Electric Imp connectivity platform reduces NYC building energy usage up to 15%

Date
02/13/2015

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According to the New York City government, buildings within its five boroughs are the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. New York-based clean energy company Bonded Energy Solutions concluded that the biggest compliance challenge that building managers faced involved how much energy their properties were actually using.

To solve these challenges, Bonded Energy Solutions built online monitoring systems using the Electric Imp connectivity platform as a simple and inexpensive way to remotely check, accurately measure, easily consolidate and alter energy usage in real time. Electric Imp-enabled sensors were placed on energy sources, such as gas and water meters, radiators and boilers, to collect room and heating device temperature and usage activity data, which was then sent to Bonded Energy Solutions’ backend cloud database for interpretation, management and storage.

Electric Imp’s connectivity platform streamlined the entire process by enabling connectivity to previously unconnected devices, centralizing data gathering, and allowing system management and a single method of communication between disparate equipment and sensor mechanisms. Once in place, energy could then be checked at any time day or night and redistributed more efficiently throughout the entire building.

Making a useful networked device is a challenge facing industrial and commercial product manufacturers. Businesses that tried venturing into Internet connectivity usually ended up reinventing the wheel at great cost, resulting in products that were expensive, fragile and often communicated to nothing more than a smartphone app.

What was needed was to take the best implementations of hardware, firmware and cloud service, consolidate them into a powerful Internet of Things platform, and let them be applied to any device in the world. Electric Imp, founded in 2012, is the result.

For manufacturers seeking to bring their products and services online, Electric Imp provides a complete end-to-end solution that makes it simple to connect nearly any device to the Internet quickly, securely and seamlessly. The Electric Imp connectivity platform features fully integrated hardware, software, OS, APIs, cloud servers, and security making it possible to effectively empower devices with greater intelligence, utility and flexibility.

Now, rather than spending time and resources to design, integrate and maintain a connectivity infrastructure, businesses such as Bonded Energy Solutions can instead focus on their core expertise of building the best products possible, adding greater value and differentiation and significantly reducing time to market.

In an initial trial, Bonded Energy Solutions implemented the monitoring system in the energy infrastucture of six residential buildings. The program resulted in a successful reduction of source energy usage – in other words, any form of energy entering the building, such as electricity, natural gas, oil and solar - by a minimum of 15%.

Based on the successful outcome, Bonded Energy Solutions is now moving forward with a more comprehensive trial program monitored by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) through the state organization’s Multifamily Performance Program for Existing Buildings.

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