Foreword
The Low Carbon City Initiative established by Shah Alam City Council requires comprehensive energy monitoring. Using separate energy monitoring systems at 19 sites, the project lacked access to consolidated energy reports which are essential to establish a data-led way forward. Resource Data Management (RDM) provided a solution, offering a user-friendly remote monitoring option to consolidate energy data for analysis.
The Project
The city of Shah Alam in Malaysia established a Low Carbon City Initiative that aims to achieve an annual energy reduction of 5-15% per year. The initiative covers various types of sites within the city including government buildings, hospitals, commercial facilities, and universities. It is part of their overall strategy to achieve the national carbon reduction target of 45% by 2030.
Challenges
Data collection and energy monitoring are key to the project to establish a baseline figure, analyse progress, and develop ways to save more energy. However, both aspects, data collection, and energy monitoring, proved to be a key challenge. This was due to the fact that sensors and monitoring systems from a range of manufacturers were installed throughout the 19 different sites that are part of this project.
The Solution
Open Protocol Communication Enables Centralised Energy Monitoring
Resource Data Management’s (RDM’s) open protocol communication options offered a solution. RDM’s front-end system DMTouch can communicate via a range of open protocols such as XML, BACnet, Modbus, and Web Services which allows it to control and monitor third-party devices.
DMTouch was installed at Wisma MBSA, the city council’s main building, where it now serves as a data collection hub for all sites part of this project. DMTouch’s open protocol communication capabilities allowed it to be installed as the central control and monitoring system for all sites, replacing multiple front-end devices and consolidating the data from all sites.
Some of the buildings that are part of the project also required control of their HVACR infrastructure. RDM’s Intuitive line of HVACR controllers provided the solution here, offering quick set-up options and web-based access to their software.
Benefits
Installing the DMTouch as the front-end device saves installation costs and time and offers central data collection and consolidated reports. This is compared to installing separate control and monitoring devices at each facility to integrate with the different types of energy meters that use proprietary communication protocols.
DMTouch also allows users to access data on a granular level of detail. This helps carrying out analyses to understand which changes might be needed in the future to further reduce energy consumption.
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