Published:  3.2.2020

The annual energy consumption of large companies is inevitably massive, but consumption can be decreased significantly through rationalisation. 

EnerKey specialises in responsible energy management and helps companies measure energy consumption and emissions and make long-term plans with which they can reduce their carbon footprint significantly. 

EnerKey’s services are widely used, for example, in the daily consumer goods sector, where refrigeration equipment, air conditioning and lighting consume energy. 

According to Eerik Soininen, Technical Account Manager, EnerKey helps companies implement better and more responsible energy management, that is, curb energy consumption in the long term based on consumption data. For example, if lighting is found to consume a lot of energy, fluorescent lights can be replaced with LED lights. With this, savings of more than 30% can be easily achieved in the electricity costs for lighting. 

When energy efficiency measures are discussed, many also think of problems with the quality of indoor air. It is easy to save energy by adjusting the settings of air supply units or by reducing heating, but this can have an effect on the working conditions of employees or industrial processes. Expertise is increasingly important when the objective is to implement cost-saving measures while preserving the conditions unchanged or while even improving the quality of indoor air.

Energy measures should always support the well-being of employees. 

We measure the quality of indoor air together with our partner IISY. EnerKey combines the calculated indoor air index with energy efficiency measures and energy consumption. In all activities, people are the priority, and this allows us to ensure that the users of the premises have the best possible working conditions.

Big chains save millions on an annual basis 

The refrigeration equipment in shops, building technology and lighting are recommended to be reviewed first when the objective is to reduce energy consumption. 

At the beginning of the millennium, many chain shops had open-fronted refrigeration equipment. These days, nearly all shops have refrigeration equipment with doors or lids, as they enable considerable energy savings. In terms of changes, the smoothness of shop visits and any increase in the humidity of indoor air as a result of the installation of lids must be taken into account. Too much humidity may have an effect on the other products in the shop.

Kesko, one of EnerKey’s customers, says that its long-term cooperation with EnerKey has enabled annual savings of up to five million euros. 

In a large chain of shops, it is easy to compare the figures of various locations and analyse which buildings should be targeted in order to achieve the energy saving objectives. These measures save both money and time, in addition to which they reduce your carbon footprint, says Soininen.

“You cannot improve something you are not measuring” 

EnerKey’s energy management is always based on the collection of accurate data, which helps find the areas in which actions should be taken. Digita’s modern LoRaWan network is one solution for data collection. The network based on IoT technology is capable of quickly transmitting large volumes of small data. 

First, we install sensors in the building and connect them to the LoRaWan network. With this, information on energy consumption can be collected from various parts of the building cost-effectively and efficiently

According to Soininen, the fact that Digita’s LoRaWan network operates reliably throughout Finland is one of its assets. 

Similar networks with good coverage are not available in all countries. In some countries, networks like this can be operated by several different companies. Digita enables us to transmit data throughout Finland, which facilitates our operations and eliminates the need to use the services of several different parties. The capacity of Digita’s networks has also been found to be excellent, and there have been hardly any breaks in data traffic. For us, it’s important that we can rely on high-quality data transmission for the next twenty years.

The collected data is analysed. After this, EnerKey and the customer will together identify the measures that are required in order to reduce consumption. Accurate data makes it easy to target measures effectively. 

EnerKey’s system enables our customers to measure the consumption of over 90 different quantities, such as district heating, natural gas, water and electricity.

Waste and fuel consumption are also monitored 

In addition to energy consumption, EnerKey’s system can be used to monitor several other areas such as waste and fuel consumption. This information is collected with the help of several cooperation partners. 

Logistics companies can collect information on the consumption of heavy diesel oil and fuel oil. This enables the knowledge-based management of energy consumption and helps increase responsible consumption. 

EnerKey invests strongly in the continuous improvement of responsible energy management in companies. The operations are increasingly based on artificial intelligence. 

We have developed artificial intelligence together with our customers and have received a lot of good feedback in this area. Our objective is to create a Virtual Energy Manager, which automatically monitors the energy consumption of buildings and the conditions in them, compares these with information from corresponding buildings and is able to recommend measures directly to the customer. 

Originally published on the mtvuutiset.fi website through commercial cooperation.