Schneider Electric is improving its EcoStruxure Energy Hub, a secure, easy-to-use IoT software-as-a-service that simplifies energy management and analysis for intelligent buildings and facilities.

With buildings responsible for 40% of global CO₂ emissions, it’s vital facility managers are empowered to monitor energy usage and emissions in real time. Yet most electrical assets are not digitally connected in buildings, limiting visibility of energy usage and compliance. This, plus a lack of skilled personnel, means organisations are struggling to create a plan and take appropriate actions to achieve net zero goals.

EcoStruxure Energy Hub solves this problem by providing visibility into energy usage, costs and performance, and energy-saving recommendations, all in an intuitively-designed package that is simple to install, configure and use. It is said to make managing energy as easy and secure as managing personal finances via a smartphone app.

“EcoStruxure Energy Hub simplifies energy management by letting facility managers automatically collect, store, visualise and report on energy data, whether they manage a single building, a campus or a portfolio of buildings,” said Sophie Borgne, senior vice president at Schneider Electric. “It empowers customers to change the way they manage their energy, which is more crucial than ever given the current energy crisis and accelerating climate change.”

The Burwell Student Center at the University of Denver uses the EcoStruxure Energy Hub to provide simple energy management tools and sustainability standards. Aligned with Leed Platinum requirements, it provides the university with an easily accessible view into the energy and occupancy needs of the student centre, and strengthens the university’s ability to capture, react to and resolve immediate issues or make any necessary changes in the system’s overall energy usage.

“We were able to combine simplicity and productivity with effective net zero strategy execution and fair price expectations, which made it perfect for our energy needs here at the university,” said Lynn Bailey, director of energy and sustainability at the university. “In fact, we are considering expanding the Energy Hub system to other buildings on our campus.

EcoStruxure Energy Hub was designed with Schneider Electric’s vision for sustainability and buildings of the future in mind, featuring three phases of building energy management maturity:

• Energy compliance and basic awareness help building owners comply with building energy codes and create transparency to help drive energy-efficient and sustainable behaviour. In addition to energy compliance data and electrical distribution monitoring and alarming, the enhancements allow users to allocate energy usage and costs to building tenants, driving energy usage accountability and savings.
• Energy performance leverages analytics to develop deep insights into waste reduction, operational improvements and performance tracking, including energy savings tips, a new feature.
• Energy optimisation helps organisations drive continuous energy improvement in building operations without needing to invest in expensive and sophisticated on-premise automation systems.