These are very tough times for most businesses. The corona lockdown and resulting drop in sales is going to affect them in more ways than one. There will be a significant drop in revenues in the coming months which will drive the management to think about cost saving initiatives. It is imperative that the management will have to keep a tight check on the costs until the situation improves. 

Salaries are definitely the major cost item for any business. However, this is not the right time to cut jobs and abandon your employees. Some companies have already put together a team to identify areas where they can limit spending to cut down losses. This is analogous to a Disaster Response and Recovery team in any country. 

Utility charges usually come in the top 10 ( if not top 5 ) monthly costs of any business. Optimising electricity and water usage can also help trim down the expenses without impact on the operations. However, this will require tight management by the facilities team if they do not have an energy monitoring or management solution in place. 

In most premises, there could be ongoing electricity wastage to the tune of 15-20%. Most managements did not heed the warning signals primarily because they treat electricity as a necessary evil. If the operations team is able to identify and eliminate those wastage points, it could contribute well to their business bottomline. This can even help management get through these testing times without harsh measures like cutting down jobs. This is also an opportunity for the employees to get together and contribute towards sustaining the business. 

Solutions like Greeniee go an extra mile by doing all the analysis from measured energy values and giving the users specific pointers to wastage happening at a premise. Once you have the detailed insights, it is just execution from the operations team. The changes to be implemented could be very minimal and simple – right from operating balanced loads to even ensuring efficient operation of loads that run 24 x 7. The team will just have to follow the instructions from Greeniee. 

Wastage from a bad equipment is also highlighted through the web and mobile interface. Timely maintenance not only helps cut down the excess power usage of these equipment, but also prevents an impending failure affecting the operations. Being a cloud-enabled solution giving timely alerts over email and app notifications, users have access to easily-interpretable information on the go. With its plug and play installation and easy-to-adopt architecture, users start seeing results in the first 15 days. 

It’s time we start taking energy efficiency seriously. In addition to saving money for your business, it also helps in reduced carbon emissions enabling a cleaner, greener planet. 

Interested ? Get in touch with us – get.help@greeniee.com. 

In today’s world, your business is lost without thorough planning. As the complexity and size of your infrastructure increases, so does the need for a more comprehensive plan. If you have the right Technology Partner showing you the ropes on how to make this planning process as cost effective as possible, that sets you apart in today’s competitive world.

The technology available to us today is massive. And this could be the very reason your business is struggling as you haven’t tapped into this massive reservoir yet. With the rise of automation, we now have the ability to reduce human intervention to as minimum as possible. One of the primary reasons energy and cost-saving initiatives fail is because it’s unclear as to how and whose responsibility it is to manage the undertaking. Again, remove the human intervention from this and voila, that’s where Greeniee comes in. We take that load off your shoulders and offer you real-time insight into your energy consumption with accuracy that sets our solution apart in this field.

The magnitude of what our solution offers is not just limited to getting real time updates on your overall consumption levels but also gathering individual equipment consumption using our tiffin box sized singular device. This is the start to your journey into digital transformation and we are taking you there.

Automation, in simple words stands for “leaving the entire work to computers or artificial intelligence”, and has only been a vision for most enterprises. Digitalisation has caused several businesses to transition online and even carry out management as well as day-to-day operations remotely. 

What Greeniee does is simple – with minimum intrusion into your plant, we give you the results that no amount of man power can deliver! Talk to us, let us be that technology partner who can take you to Industrie-4.0 !

Companies rarely understand and in most cases, comfortably ignore the menace of always-ON load. Even when the premise / office is not occupied ( say during night hours ), there is a minimal current that is drawn by the premise.

No property can come down to zero current when all operations are shut down, unless all power outlets are physically switched off. With the introduction of surveillance, data centers and other security solutions into each premise, there is a need for power 24 x 7. This leads to something called the always-ON aka phantom load in the premise. All electronic equipment has a minimum standby power that comes with it. Even when the equipment is non-functional yet powered, it continues to draw this minimal current. Even if it is in milli-ampere range, the presence of several such equipment will add this up to even an ampere or more. Now if there is an always-ON load of 1 ampere, it is bound to contribute atleast 5 kWh ( units ) of electricity every day.

