Read the signals

We’re facing a global energy crisis. Here, Alisha Kalam, Head of Data-Led Maintenance & Systems Analytics, Platinum Facilities looks at ways of identifying energy waste in your building

For many facilities managers, energy data can feel overwhelming – there’s no shortage of numbers but knowing what to do with them is another matter. The good news is that a handful of straightforward checks can reveal a great deal about how your building is performing and where inefficiency is taking hold.

SEASONAL CONSUMPTION PATTERNS

One of the most accessible starting points is mapping monthly gas and electricity use against the time of year. In a typical UK office, the relationship should be predictable. Gas consumption tends to climb through the winter months as heating plant works harder to maintain space temperatures and produce hot water. Electricity, meanwhile, often peaks in summer when cooling systems, pumps and fans are under greater load.

Where that seasonal pattern is absent – i.e., consumption looks broadly the same regardless of temperature outside – it’s worth investigating. Plant may be running when it shouldn’t be, controls may have lost their connection to real-world demand, or the control strategy may no longer reflect how the building is occupied and used. That single observation can help you decide where to direct your attention first: schedules, controls, or the way the building is being operated day to day.

VALIDATE YOUR BMS

Any trend is only as reliable as the data behind it. Before acting on what you’re seeing, it’s worth sense-checking your BMS points against what’s happening on the ground. It’s not unusual to find a fan or pump showing as active when it’s stood still, or vice versa. Wiring changes, sensor faults, commissioning gaps and point mapping issues can all cause BMS statuses to drift from reality over time. A brief walkaround with an eye on live readings can save considerable wasted effort.

Time schedules deserve similar scrutiny. A schedule that looks correct on screen – say, 08:00 to 17:00 – doesn’t always translate to equipment switching off at the end of the day. A communication fault or a standing override can keep systems running through the night. Even a single zone sensor calling for heat outside occupied hours is enough to bring on plant, so long as the control logic allows it. A useful question to keep in mind: if the building is meant to be unoccupied, what conditions could still be triggering a demand response?

USE OCCUPANCY AS A DEMAND SIGNAL

How the building is used should be one of the clearest drivers of energy consumption. In a well-functioning building, energy use rises when people arrive and falls when they leave. This means evenings, weekends and bank holidays should show a meaningful drop.

When consumption remains largely flat regardless of occupancy levels, it’s a strong indicator that plant is running without meaningful modulation. Half-hourly meter data and trend logs are particularly useful here. Even without sophisticated analytics tools, they can reveal out-of-hours running patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed. Most utility providers will supply this data on request.

HIDDEN COST OF OPERATIONAL HABITS

Not all energy waste is a technical problem. A significant proportion stems from how buildings are managed under pressure. When comfort complaints come in – a cold desk, an overheated meeting room, a persistent hot or cold call from one part of the floor – the instinct is often to act quickly. That might mean forcing a fan coil to full output, manually opening a valve, or switching a piece of plant to hand mode. The fix resolves the immediate complaint, but if the equipment isn’t returned to auto, what started as a localised response can create a persistent demand signal that draws on boilers, chillers, pumps and air handling units long after the original problem has passed.

REMOVE OVERRIDES

Once you’ve worked through the basics, the next most impactful step is often simply clearing persistent overrides and returning equipment to automatic control.

Plant held in manual mode tends to run continuously, regardless of what the building needs. When an automatically controlled system triggers a comfort complaint, this is valuable diagnostic information. Rather than masking it with another override, it points you towards the underlying issue.

Most BMS platforms, even older ones, hold historical trend data – fan speeds, valve positions, flow temperatures, run signals – and this information can expose patterns that aren’t visible in consumption figures alone: for example, out-of-hours operation, persistent demand from a single area, simultaneous heating and cooling, or equipment that never modulates away from full output.

At one client site, analysis of the daily electrical load showed that AHU energy consumption remained unusually high during weekdays when compared with weekends. This raised concern because the building is a residential block, where footfall is expected to be less during the week, when many residents are likely to be out during the day.

Following further investigation, it was found that the fan had been manually overridden to operate at a fixed speed. As a result, the issue was resolved without the need for any wider control logic amendments or capital expenditure.

The data is usually already there. It’s knowing what questions to ask of it that makes the difference.