HPXML data output.
- HERS and RESNET approved Domestic Hot Water (DHW) calculations
- Library of building materials to select from
- Cooling efficiency calculator
- Financial terms for saving calculations
Energy Analysis Software
This software, unpretentiously called Energy Analysis Software, is backed by an Italian start-up. The software consists of 4 independent modules sold separately
- Audit module - shows energy consumption patterns. This module's aim is to identify the anomalies, analyze the utility bills, consumption, asset and energy drivers. The price is 990 Euros
- A large number of pre-compiled graphs and charts
- TEP and CO2 emission charts
- Modeling module - creates energy models for energy management and control of energy consumption. The price is 1990 Euros
- CUSUM charts (forecast and control of energy consumption) identify anomalous deviations
- Economic benefits in the maintenance field
- Benchmarking module - a tool for comparing various utilities and prioritizing one over another. The price is 1990 Euros
- Evaluate the priorities of action
- Efficiency index calculation
- Budgeting module - a tool for creation and comparison of different budgets for each energy source type. The price is 1990 Euros
- Create different scenarios to help develop energy efficiency plans
OptiMiser
OptiMiser is modular software built on a proprietary platform. The software is customizable in terms of data collection, reporting, and data exchange. The main features are:
- Automated utility bill calibration
- Pre-audit diagnostic report
- Combustion appliance testing wizard
- Age- and region-specific defaults
- An automated utility bill analysis
- Continuous savings estimation - allows observing the results of improvements in real-time
- Integrated with major CRM and database systems - Salesforce, SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle
- Loads existing spreadsheet-based calculators and worksheets - provides a fluid workflow
- Offers a free 30-day trial
Weatherization Assistant
Weatherization Assistant is a suite of 4 energy audit tools developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory to help the interested parties implement the US DOE Weatherization Assistance Program. The 4 constituent tools are:
- National Energy Audit Tool (NEAT) for site-built, single-family homes
- Manufactured Home Energy Audit (MHEA) for mobile homes
- Multifamily Tool for Energy Audits (MulTEA) for multifamily buildings
- Health and Safety Audit - for single-family homes (including mobile homes)
The first 3 tools identify cost-effective energy conservation measures (ECM) for a home or building, taking into account site weather conditions. local retrofit measure costs, area fuel costs, and specific construction details. Health and Safety Audit tool is aimed at the situations when a dwelling unit is being weatherized or undergoes an energy-efficiency retrofit or remodeling job. NEAT and MHEA are desktop-based while MulTEA and Health and Safety Audit are web-based. Currently, NEAT and MHEA are in the process of porting into web-based apps. The executable for desktop-based apps can be downloaded from the website. For web-based apps, you need to contact the stuff to get access credentials.
Easy Audit
Green Training provides on-site and online courses and consultation related to green technologies. Their energy audit software called Easy Audit doesn't require internet access. It is designed for use on tablets with a stylus but runs on any computer or device that runs MS Excel. The main features of Easy Audit are:
- generates detailed, on-site audit reports
- retrofitting recommendations
- easy-to-understand report format
- MS Excel-based platform
- Automatically calculate fresh air levels and building airflow standards
- Works on MS Windows
- Utility bill analysis
- Energy Performance Graphs
- ROI calculations
- Typical payback periods
- Automatic report generation
HomeSelfe
it's a mobile app geared towards the realtors. It asks several questions about the home, like the home's insulation or the types of kitchen appliances then produces a custom report that contains recommendations on how to make the property more energy efficient. For example, it may suggest caulking around windows or adding insulation. HomeSelfe also tells how much money could annually be saved on energy bills by making each upgrade, so homeowners or realtors can prioritize each upgrade.
To demonstrate the value of energy audit, the realtor could open up HomeSelfe app on his/her mobile device and walk the homeowner through an energy audit. The realtor, then, could explain to sellers that they are able to increase the listing price of their home by just following the recommendations by the app. A word of warning though, the primary aim of this app is lead generation and social marketing hence the energy auditing feature set is not particularly rich although it's free.
FirstFuel
FirstFuel is a B2B solution geared towards utilities and energy providers to provide impactful personalized solutions to their customers. FirstFuel's customer intelligence platform enables competitive energy providers to anticipate needs and continually differentiate themselves. Utilities can use this software to analyze the energy consumption patterns of their commercial and industrial customers. FirstFuel's SaaS is based upon:
- advanced building science
- data science
- cloud-based software
The clients can access the generated business customer intelligence through the web and mobile self-service interactions. The company has developed meter-to-building mapping process. In essence, the process involves meter data aggregation, cleaning and validation, and enhancement by factoring in weather data. The software is then capable of extrapolating the whole-building view of every business customer.
Buildee
Buildee was previously known as simuwatt Energy Auditor. It is the result of the combined efforts of National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Concept3D. The software leverages DOE's open-source modeling tools EnergyPlus and OpenStudio. buildee is a cloud-based and mobile software platform that brings together data for retrofit decision-making. The platform enables strategic planning with a cross-functional collaborative environment that includes
- benchmarking
- retrofit analytics
- customizable reporting
- investment performance tracking
The stakeholders that can leverage buildee are building owners, utilities, and service providers. buildee lets the customers identify, prioritize, and realize energy-efficiency investments through the building lifecycle. To get started you need to contact the company and tell them about your use case.
SnapCount
SnapCount is a lighting and energy retrofit software. It's a mobile app created by StreamLinx. The app is aimed at industrial and commercial customers. SnapCount's partnership with Encentiv Energy gives the means to discover and calculate incentive and rebate programs.
- record multiple fixture types, quantities, and burn hours
- uses the device's camera to add photos directly to the area under audit
- add blueprints, floor plans or hand sketches to visually tag fixture data
- transcription of audit data from the field by uploading to the cloud
- generate solutions from preset "kits" or propose a custom solution
- ROI of fixtures (dollar amount / kW amount of savings) including incentives and rebates
- fully customizable reports generated in minutes
- shows estimated lifecycle savings costs in reports
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