Overview
The energy intensity application is designed to be used to view historical trends of energy use intensity (EUI) and energy cost intensity (ECI) based on utility data by displaying values on a chart and providing detailed information in a tabular format for the chart visualization. At least 12 consecutive months of data is required to calculate both EUI and ECI values.
EUI is typically expressed as energy consumption per square foot per year (kBtu/ft2/year). EUI helps building managers understand how much energy their building uses relative to its size, allowing comparisons with other buildings, and can be used to identify energy savings opportunities.
ECI is calculated by dividing the total cost incurred by a building over 12 months by the total floor area of the building and is expressed as cost per square foot per year ($/ft2/year).
EUI and ECI are both calculated using bill data that has been manually uploaded or provided by third-party API.
Use Case Examples
It is recommended that users and their service providers track their energy intensity and cost over time to better analyze the building’s performance. This is intended to measure the severity of building performance problems and create compelling events to talk about projects to improve performance. Additionally, by analyzing these trends, users will be able to simply measure the impact of any previously implemented energy cost measures and may be effective with consultations
This feature is best used by:
- Building operators
- Energy engineers (at corporate level)
- Facility managers (as a stakeholder and not a direct user)
- Trane Building Optimization Coaches
- Trane Optimization/Energy Engineers
- Trane Intelligent Services (TIS) Account Engineers
User Access
Accessing EUI and ECI data on Trane Cloud does not require a subscription tier if utility bill data is uploaded in Trane Connect under current offerings. Users with Platinum tier subscriptions have the option to use Trane’s automated utility bill data collection solution which is much more accurate and reliable than manually entered data.
The following users will be able to access and interact with EUI and ECI data with appropriate permissions:
- Facility managers
- Building engineers
- Building operators
- Trane Service Technicians
- Trane Energy Engineers
- Trane Technical Support
How it works
To calculate EUI and ECI, there must be at least 12 consecutive months of electric and gas utility bill data prior to the month that is being calculated. After uploading utility bill data to Trane Connect (.xlsx) or by utilizing data provided over third-party utility provider APIs. Users will have this data available to view in graph and tabular format in Trane® Connect™.
Step by Step Use Case Examples
Once available, data is available for display on both the organization-level and building-level dashboards for the Energy Intensity widget. The Energy Savings Dashboard provides specific details pertaining to energy usage and cost, including energy intensity.
After clicking on the widget, additional details including a data chart and associated data table are available in the Energy Intensity Application. Additionally, navigation options at the bottom of the Dashboard provide an alternative way to access Applications besides using the Dashboard widgets.
Organization-Level View
The top portion of the application displays a chart with EUI/ECI values for a selected date range. Highlights of the chart include:
- X axis: Date select/slider
- Left Y axis: $/ft2/year
- Right Y axis: kBtu/ft2/year
- Key summary metrics
The bottom portion of the chart includes a two-column grid view to display all associated Buildings’ EUI/ECI values for the same date selected as the Organization-level view and is searchable by Building name. With this card view users can see additional details for each Building in the Organization and make easy visual comparisons. The cards also provide the ability to navigate and drill down to view Building-specific details and navigate back up to the Organization.
Building-Level View
A table is displayed below with monthly EUI and ECI values, searchable and filterable by year or a multi-year view.
Customization
Within this tool, you can customize the layout, dropdowns, widgets and more by clicking Edit or by dragging in the corner. Users can toggle between a line chart of vertical bar chart and will have an option to select a customized date range or choose from presets (one month, three months, six months and one year).
How to Customize
Navigate to the Chart Type selector at the top right corner of the screen to plot data as either a line or vertical bar chart. Navigate to Date Picker and select a start and end date or one of the preset options.
Continue to Energy Management's "Analytic Score".