Norwegian municipality saves NOK millions with energy monitoring system
By utilizing the energy monitoring system None, Karmøy municipality discovered that electricity consumption went through the roof when the new E-sport line opened, and the municipality has saved NOK millions on the power bill. Cegal develops and operates the None system, which provides huge savings for property operators.
Kristian Snørteland Netland is a construction management engineer looking after Karmøy municipality's energy use. The municipality owns and operates over 200,000 square meters of building stock. All purpose-built buildings with an annual energy consumption of more than 50,000 kWh are monitored by the None energy monitoring system. The annual energy consumption is approximately 25,000,000 kWh distributed among 71 purpose-built buildings.
The energy monitoring system None, which has been developed by Cegal, has given the municipality NOK million in savings since it was put into use in 2020.
Kristian Snørteland Netland, Karmøy Kommune
Today, the municipality saves around 900,000 kWh annually compared to 2019 and previous years, before the municipality got an overall energy monitoring system (energy monitoring system). Netland says that the None system provides a good overview of which energy-saving measures have the best effect. The comparison of the energy consumption of the individual buildings has also produced some aha experiences.
Netland says: “At one school, the electricity consumption suddenly shot up. It turned out that the E-sport offer the school had started during school hours was also used in the evening. The gaming PCs draw a total of approx. 5–10 kWh and the students are not good at turning these off after use. Thus, they were left on when the school was closed. It appears on the electricity bill.”
Expensive energy fuels demand
- Frode Styve, general manager of the company behind the energy monitoring system None, starts: “High electricity prices and a focus on sustainability reporting mean that more people have discovered us.”
Many are perhaps familiar with GreenTracker, the predecessor to None. In 2022, the energy monitoring system changed its name and graphic profile to bring out the goals and meaning of the system's point more clearly. The name “None” alludes to the fact that no energy should be wasted. The objective of the energy monitoring system None is that energy consumption should decrease towards zero.
Read more: With Green Tracker, large companies can halve energy consumption >
With help from Cegal, None is developed as an independent energy monitoring system. It is used to measure power consumption, independent of energy sources, equipment, and the electricity supplier. It can also be integrated with other energy carriers, such as district heating, hydrogen, or oil. All the energy consumption is fed into one system so that you get a complete picture and full control over energy use in a clear and visual interface. It makes it easy to cut costs, habits, and emissions. You will also see the effect of various energy-saving measures.
The product is particularly suitable for businesses with large and complex energy use. Among the users of None we find municipalities that operate many buildings, real estate companies and property operators, industry, shopping centers, shop and hotel chains, large condominiums that must distribute joint costs, and so on.
High electricity prices and ESG reporting
Frode Styve at Green Tracker says: “There is a completely different focus on energy use today than just a couple of years ago. Before, we were met with "it's good to get an overview of the electricity consumption, but we spend a lot more money on coffee filters than on electricity.
With today's prices, the electricity bills are significant. At the same time, more people are interested in getting environmental certifications, and many are going to start with ESG reporting.
Frode Styve, Green Tracker
ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting has become increasingly important in recent years to attract investors and employees and meet the authorities' requirements and laws. ESG is an English abbreviation and stands for. ESG is about how a business operates and contributes to sustainable development. Energy use and emissions are an important part of ESG reporting.
General manager Frode Styve says that he receives good feedback from the users of the energy monitoring system. They say that None gives them a good overview of energy consumption and that it is a really good tool.
Styve says that Haugesund municipality, among other things, halved energy consumption on one building using None. He also highlights Tveita Borettslag, Norway's fourth-largest housing association, with 819 apartments in three high-rise buildings. Since they adopted None, the energy consumption for heating and tap water has more than halved from approximately 12 GWh/year to approximately 5 GWh/year. Karmøy municipality is another satisfied user who has saved NOK millions.
Provides incentives for energy savings
For Karmøy municipality, control over energy consumption makes implementing the right energy-saving measures easy. Now, Karmøy saves large sums of money every year by turning off ventilation systems when buildings are empty, taking control of thermometers, and lowering the temperature outside usage times.
In the same way, None shows which investments are most profitable in terms of reducing energy consumption. Netland says that installing air/water heat pumps and improving the building's temperature control systems have been the most profitable investments for the municipality.
Netland says: “We now have historical data that shows the effect and economic benefits of various measures granted. This means that we can ask for investments that we can document that have a short repayment period.”
He also highlights other advantages of None: charging of electric cars can be specified on the power consumption so that it is not considered part of the building's energy consumption.
Advantages of a stand-alone energy monitoring system
Both electricity and utilities suppliers have their own systems that show an overview of energy use, but only for the energy in their systems. In addition, historical data is often a problem to pass on when changing electricity suppliers or upgrading facilities.
Frode Styve adds: “None is independent and can be connected to all types of facilities and provides an overview of all energy use, regardless of whether it is gas, district heating, solar, electricity, oil or something else.”
Natland at Karmøy municipality says: “Before, we used the power suppliers' own energy monitoring systems. This eventually became challenging, as we changed electricity suppliers at regular intervals. We then got a lot of work moving power-use history into a new electricity supplier's systems, if it was even possible. With None we keep the history regardless of which electricity supplier we have. We also use None to collect energy supplies from other sources such as gas and district heating, which helps to give us an overall picture of the building's energy consumption.”
Measures water consumption and waste management
Together with Cegal, Green Tracker is constantly developing the energy monitoring system platform. Styve says that measurement of all qualities related to indoor climate is under development. This solution will document noise level, temperature, radon, dust, CO2, cooling, and freezing temperatures. In addition, None also handles water consumption and sewage in the same way as electricity.
It is Cegal that has developed and operates None. Cegal has full lifecycle management that includes architecture, development, testing, further development, and maintenance. The development takes place in close collaboration with GreenTracker, the company behind None.
The expertise Cegal has at the intersection of technology and energy means that they delivers very high quality.
Frode Styve, None
Frode Styve concludes: It is easy to just deal with the electricity meters and get data from them, but the meters are only a small part of the energy value chain. Cegal has worked with the power industry for so long that they understand what solutions need to be created.