We have seen industries also battle this menace. In some industrial premises, there will be exhaust fans in addition to server rooms and other always-ON areas. These have to work round the clock, which essentially means an added consumption even when the factory premise is non-operational. Once you start monitoring the data, you can easily find the problem-makers and do a fix that will in turn reduce energy usage and help save money.

Continuous monitoring will highlight these wastage points, which serve as starting steps to your journey towards energy efficiency. Monitoring solutions also provide the convenience of tracking these details from across the globe. This is critical for corporates with multiple facilities spread across different geographies. 

The hospitality business is a fiercely competitive industry in any part of the world. The opportunities for enhanced guest comfort, lower operating costs and an improved corporate image make pursuing energy efficiency worthwhile. Technology plays the role of a grand equalizer, giving even the smallest player in this cut-throat industry, a fighting chance to survive.

You want to be the best without going bankrupt with the bills. Based on studies, 3-6% of total hotel operating costs is spend on energy – second largest spending category for a hotel after employment. Guest rooms are vacant 70% of the time, yet account for 40-80% of hotel energy consumption. Energy in hotels is mainly consumed by temperature regulation, which represents a whooping average 69% of energy consumption. However, there are hidden gems which when discovered and monitored properly can help improve the energy efficiency at your business.

Having worked with some of the large names in the hospitality sector, our monitored results have only proven the need for Energy Monitoring in this dynamic sector. Based on our experience monitoring the F&B wings, typical consumption during the night when everything is shut down, should be close to 50% of that during the day. But there are premises which consume close to 75% of their daytime usage, even during late nights.

With the help of our realtime data analysis at the equipment level, we have even helped customers identify equipment problems much before their breakdown. At one of our sites, the heaters were drawing 29% more than their rated capacity. The monitored results even unearthed faulty thermostats that did not have proper cut off times leading to high inefficiency. These consumption hikes are not minor and they sum upto huge spikes in bills because of their 24*7 usage at the property. 

They remain undetected since there is no continuous monitoring process at the equipment level. In addition to the losses incurred by these faulty equipment, there is always a risk of breakdown which leads to much larger losses in terms of business as well as reputation. Some of these problems are also related to behavioural issues. However, continuous monitoring is key to strict enforcement of any rule.   

Let’s put an end to being blindsided by the energy bills. At Greenturn Idea Factory,  we help you know your equipment and overall consumption like the back of your hand. No more being kept in the dark. Talk to us, let us show you the magic of efficient energy usage.

Larger organizations have their operations spread across the globe, and this adds to the facility management nightmare. Centralized premise monitoring has been around for some time now. Most businesses have deployed CCTV cameras at their premises to keep an eye on the incidents at their premise.  But images do not really speak the story of energy consumption at the premise. You might see which equipments are working at a given time, but it doesn’t speak about their efficiency or consumption patterns.

With more and more companies leaning towards the ISO 14001, it becomes more critical for the facility management team to monitor the power consumption across their centres. Energy spent ( or consumed ) per employee is a key metric for this certification, and its more valuable if the EMS provides in-depth information – say energy spent on lighting per employee, or energy spent on HVAC per employee.

it becomes more critical for the facility management team to monitor the power consumption across their centres

IoT enabled energy metering systems might get you the cumulative consumption remotely. It is as good as collating the meter readings taken during the day onto a spreadsheet. But, in order to get the complete analytics of the total consumption patterns down to the equipment-level, you may need a smarter solution – a solution that gives your in-depth analysis on your usage patterns, gives insights on potential changes for optimising energy usage and so on.

The next point to consider this solution is the ease of adopting this solution. Can I install it without disturbing the existing infrastructure ? Can I avoid using multiple sensors at each equipment ? Can I avoid a extensive cabling to connect all these hardware pieces ? If the answer to all the above questions are YES, then go ahead and deploy it.  Greeniee is one such solution that allows you to monitor your premise, at an equipment-level, without having to deploy sensors at each of your equipment. Its state-of-the-art data analytics engine understands your usage patterns ( cumulative as well as equipment-wise ), compares it to your business operations and climatic conditions at the locality, and helps optimize the consumption by identifying those minor areas of power wastage.

