We Have Stopped Guessing

– We find small or large faults in almost every building where we take over operations, says Technical Director at Toma, Endre Johannessen.

Toma Eiendomsdrift is one of the country’s largest operators of commercial buildings. The company has for many years been focused on efficient operations, with a particular emphasis on energy optimisation. Today, smart sensors together with EC Dashboard form the foundation of their digital operating system.
– Based on data from sensors, EC Dashboard gives us the heartbeat of the building. This makes it possible for us to climate- and energy-optimise the buildings we manage, says Johannessen.

Many building owners and operators believe they have full control over the management of the building, but Johannessen explains that they typically uncover faults and a significant potential for optimisation. This can range from systems running at too high an intensity or for unnecessarily long periods, to direct faults in the systems.
– These are very often faults that operational staff could not have identified, quite simply because they did not have the necessary data. The building may have been well managed, but by extracting the data, we nonetheless uncover an optimisation potential, says Johannessen.

He explains that the technology is wireless, easy to install and inexpensive. To show how simple it is, he earlier this year invited attendees to a mini-seminar in Toma’s own building in Stavanger. On the morning before participants arrived, he installed a dozen or so sensors in the premises.
– At the seminar I ran these live, while participants could follow what was happening in EC Dashboard. We brought up a graph showing the building’s energy use. When we set the system to active management, we immediately saw that the graph went from a flat, high consumption to actually becoming demand-controlled. The graph then had clear troughs and peaks. The intensity in the system was reduced in rooms where there were no people, instead of running at high output the whole time. This is plug and play and the solution was in place in just a few hours, says Johannessen.

He believes this is the best and most affordable solution for a very large number of building owners.
– EC Dashboard, together with the sensors, gives us a toolbox for efficient real-time building operations. You can start small and then simply add the tools you deem necessary. This gives the building’s operators unique opportunities to take control of the buildings they manage. We have succeeded when the operators themselves say that they cannot manage this building without EC Dashboard, says Johannessen.

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