Martin Flusberg, CEO of Powerhouse Dynamics, has weighed in on a paradigm shift in EMS, which he calls Energy Management Systems 2.0, in Energy Manager Today. Here’s an excerpt:
The term Energy Management System, or EMS, is oft used, but can mean very different things to different people.
For example, the terms EMS and BMS (Building Management System) are frequently used interchangeably. But that can be very misleading. BMS systems are generally hardware-based control systems responsible for controlling HVAC and perhaps lighting loads in commercial and industrial facilities. At some point, BMS systems were the only form of EMS systems out there. But in recent years there have been a wide range of new product entrants that are also generally referred to as EMS.
These could be as disparate as: analytics-based software systems that connect to the BMS and mine the data to identify equipment problems and savings opportunities; software systems that capture utility billing data across all facilities in a portfolio and offer analysis aimed at finding billing problems as well as facility benchmarks; combined hardware and software systems that remotely control HVAC over the Internet; systems that monitor electricity usage on branch circuits and provide analytics around equipment performance and energy efficiency; and software that leverages interval data and modeling to provide a virtual energy audit and suggest efficiency measures. Demand-response systems are sometimes referred to as energy management systems, and there are probably a range of other examples as well.
Read the whole story, including a rundown of what characterizes EMS 2.0, in Energy Manager Today.