Frequently Asked Questions
What can Detect do for me?
Detect is considered the first step in the energy efficiency journey: a savings detection tool. It determines which buildings in your portfolio offer the greatest potential for savings and what technologies/energy savings measures can be adopted to be more competitive.
How does Detect work?
Detect follows a three-step process: collects your energy data in the platform, compares your efficiency against similar ones and delivers customised outcomes such as monthly energy behaviour analytics, energy efficiency recommendations & tips. Take a look at this article to understand more about how Detect works.
How does Detect collect my energy data?
Detect nourishes from all the insertion options in the platform: Check this link for further details.
How does Detect benchmark my sites?
Once Detect has analysed your site consumption and available metadata (geolocation, surface, activity, prices, etc.), it is anonymously normalised against a proprietary database of thousands of sites monitored in real-time around the world. We compare your building against up to 100 buildings with similar consumption patterns, weather conditions and activity. Take a look at this article to understand more about how Detect works.
How does Detect deliver recommendations?
Using data from the last month of hourly energy consumption, you will get metrics that analyse how the building has been performing monthly, such as deviations from average consumption and climatic severity, the day and time of the peak consumption, and monthly comparisons. This information complements your electricity bill and helps out to understand your consumption habits and be able to optimise them. Besides the behaviour metrics, energy efficiency recommendations and tips are virtually simulated for your building at a technical and economic implementation level. Each recommendation has a detail of the simulation carried out.
Who uses Detect?
Detect is used by end-customers, utilities, energy services companies... Utilities' use-case for Detect is mainly a channel to sell their energy services to customers. Energy services companies' use-case for Detect is mainly to identify where they should invest their resources in order to maximise energy savings within their portfolio.
I am managing energy in an industrial setting, can I use the Detect?
You can, but to be honest, it’s better not to. Since every industry has its specific production process, benchmarking results might not reflect its efficiency level correctly. For this reason, we recommend that industrial energy managers try the Platform for a more bespoke solution.
Can I use Detect to save energy at home?
Detect artificial intelligence algorithms were built with commercial buildings like offices, retail, supermarkets, universities, etc. We don’t offer services to households just yet - but let us know if this is something you would like to see.
I get Detect within my license, how come I’m not getting any results?
If you're interested in Detect, you should definitely contact your support provider and we will activate it for you.
What kind of data do I need to provide?
As described in this article, you will need:
- Electricity monthly consumption for, as a lower limit, 12 months.
- Meta data such as zip code, activity, area, prices, tags...
How often Detect’s results will be updated?
Detect results are updated on a monthly granularity.
I am or already have an energy manager - why should I use Detect?
If your company already has an energy manager or dedicated energy team, high five! You’re light-years ahead of most businesses. Detect can help energy professionals do their jobs better and faster while saving money in the process - just like your marketing team uses marketing automation tools or your sales team uses a CRM platform to optimise their processes.
What are the security risks? Is my data safe with Detect?
Security is a top priority for us. That’s why we invest all necessary resources in taking every security precaution while building Detect. Detect uses advanced encryption algorithms to transfer all your data ensuring the highest possible protection.
How does Detect compare to traditional energy management solutions?
Detect is a new way to detect energy savings opportunities at scale, reducing costs, minimising risks and increasing project output. Traditional energy management diagnostic tools such as on-site audits can offer 7% more precision than Detect but at a much higher cost in terms of time and resources. For many businesses, Detect provides a much easier, simpler and cheaper way to approach energy cost reduction - or at least as a first step on that journey.
Does Detect offer recommendations based on gas or water consumption?
Not yet. First, we’ve started with electricity, but other energy sources will be available very soon. Stay tuned.
Can I show Detect financial metrics to my CFO?
Sure. The metrics you see on your personalised recommendations have been validated by a team of energy managers, so you can show them to your CFO with confidence!
I am already using Analyse, should I switch to Detect?
While Analyse has been designed to offer an in-depth analysis of your sites (using hardware and sensors), Detect leverages artificial intelligence algorithms to deliver specific energy productivity recommendations at scale, for your entire portfolio of sites. Although we usually recommend starting with Detect and then moving to Analyse for deeper monitoring and analytics, both tools can be used in a complementary way.
I have several locations configured in Analyse with real-time data, can you make them appear in Detect?
Yes, if you want to use Detect you need to contact the support team to validate the configuration and start using it.