Warehouse Saves 911 Kg of CO2 Per Year With Only 10 Sensors

An industrial production company is realizing significant savings by installing only 10 temperature sensors in their warehouse.

The customer is a world-leading company based in Northern Europe and operates in the development, manufacture, and sale of energy industrial machinery. It has a facility that includes two large storage halls and a small office area. 

The company operates on a 24 x 7 basis but with most warehouse activity occurring during weekdays, when products are moved in and out of the storage units.

The warehouse operatives noticed that there was a problem with the temperature in the storage halls. The heating systems were operating at a constant rate regardless of the temperature in the warehouse.

This led them to optimize the operation of the Air Heating Units (AHUs) and wasted energy, an important issue for the bottom line and energy efficiency.

With help from our partner Envio Systems, they are identifying and rectifying energy waste, and benefit from the resulting energy savings.

The Solution: BASE

The customer engaged Envio Systems to help the warehouse operators collect data they could use to explore the issue and then make decisions on how to solve the potential problem. 

Envio is a smart building specialist that aims to help industries do more with less, specifically by using the power of technology to improve the lives of people and to protect the environment. They combine their expertise with market-leading technology to provide energy and cost-saving solutions.

For most buildings, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems usually account for around 35% of an entire building’s power usage, therefore Envio wanted to investigate if the Air Heating Units (AHUs) were operating and being managed correctly within the warehouse. 

The solution consists of BASE, their web-based Building Management System (WebBMS), together with temperature sensors from Disruptive Technologies. This integrated combination had been successfully used for a number of other customers.

BASE is an interactive and user-friendly platform that is used to optimize building management and parameters for HVAC, lighting, and equipment. It helps an organization keep track of its electricity, gas, water, and heat consumption through secure historic and real-time data collection. It also includes intelligent analytics to generate graphs and reports used for decision-making.

The Disruptive Technologies temperature sensors were the ideal technology for deployment in the warehouse, being robust, affordable, and long-lasting. The wireless form factor and easy installation transformed the warehouse into an intelligent and sustainable building with real-time temperature data from multiple points.

Results: Energy and CO2 savings

Envio installed 10 temperature sensors to monitor, record, and transmit ambient air temperature data at different locations within the building. BASE processed the information and generated a number of user-friendly, easy-to-read graphics that allowed Envio and warehouse operatives to understand temperature variations within the building. 

From this information, the warehouse operatives could make quick decisions about the operating temperature of the AHUs. They could turn them down when it was identified that they were generating unnecessary heat i.e. when the ambient temperature in the warehouse was higher than their setting.

The units could then be adjusted to work more efficiently, ensuring an optimal indoor temperature, and saving energy.

AHU runtime heatmap showing the equipment operation before and after changes.

Pilot Phase Results

The pilot phase was split into two parts:

1. For 2 and a half months, data were analyzed close to one of the central AHUs. During this time, temperature regulation of the AHU was not undertaken but the data was recorded to provide a baseline, providing a set of data for comparison during phase two.
2. The second phase of the project also lasted for 2 and a half months. Data were collected from the same sensors, close to the central AHU, but this time the data was analyzed by BASE. The reports generated gave the operatives the data they needed to adjust the AHU system to generate only the heat necessary to maintain the overall temperature.

Using monitored data from the sensors Envio calculate that the customer would make the following savings:

Complete Rollout Results

If the same level of control and savings can be realized across all 5 AHUs within the warehouse, the anticipated savings are:

Temperature was supervised and maintained at comfortable levels

Calculations

These impressive figures are based on temperature monitoring of one AHU during a 2 and a half month period and have used the following public data:

The financial savings over a year clearly exceed the costs of buying and running the sensors as well as those of the Envio WebBMS analytics system, offering the customer a good Return on Investment and large CO2 savings.

What's Next

The use of only a few temperature sensors, when combined with a partner analytics engine, can provide any company with granular and specific data about their operating environment.

Using the near real-time information from the sensors allows a company to make informed and quick decisions about their energy consumption and air ventilation systems, such as reducing the amount of heating they produce. Such changes lead to reduced energy consumption, a reduction in CO2 emissions, and a lowering of operating costs.

The success of this small deployment has led the customer to plan to roll out the solution to a number of their other locations worldwide, installing more sensors and the Envio WebMBS system, enabling them to realize energy savings, reduce their CO2 emissions, and save money.