traditional thermostat versus an Energy Management System

January 2021 —

Controlling Your Commercial HVAC

Businesses waste 60 percent of their energy dollars each year which is a result of inefficient HVAC units and lighting to poorly maintained equipment to ineffective HVAC schedules. That’s why it’s essential to take a holistic approach to monitoring and controlling your electrical infrastructure. Since nearly half of energy waste is related to HVAC units, we’ll explore the differences between an energy management solution and a standard programmable thermostat.

Energy Management Solution vs. Programmable Thermostats

An energy management solution drives efficiency throughout your electrical infrastructure as a complete system, whereas a programmable thermostat will only impact energy costs from HVAC units alone. This difference allows for more energy and operational savings coming from an energy management solution; however, this post will focus on an apples-to-apples comparison of differences at the HVAC level. Here is a list of some of the biggest variations between the two options:

Programmable Thermostats

Designed for Home and Commercial Use

• Can be programmed for different schedules, but anyone can override setpoints and put the thermostat on permanent hold

Only Integrates Your HVAC Units

• Platforms are built only to control your HVAC units, not integrate with other electrical equipment

Alerts

• May alert you to high/low temperatures

No HVAC Diagnosis

Energy Management Solution

Designed for Commercial Operations

• Easily set multi-period scheduling based on the daily customer flow of your site
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• If setpoints are manually overridden, it will return to the pre-set schedule in 30-120 minutes
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• Applies algorithms based on other commercial locations to maximize efficiency and comfort
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• Predicts when your building will use the most energy during the month to curtail HVAC usage for 15 minutes at a time to save up to an additional 5% on your energy bill.

Integrates Your Entire Facility

• Monitor and control your electrical infrastructure (HVAC, lighting, refrigeration, etc.…) into one platform that is available on a mobile application and web-based service
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• Easily update setpoints for multiple facilities in just a few clicks

Actionable Alarms

• Not only alerts you to HVAC high/low temperatures, but also if your HVAC is short cycling, long cycling, performance trends, and power issues

HVAC Diagnostics

• Tests the performance and operational status of each unit every month to identify issues and can predict when a low performing HVAC unit might fail

The decision between an energy management solution and a programmable thermostat may seem like a budget decision initially, yet the return on investment is often recognized much sooner in an energy management system. With ConnectedControl’s turkey solution with no upfront costs, we have created a unique value proposition that allows customers to be cash flow positive from day one without touching a capital expense budget. To learn more, contact us, and we’ll get in touch with you soon.

Since 2008, Connect Energy has focused on bringing cost-effective energy solutions to commercial, institutional, and industrial customers throughout Saskatchewan.