How to Optimise Gas & Thermal Energy Monitoring

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Nicole Harper

Content Manager

2555 Last modified by the author on 06/12/2016 - 11:04
How to Optimise Gas & Thermal Energy Monitoring

Why Monitor Gas and Thermal Energy?

Are you an energy manager that’s only worried about monitoring electricity consumption? If so, it's important to realise that gas represents nearly 40% of the total energy consumed in the industrial and service sectors in Europe. 


And it’s no wonder – we need gas for heating, but also cooking and countless industrial processes. Plus, gas is 60% cheaper than electricity in the majority of European countries (except Sweden, where district heating is the main game in town).

Indeed, for many of our partners, gas represents their biggest source of energy (in kWh). For that reason, it get expensive not to pay attention to consumption levels, as they risk making the largest contributions to emissions targets. Gas metering and thermal monitoring also have important roles to play in meeting regulatory targets and avoiding penalties for greenhouse gas emissions.

For us energy geeks though, the most exciting thing about gas and thermal energy is that they are relatively unexplored sources in terms of energy efficiency technology. New and emerging technologies – such as gas for cooling – can generate big savings opportunities. 

But the first step to achieving meaningful energy and cost savings for gas and thermal power always starts with understanding your hardware situation.

Do you already have meters set up? Do you need to start from scratch when it comes to metering? How far apart are your locations?

We have a few sample metering configurations to give you an idea of setup time, and hardware costs. 

Gas Monitoring – Overview

Let’s start with gas monitoring – we’ll look at both wired and wireless configurations, plus a hybrid version in case you have a more complex setup at your facility.

Here’s what a typical gas monitoring configuration looks like. Basically what we are measuring here are pulses, using a special device called a pulse counter. The counter sends that information to your gateway device, which then sends it to your energy management software system for analysis. You’ll notice that an ATEX barrier device is absolutely necessary here to protect the meter room from damage. Also note that some pulse counters and gateways need their own power supply.

Check this extended article to have a look at three specific hardware solutions for gas energy sources (wired, wireless and all-in-one) with reference prices and installation times.

Thermal Monitoring – Overview

With thermal monitoring, the situation gets a bit more tricky as meters are much more difficult to install. The setup procedure is often intrusive, which means systems need to be paused or taken offline temporarily during the meter installation process. Further, depending on the size of the pipes to be metered, the devices can be quite costly and gateways always require their own power sources. 

 

For a more detailed explanation of each hardware configuration, we recommend that you check out the full webinar recording, where DEXMA Product Manager Daniel Utges gives the full breakdown of each type of hardware configuration for gas and thermal metering and how to analyse the data to your benefit in a EMS platform. 

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