Detect: Detail of recommendations

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Improve energy efficiency behaviour

The behaviour of the occupants of a building is one of the key factors influencing the energy performance of a building. Misuse of a building can be related to lack of awareness but also to lack of knowledge. Detect calculates how behavioural change can be a low-cost and high-impact way to reduce energy costs, and educational campaigns are one way to address this issue. 

From the literature, maximum and minimum energy savings are assigned depending on the energy efficiency score provided by Detect, thus the savings are directly related to the actual efficiency. The higher the score, the lower the percentage of savings assigned and vice versa.

Acquisition costs are calculated assuming an investment of 1-2% of current energy costs and a maximum saving of 10%.
An operational cost of 200€ is assumed for this recommendation.  

Lifetime is considered as 2 years. 

Recommendation name

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Standby consumption

Detect estimates which part of the total consumption has been residual due to the background operation of electrical equipment and recommends the installation of equipment to control this avoidable consumption and thus save energy.

From the energy consumption data and energy prices, Detect locates the inefficiencies/overconsumption that have occurred during periods of inactivity of the building. From these detected consumptions, the savings and the number of necessary equipment are calculated depending on the standby power to be avoided. The acquisition cost is calculated based on the number of devices at an estimated price of €18 per device.

No operational costs are assumed for this recommendation

- If no prices are configured, savings will be calculated using default prices.
- The nominal power of the equipment is estimated at 3.68 kW with a maximum use of 60% of this power.
- The lifetime of the equipment is estimated at 3 years.
- The net present value must be greater than 0 for the recommendation to be shown.

Optimise

Detect connects with Optimise to use its AI models trained with historical data, to check for anomalies in actual vs. expected consumption.

Based on at least 6 months of hourly consumption data, energy prices and the location of the building to obtain weather and holiday data, this information is used to train the model that will estimate the reference consumption. 
Based on the reference consumption, we will detect the anomalies of your real consumption and estimate the effect it has on your energy costs.

The energy and economic savings are estimated based on the reduction of the anomalies, the acquisition cost is equated to the human cost of resolving anomalies and no operating costs are assumed for this recommendation.

- On the 1st of each month the models are re-trained to estimate expected consumption.

- We assume that 50% of incidents are resolved. 

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Improved insulation

Detect simulates the impact of improving the insulation on the building envelope, e.g. external walls, roof, floors... and how to decrease the thermal transmittance. It is taken into account if the implementation could end up being counterproductive since increasing the insulation lowers the heating load but increases the need for cooling in summer. This recommendation is particularly suitable for buildings located in areas with low temperatures.

Available in Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Detect uses disaggregation to estimate cooling and heating consumption based on consumption data, surface area and climatic conditions (degree days) and uses building energy modelling (BEM) to calculate the estimated energy savings. At the economic level, savings are calculated based on configured or default energy prices. 

The costs for implementing insulation improvements vary depending on the building activity and size. 

No operational costs are assumed for this recommendation.

- This recommendation is particularly suitable for the following activities: 

Library, health centre, education, office building, sports facilities, leisure facilities, gymnasium, food shop, other shop, hospital, hotel, museum, individual office, branch office, other, small food shop, small other shop, sports swimming pool, catering, university, housing.

- This recommendation does not apply to buildings with gas heating.
- The net present value must be greater than 0 for the recommendation to be shown.
- An insulation lifetime of 40 years is assumed. 

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Solar panels

The Photovoltaic recommendation proposes installing photovoltaic (PV) panels to harness solar energy for self-consumption, thereby reducing reliance on grid electricity. This retrofit strategy targets buildings with suitable roof space for PV panels, aiming to generate electricity onsite, lower energy costs, and increase sustainability.

Available in Spain and Portugal.

Savings are based on the difference between the cost of electricity consumed from the grid and the value of electricity generated by the PV panels for self-consumption.
Additional savings come from selling excess electricity back to the grid, though this is capped at the cost of the grid electricity consumed.

Costs are calculated based on the installed power of the PV system

The retrofit is only activated if the building’s activity allows for the installation of PV panels. The location must not already have PV systems installed.

The annual energy production is calculated considering the performance ratio of the PV system and a degradation rate of 0.5% per year.

Lifetime is considered as 25 years. 

Contracted power optimisation

The Power Optimisation recommendation focuses on optimising the power consumption of a building. This retrofit strategy aims to reduce electricity usage and costs by identifying inefficiencies and implementing improvements without requiring significant capital expenditure. The recommendation is particularly tailoured for locations where electricity is a primary energy source and is currently available only for Spanish locations.

Available in Spain.

It minimises the cost for contracted power including penalisation for excess power and finds the optimal power that should be set in every building. Costs required by Spanish law in order to apply the changes are taken into account.

Reactive power compensation

The Reactive Compensation recommendation aims to reduce reactive power penalties by installing capacitor banks. This retrofit strategy focuses on improving the power factor of electrical systems, which can lead to reduced energy costs and increased efficiency. It is specifically designed for buildings in Spain that require electricity and experience reactive power penalties.

Available in Spain.

The recommendation involves analysing power consumption data, including active and reactive energy, over a specified period.
The analysis helps identify potential savings and the effectiveness of installing capacitor banks to improve power factor.

The recommendation provides detailed information about the reactive compensation measures and their expected impact.