EMF for building management energy application!

For many years now ‘Energy’ has been a hot topic. Energy prices are constantly under the spotlight, and pressure is consistently being applied to businesses and consumers alike to reduce their carbon footprint in order to help meet the government targets for reducing the effects of climate change.

For large infrastructure sites such as hospitals, large office complexes and arenas, energy management is a very important factor in optimising energy usage which in turn can reduce both utility costs and carbon emissions. Given the significant amounts of energy, including gas and water these buildings use, it is vital to have a management process in place to monitor on site usage and identify areas of high consumption. This data can then be used to look at ways of optimising energy usage.

One such example is a London based hospital that required their energy and water consumption to be monitored and evaluated against KPI’s as part of their management process. PA Energy, a London (GB) based energy and water services company with an impressive track record in assisting customers to reduce their utility demand and costs, were contacted and asked to review the metering in 3 blocks whilst identifying any problems with heat and chilled water metering and provide a resolution fix.

Heat metering requires three values; the flow rate, the temperature of the supply heat transfer fluid (usually water) and the temperature of the fluid in the return leg of the system.  These values can calculate the energy consumption which can be reviewed and savings potentially made. It was on the LTHW (low temperature hot water) system that PA Energy required a reliable flowmeter to measure the flow rate of the water up to 80⁰C at flow rates of between 5 and 8.5 m3/h. They decided on the OPTIFLUX 2000 electromagnetic flowmeter from Krohne, the world market leaders in electromagnetic flowmeter technology.

Designed for water and wastewater applications the OPTIFLUX 2000 was the ideal choice. It provides both high accuracy and reliability and is maintenance free. It comes with a wide range of industry approvals and with a huge installed base, it gave PA Energy confidence that they were installing a meter they could trust.

Percy Albuquerque, managing director of PA Energy comments; “Installing the correct flowmeter on a project is vital. We need to be confident that it can meet the demands of the application and provide accurate and reliable data readings that can be used in calculating energy consumption.” He continues, “KROHNE offered a solution that ticked all the boxes. We have now installed a number of  OPTIFLUX 2000 flowmeters and are very happy with how they are performing.”

The systems provided by PA Energy, using the OPTIFLUX 2000 will enable the site staff to monitor utility consumption and evaluate demand whilst identifying opportunities for cost savings and carbon reduction.

• Krohne products are marketed in Ireland by DWN Instrumentation