Can I install it without disturbing the existing infrastructure ? Can I avoid using multiple sensors at each equipment ? These are typical questions that could arise in the mind of any buyer. 

A small leakage or wastage would not just add to their operational expense, but also might put your operations in jeopardy. What if a critical equipment is faulty and has been showing signs of malfunction ? The facility team may or may not have notified it yet. If this critical equipment breaks down on a day, it could completely impact the business operations and the losses could be far more than what the power losses accumulate over couple of years. So you can close your eye on energy wastage, but it sure will open your eyes wide if you look at the losses due to a breakdown.

Greeniee is one such solution that allows you to monitor your premise, at an equipment-level, without having to deploy sensors at each of your equipment. 

A system like Greeniee also helps the consumer get alerted about possible equipment malfunction, leading to predictive maintenance thereby avoiding “bad surprises” and related downtime. As the need of the day, the system delivers all this information and alerts on your smartphone application in addition to your email.

Most business owners fail to realise the importance of Powerfactor . Powerfactor is an equally important factor contributing to power wastage as are any malfunctioning equipment. It is same as having an extra non-productive equipment connected in the line, which does not serve any purpose other than burning a hole in your pocket. 

The simple definition of Powerfactor is the ratio of the real power absorbed by the circuit to the apparent power flowing in the circuit. In an electric power system, a load with a lower Powerfactor draws more current than a load with higher Powerfactor for the same levels of productivity. And these higher currents are merely wasted in the distribution system, and may even cause insulation on the wires to burn off eventually causing fire accidents. 

a load with a lower Powerfactor draws more current than a load with higher Powerfactor for the same levels of productivity

Bad Powerfactor will lead to utilities spending more on larger equipment / wires. This is the primary reason that electrical utilities charge hefty fines from their customers for not maintaining good power factor ( i.e. either above 0.95 or 0.9 ). But there are few who charge only the heavy load ( industrial or HT customers ) alone, and leave our the low load ( domestic or LT customers). Powerfactor is a problem that impact every energy consumer irrespective of the load levels they usually use. There are some utilities that even go to the extent of having APFC ( Automatic Power Factor Controllers ) panels connected at the distribution transformers to deal with this menace.  

Powerfactor is a problem that impact every energy consumer irrespective of the load levels they usually use.

HT and high load consumers usually have APFCs in their premise to deal with their problem. But this is more of a one-time installed feature in their electrical system, which is forgotten a period of time. Periodic maintenance and monitoring ensures that the APFCs are performing as they are expected to. There are occasions where the Powerfactor drops when the actual demand ( Watts ) falls below a particular level. This happens due to bad design of the APFC which does not allow capacitors to engage when the load goes below a particular level. It is always recommended to design APFCs to work during the most common load condition. Studies show that at least 8% of the power consumed at a premise could be wasted due to bad power factor. Efficient tracking of Powerfactor trends could help eliminate this wastage and thereby save money.

Studies show that at least 8% of the power consumed at a premise could be wasted due to bad power factor.

Continuous monitoring helps achieve efficiency through realtime tracking of the performance of these capacitors. It tells the customer

• the average Powerfactor during different times of the day or different load conditions
• the load conditions when the Powerfactor drops below the thresholds ( let’s say 0.9 ), 
• alerts user when a particular equipment introduces bad Powerfactor into the system. 

By having this information, consumers can understand the performance of their APFC panels and take corrective actions to eliminate this wastage. 

Any successful business organisation is driven by the key decisions made by its stakeholders. The decisions could be related to growth strategies, marketing initiatives, cost management or even employee welfare. And these decisions have to be based on supporting data, and not based on a feeling of one or more individuals in the management team. ERP is the perfect example for a platform that derives insights to help make such key decisions from a business management perspective. 

During our conversation with business owners, facility managers and maintenance engineers, we have come across several occasions where they tend to address the energy efficiency issue by upgrading the traditional incandescent lighting to LED lamps. Yes, this is a typical low hanging fruit for the owners and for the facility team. But is it good enough to bring about considerable savings ? Is the investment justified in terms of the returns ? How soon can you recover the investment in the form of monthly savings in energy bills ? 

