METERING
B y R ick E llul
Targeting actual energy use - PART II
Rick Ellul is the regional sales manager for Central and Western Canada at Belimo Aircontrols Canada Inc. He is also a member of the CSA 900 Technical committee for Thermal Energy Meters. Rick can be reached at rick.ellul@ca.belimo.com
When networks talk to each other, tools such as machine learning can be used to map out smarter ways to operate buildings’ thermal energy.
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art I in the July/August issue of Mechanical Business (available at mechanicalbusiness. com) addressed the what, how, and types of thermal energy meters (TEMs). To fully understand TEMs it is important to look at where this technology is headed and the standards related to it. We know that 40 per cent of all energy consumed is from commercial buildings. Energy costs continue to rise and cities will put more pressure on buildings to consume less. With this in mind the measurement of energy will be more and more prevalent. The multi-unit residential sector is growing as urbanization is accelerating across the globe. Tenants and owners in residential buildings expect the same transparency they have with everything else they run from their smart phone and energy will be no different. Therefore, we will see more and more developers adopt thermal energy metering, particularly if they use centrally distributed hydronic systems. There is a future that is coming where there will be a convergence of the thermal energy metering and the building management system. In this future there is greater benefit for both the building owner/management and the tenants. Greater energy efficiency will be possible when we synergize these networks all to talk to each other and we can use tools such as machine learning to map out smarter ways to operate buildings’ thermal energy.
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M e c h a n i c a l
B u s i n e s s
Metering standards and regulations There is a national standard for thermal energy metering for the purposes of energy management and control in Canada called CSA C900.3:21. CSA has released the latest version. This standard sets out the criteria for TEM construction, data exchange, testing, verification, installation operation, and maintenance. In the case of direct billing and allocation of energy costs, in addition to the CSA C900.3:21 standard, there are laws that regulate what kind of meters can be used for billing purposes in Canada. Meters must be certified by Measurement Canada if you want to use them to bill for energy. Measurement Canada will accept applications for meters meeting the European standards EN1434 or the Canadian Standard CSA900.
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