I am forever amazed at the lack of time we spend on developing good control systems. Control systems can significantly influence our energy consumption. Yet on too many occasions, we seem all too eager to miss this opportunity.
How much time to we spend on the design of control systems? What I mean by this is. When a building is in the design and build phase, what percentage of time is dedicated to the control system that will determine its performance?
It would appear that the buildings post completion performance comes a distant second place to being delivered on time and on budget. Which is strange as this is the UK and we rarely arrive on time so I am somewhat confused. So many questions come to mind.
If you have delivered a project on budget but have had to reverse engineer somethings out. Have you really delivered? Why are control systems all too often reverse engineered out of projects as budgets become tight? Who first coined the expression “Reverse Engineered”?
Do you know anyone with a PHD in reverse engineering?
What the F*ck is reverse engineering in any case? Do you know anyone with a PHD in reverse engineering? I certainly do not. Is it just project management talk for taking something out? I reverse engineered the junk in my shed the other weekend. What the F*ck does that mean?
Controls do not have to be automated they can actually be human actions we take. I once audited a large exhibition and conferencing centre that had its own in-house catering out let. Upon walking into the kitchen area I was surprised to find the gas fired grill on with nothing on underneath it.
When I questioned why the grill was on, I was told that they were waiting for the first toast order. The kitchen staff went on to explain that if no one ordered toast the grill stayed on all day.
F*ck me! Do you want to make the energy savings any easier to find????
This blatant lack of control and responsibility underlined a shocking disregard for the Environment. If I could have shut them down for energy wastage I would have.
Being someone who has commissioned many energy saving projects, I can say with confidence that a well-designed control system is invaluable. What frustrates me is how often we miss these opportunities. Time for an example.
Lets’ look at Street Lighting. Street Lighting very rarely gets reverse engineered. But amazingly the majority of our street lights are still photocell controlled. This means they come on at dusk and turn off at dawn.
I accept that some local councils have wisely taken the decision to switch of large parts of its street lighting stock after midnight. However, whilst I welcome this approach it is certainly not widespread across the Country. The Street lights in my town for example are on all night.
With the internet of things, I think that street lighting represents a massive opportunity to reduce consumption through the implementation of smart controls. Street lighting is as such a large scale lighting system. Talk about state the obvious. However, we seem reluctant to apply any real controls to it.
We have wireless, Bluetooth (call it what you will) lighting technology that enables light fittings to talk to one another. God knows what they talk about. Probably the long hours without breaks they are forced to work.
To demonstrate the potential energy savings controls could yield for street lighting, I shall describe a controls system that I think has the potential to significantly reduce the energy consumed within street lighting.
When I walk out to my car in darkness the lights on my street sense my movement and come on. They also send a signal to the lighting on the adjoining streets which ramps up to 80%. At the same time the lighting on the roads leading off the adjoining streets come on at 50%.
As I drive away from my street, the street lights sense my absence and ramp down to 50%. If after a period no further presence is detected, they ramp down again to 25% before switching themselves off again, once another short period of time has elapsed. The street lighting in my town would switch on and off in this way as I complete my car journey.
The kind of intelligent street lighting system I have just described is available to us. The technology is available we just have yet to apply it to street lighting. Naysayers will say this example would be far too costly to deliver. I would challenge this with the question.
What percentage of time is our street lighting actually required to be on?
How many streetlights are illuminated all night without seeing any action, so to speak. What a missed opportunity!!!!! In fact I challenge you now. The next time your are flying back in to this country on a night flight not to look out of the window and tell me our streets are not over light.
If we were able to only light our streets when there was an actual requirement for lighting the savings would be absolutely huge!!!. Who knows maybe we would sleep better due to the reduction in light pollution.
Well-designed control systems not only represent an opportunity for significant energy savings they also provide us with the opportunity for experimentation and innovation. As I said in a previous blog………..
If you are not experimenting, how do you know you are operating at your most efficient level?
The answer is of course simple. You won’t know. So take my advice. The next time you are undertaking any kind of energy saving project dedicate some time, thought and imagination to the control system you wish to install.
Some of the most effective energy saving projects I have undertaken have employed a simple control system. Control systems don’t have to be complicated. So be imaginative and think about how can you innovate your way to maximum savings
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