Contribution of lighting load for an organisation could vary across industry verticals. For example, this could be close to 50% for a showroom, approximately 20% in a hospital, whereas it could be as low as 10% in a manufacturing unit. The investment in LED lamps has to be made considering these aspects as well. If the contribution is less than 20%, these upgrades only address that little chunk of your energy expenses, whereas the larger piece ( say 80% in this example ) is left unaddressed. The management team must understand the detailed split-up of their energy expenses, to ensure that the investment made towards optimising power usage gives the desired results. 

This is where Energy Management Systems ( EMS ) help business owners take key investment decisions when it comes to energy efficiency and sustainability initiatives. Greeniee is one such platform that empowers its customers by giving them detailed analysis of consumption down to the individual equipment level. So, the customer ultimately knows whether the major portion of energy consumed on his premise is spent on HVAC or some other equipment. Knowing where to invest, how to invest for better results in power savings, thereby improving the operational efficiency of the entire organisation.

Carbon footprint is the best estimate of the total amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced to directly and indirectly build and operate a product, business, household, etc. There are also natural causes for GHG emissions including from plants and animals. But as with most natural things, nature maintains a balance so that GHGs are kept at a level that helps to sustain life on earth. But we humans find it very hard to play by the rules of the nature. All the activities we undertake like burning fossil fuels, producing electricity, cutting down trees etc contribute to GHG emissions into the atmosphere. All this adds up the GHGs in the atmosphere and nature As a business, your activities like employee and goods transportation, refrigerant systems used for cooling, on site waste management etc contribute towards your greenhouse emissions.

All this GHGs in the atmosphere absorbs radiation and prevents heat from escaping the atmosphere. This excess heat creates disrupted weather patterns, higher global average temperatures and results in climate changes. This adversely affects livelihoods of people across the globe from severe winters in parts of US and Europe, Flash floods in parts of South America and Asia and extended dry spells in Australia. A recent study by US Environmental Protection Agency found that the largest contributor to GHG emissions in the US was electricity production. It is extremely critical that businesses understand their carbon footprint and regulate it for a cleaner, greener and sustainable planet.

Greeniee can help you reduce your energy consumption and also understand your carbon footprint, so that you can take informed decisions on your environmental impact. For more details, visit https://www.greeniee.com or write to us – help@greeniee.com

Just like humans, electrical appliances also tend to get lethargic with age. When I say lethargic appliances, I mean to say that this equipment consumes more power for the same operations than what it used to do when it was brand new.

Studies have shown that motor loads could even consume upto 50% more power, after a period of 3 years. This change may not happen in a day or so. The rate of deviation in the drawn power could be gradual, accumulating to a large value over a period of time. Unless this is closely monitored, customers fail to notice this menace and identify the root cause. Such a deviation in power consumption not only adds to your machine running costs, it also introduces vulnerability in your operations since this machine can breakdown at any point.

 Studies have shown that motor loads could even consume upto 50% more power, after a period of 3 years

Increase in power consumption can be used as a metric to identify the overall health of a machine. A machine that consumes more power definitely needs to be looked into, by the technicians. Several manufacturing units employ people going around, taking energy readings from the machines. These readings are further collated to generate manual reports, and when compared to previous data can help pinpoint such deviations. Such processes help engineers easily schedule their maintenance activity.

This is analogous to humans doing medical checkup periodically after they cross a particular age ( say 30 ). Diagnostics are important for both humans and machines to take necessary precautions. As it is rightly said, periodic scheduled maintenance can always avert system breakdown.

Periodic scheduled maintenance can always avert system breakdown

With the coming of IoT enabled energy analytics platforms like Greeniee, the technicians need not bother about tracking down readings, or comparing them to historical data to find deviations. The new generation monitoring systems have algorithms built in to them, to track any deviation and trigger alert notifications to the concerned stakeholders. This is again analogous to fitness bands and smart watches, that alert you to move, stand, walk to make sure people are healthy. This, by far, has been a tremendous jump from the conventional diagnostics approach.

We sure are entering the new age of AI-powered assistants and alerts to improve efficiency in all aspects of life. For more details, email us.