To effectively track and manage their energy usage in real time, organizations need instant and continuous access to the metrics that help them make timely decisions that reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, and strengthen their commitment to sustainability goals. Leveraging Digi EX 12 cellular modems for ultra-reliable connectivity, NuOz is helping hundreds of organizations change the way they view and manage energy consumption.
A New Level of Visibility and Intelligence for Energy Management
Across the U.S., leading organizations in retail, hospitality, education, technology and smart cities initiatives strive to optimize their energy consumption and improve their sustainability posture. Unfortunately, the data they need to make that happen comes too late to be actionable. “When you get your monthly electric bill, the information is already out of date and rarely includes the detail you need to granularly manage all of the components in your infrastructure,” said Samantha Agee, Vice President of Business Development for NuOz, a provider of solutions to help organizations become more energy-efficient and cost-effective by giving them deeper insights into their electricity usage.
“Energy managers need to know more than what they used. They need to know how energy was used. What electricity was consumed by the HVAC? What’s the consumption for refrigeration? How much energy are lights consuming? What variances are happening in those areas that can be corrected to reduce costs? When you have that data, you’re armed with the information you need to improve.”
Aiming to take that operational control to the next level of visibility and intelligence through smarter energy management, Bellevue, Washington-based NuOz offers an IoT-based suite of services to help organizations with energy monitoring, water-usage tracking, gas/propane usage monitoring, refrigeration monitoring, leak detection, and more.
For electricity monitoring, NuOz installs powered and battery-operated sensors in CTs (current transformers) on the electric panel enabling them to collect precise data at the circuit level. Those sensors communicate via LoRaWAN® to a local server gateway where the data is aggregated and backhauled through the cloud to NuOz servers where customers can browse and drill down on usage metrics and trends. “We can show an organization what’s happening minute-by-minute,” Agee said. “They don’t need to wait until next month — they can adjust their consumption immediately and achieve in-the-moment savings.”
A Finger on the Energy Pulse
One key component of the NuOz IoT solution is the communication link provided by the Digi EX12 cellular router (and Digi EX50 for installations using 5G communication). Digi EX12 is an affordable, scalable failover solution for cellular network access. With a carrier-certified, embedded LTE Cat 4 cellular modem, equipped with dual SIM slots, Digi EX12 provides uninterrupted primary or backup connectivity. The routers are easy to deploy and centrally managed via Digi Remote Manager® (Digi RM).
The Digi EX12 enterprise cellular router protects against downtime by automatically switching to a secondary cellular carrier if the primary SIM loses Internet access. This compact, high-performance device is also compatible with any dual-WAN networking appliance and helps achieve reliable connectivity at any location using existing equipment. Deployments are streamlined with installation accessories including an optional remote mounting kit with a disposable battery pack for site survey, mounting bracket and a passive PoE injector for optimizing placement for the best cellular reception.
“We’ve relied on Digi cellular solutions for eight years,” Agee said. “They’re extremely reliable and price-competitive. We can get live data every five minutes and set alarms and thresholds if readings exceed tolerances. We have our finger on the energy pulse every hour of every day.”
She added, “We really like the remote-management capabilities, because we can monitor each individual sensor and alert the customer in real-time if there’s any anomalies — even before they’d notice it themselves. That’s very appealing since most of these locations don’t have the assistance on-site. The most we’d ask of them is to manually cycle a piece of equipment.”
A High-Impact ROI
According to Agee, the ROI that NuOz customers can achieve is meaningful and measurable. For instance, the Gresham-Barlow (Oregon) School District has used energy data to reduce its energy expenditures 26%+ across its 20 buildings.
Terry Taylor, Director of Facilities and the Gresham-Barlow Facilities Team used NuOz Real Time Energy Data to lower energy expenditures by lowering their energy usage when the buildings are closed, optimizing the management of their HVACs, staggering schedules of HVAC and dishwashing to avoid peak charges, and identifying energy wasting equipment malfunctions. For example, Agee said, “They found a compressor that had a leak that caused it to cycle 24/7 and by fixing that quickly, saved $8,000 annually.”
Agee continued, “The district has earned the Energy Star Partner of the Year award for the past 12 years and was the only school district in the country recognized by the EPA for its outstanding contributions to energy management. The superintendent tells us that the energy savings from our NuOz systems enables the district to pay the salaries of 10 teachers. That’s a high-impact ROI.”
Another customer noticed inexplicably high HVAC usage. “Their operations people said the equipment was running on a very tight schedule — only to find that rodents had chewed through key pieces of pneumatic equipment, and it was running 24 hours a day. They were able to detect and correct the problem faster than waiting for a shockingly high bill.”
Electricity demand in the U.S. is projected to double in the next 25 years, driven by economic growth, data center expansion, and the electrification of transportation, buildings, and industry.
In that context, Agee notes the movement toward data-centric energy management and optimization will only grow. “Utilities are urging customers to conserve because it can minimize or delay their need for infrastructure expansion,” she said. “They are funding lots of initiatives to support conservation. And, of course, if you do nothing, your costs are only going to rise, which makes NuOz a smart move for both cost and eco-footprint reasons.”
Next Steps