Typical top-down data collection doesn’t work
The traditional “top-down” approach to environmental data management is to source information from utilities providers and bills. While this might be a sufficient way to store energy and water data, aggregating and collecting data this way can be very complex, for three reasons:
1. Utilities only provide retrospective information on a monthly or quarterly basis – limiting annual data points to 4 or, at most, 12 – as well as severely limiting the ability to analyse trends and behaviour changes.
2. Entering energy data into an online system can be manual and tedious, resulting in the need for a third-party consultant to manage the data entry process and adding significant cost.
3. There is no ability to directly implement changes or modifications; all actions must be undertaken at the behest of analysts.
The retrospective and infrequent timing of the top-down approach limits opportunities for smart energy management. Managers can glean limited learnings from month(s) old data and have limited opportunity to make improvements.
Bottom-up data collection can be expensive, without driving results
A “bottom-up” approach accumulates data on site via smart building systems, collecting live, granular data, which building management can use to drive efficiencies and rolling them up into management dashboards. This approach can incorporate other live data sources, including temperature and the carbon intensity of the energy that is being used, to ensure a holistic approach to building energy management. While these solutions can be more costly to implement, they are commonly accompanied by analytics and the promise of driving efficiencies and savings.
However, these solutions still fall short as they typically have an over-reliance on building management systems (BMS) or other re-purposed building systems to acquire the necessary data. Such systems are designed to track a finite number of data points from a finite number of systems for a finite number of purposes. They are not designed to integrate multiple complex systems and sensors, nor do they have the data management strategies to provide the high degree of accuracy required to drive environmental improvements. As technology advances and buildings age, it is also very difficult to retrofit these systems to new and emerging sensors.
While bottom-up data may provide more frequent data than the top-down approach, the accuracy and ability to change behaviour remains limited.
How the Avani Way is different
Avani is different from other approaches to environmental management, as within a single platform we can:
- Provide adaptive connection, capturing an asset’s energy use and associated carbon footprint, irrespective of asset age and technological capacity
- Read from and write to any digital device, allowing true building automation based on prevailing conditions, including the source of energy
- Collect and collate data at the sensor, building and portfolio level, aggregating the machine level energy output used by facilities management
- Present portfolio wide metrics to ESG managers and Fund managers accurately and in real-time, ensuring consistency of data across business
- Enable innovative carbon reduction strategies through dynamic, real time carbon monitoring and demand management strategy execution
These features allow Avani to provide carbon reporting and decarbonisation pathways for global portfolios irrespective of size and asset composition.