Has covid 19 virus has removed all the workers from the buildings you are the Facilities Manager for?
Below is 2020 Quarter 1 weekly total electric used graph for a UK client when lockdown started week commencing 23/03/2020.The graphs and reports Carbon Counter provide to clients are showing interesting trends and suggest opportunities for long-term savings.
The reduced electric, gas and water usage observed by Carbon Counter has been repeat globally. Many government and scientific institutions are collating the data about lockdown CO₂e emissions reductions. See the article Lockdowns trigger dramatic fall in global carbon emissions published by the Guardian.
In the above bar graph the dark red is the baseload, which is either essential power systems such as servers and refrigeration units etc. or unnecessary baseload from tools, office equipment units and appliances remaining powered when the building is unoccupied. In normal times unoccupied equates to night-time.
During the Covid lock-down period, with the workers staying away from the building, energy use should be significantly less. Look at the drop in variable electricity used during week commencing 23 March 2020. Also, a small fall in base-load electricity used. The challenge for the Facilities Manager is to keep these reductions long term in the post Covid 19 world
The above graph is the weekly electric data from one sub-meter in the business park. The constant baseload usage is varied with no obvious link to the building\’s occupancy level , a bit of investigation is needed.
Below is the completed Forecast extracted from Blue Skies Data VIew in January 2021. A data visualization for the electric used by this one office block during 2020. Note the building uses electric for heating and air conditioning / climatization.
Important for the Facilities Manager was that Carbon Counter provides simple evidence that overall energy usage is reduced in this enforced shut-down, with options to find permanent savings when the buildings are in normal use.
