No buildings are exactly alike. This is especially true for commercial buildings, ranging from historical museums and massive warehouses to modern offices and multifunctional buildings.
While the challenges vary, we often encounter four recurring issues when it comes to the quality of energy data measurement:
1. Installation errors
In a complex main panel with many components, manual errors can occur, such as clamps being attached to the wrong phase or in the wrong order. The consequence is that while the graph may look correct, the measurements are wrong.
These errors are extremely common - especially if the hardware was installed without a specific plan for usage. This is hard to avoid and even harder to detect and requires a significant amount of manual troubleshooting.
2. Meter dimensioning errors
Another common mistake is using meters that measure megawatts instead of kilowatts, where the latter would be more appropriate.
The consequence is that you won't get any measured consumption until the meter has registered one megawatt, resulting in significant jumps in the graphs and visualization.
3. Hardware malfunction
The integrity of energy data relies heavily on the functioning of various hardware components. Submeters - like any other technical equipment - wears out over time and requires maintenance, updates and replacement.
Without regular maintenance, the hardware become increasingly prone to malfunctions and failures. Unfortunately, we see a lot of errors in data from submeters, and there's a huge variation in quality between different types of meters.
4. Low resolution
The last error has to do with details and resolution. Most companies today operate with data measured by the hour. Low-resolution data hides details that make the data truly valuable.
In the graph below you can see the difference between hour and minute resolution through one day. As you can see, the peaks are higher and the baseline lower with minute resolution.
In short, higher resolution data give a lot more insight than low-resolution.
Learn more about the value of high-resolution energy data.
The solution?
To maintain high quality data is both time and resource demanding. This is why we have made this our specialty and offer energy data as a service. The hassle remains, but it doesn't have to be yours.
By choosing a solution and company that is integrated with our API ensures that your energy data is well taken care of.
