Small and mid-sized buildings need efficiency too

Data logger supplier Onset has partnered with NorthWrite Inc. to deliver an integrated, real-time energy monitoring solution for use in a monitoring-based building commissioning program funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

The program, which aims to test NorthWrite’s energy efficiency service for buildings, involves tracking whole-building electric use in 20 commercial buildings throughout New York.

The project combines Onset’s web-based HOBO U30 energy monitoring systems with NorthWrite’s Monitoring-Based Commissioning (MBCx), a turnkey energy information management service that uses the company’s Energy Expert energy analysis dashboard software. With NorthWrite MBCx, building energy performance data can quickly and easily be gathered, analysed and displayed. Data analysts study the collected building performance information and then suggest efficiency improvements.

The project focuses on small and medium-sized commercial buildings, a market segment that often fails to pursue energy efficiency. In fact, a 2010 study by the Center for an Urban Future found that less than 1 per cent of small businesses in New York City undergo energy audits, despite the availability of generous government subsidies.

The problem is one of resources. Unlike large manufacturers, small businesses rarely can employ onsite energy managers or energy contractors to guide them through the process. Further, few cost-effective efficiency technologies exist to serve the small to medium-sized building market. In search of innovations to overcome these barriers, NYSERDA awarded the project to test NorthWrite MBCx in New York City, Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester.

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