Systems and methods for analyzing energy usage

Abstract

A system for analyzing energy usage measures one or more parameters indicative of energy usage for a plurality of sub-circuits, where the sampling rate for the measuring is substantially continuous, and automatically transmits information related to at least one of the measured parameters at a rate that enables monitoring of current energy usage. The system further detects a significant change in a measured parameter, determines whether the significant change in the measured parameter is caused by a change in energy usage, and automatically transmits information related to the significant change in the measured parameter caused by the change in energy usage after detecting the significant change.

1 . A method of measuring and analyzing energy usage, comprising:
 measuring one or more parameters indicative of energy usage for a plurality of sub-circuits, wherein a sampling rate for measuring is substantially continuous;   automatically validating the one or more measured parameters;   automatically transmitting information related to at least one of the validated measured parameters at a reporting rate decoupled from the sampling rate that enables monitoring of current energy usage;   detecting a significant change in the measured parameter;   determining whether the significant change in the measured parameter is caused by a change in energy usage; and   automatically transmitting, independent of the sampling rate and the reporting rate, information related to the significant change in the measured parameter caused by the change in energy usage after detecting the significant change.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sampling rate and the reporting rate may vary from one measured parameter to another. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a user defines what constitutes the significant change. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rate of automatically transmitting information may change based on the variability of the measured parameter. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more measured parameters includes at least one measured current and at least one measured phase voltage, and wherein the measured current can be referenced to any one of the measured voltage phases for determination of power factor and phase angle. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more measured parameters includes one or more voltage measurements of one or more phases, the voltage measurement of any one phase can be referenced to the voltage measurement of any other phase including one or more neutrals. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the measured parameter is stored when it cannot be automatically transmitted. 
     
     
         8 . A system for measuring, calculating and analyzing energy efficiency of a facility or facility subsystem, the system comprising:
 a plurality of energy measurement devices configured to measure one or more parameters indicative of energy usage for a plurality of circuits, sub-circuits, or systems wherein an energy sampling rate for measuring is substantially continuous;   a plurality of measurement devices configured to measure one or more parameters indicative of energy efficiency of a facility or facility subsystems, wherein an energy efficiency sampling rate for measuring is substantially continuous;   a plurality of measurement devices configured to measure or acquire one or more parameters indicative of an environmental condition of systems and facilities, wherein an environmental sampling rate for measuring is substantially continuous;   computer hardware including at least one computer processor; and   computer-readable storage including computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the computer hardware to perform operations defined by the computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions including:
 automatically transmitting information related to at least one of the measured parameters at a reporting rate decoupled from the energy, the energy efficiency, and the environmental sampling rates that enables monitoring of the energy efficiency; 
 automatically obtaining environmental conditions including weather data; 
 detecting a significant change in any of the measured parameter; 
 determining whether the significant change in the measured parameter is caused by a change in the energy efficiency; 
 determining whether and the significant change in the measured parameter caused a change in energy efficiency; 
 automatically transmitting, independent of the energy, the energy efficiency, and the environmental sampling rates and a reporting rate, information related to the significant change in the measured parameter caused by the change in the energy efficiency after detecting the significant change; and 
 automatically transmitting, independent of the energy, the energy efficiency, and the environmental sampling rates and the reporting rate, information related to the significant change in the energy efficiency caused by the change in the measured parameter after detecting the significant change. 
   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein a user defines what constitutes the significant change. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein a rate of automatically transmitting information may change based on variability of the measured parameter. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the measured parameter is selected from the group consisting of light intensity, rotational speed, linear speed, temperature, vibration, carbon dioxide, pressure, motion, flow, acceleration, voltage, current, sound, and ultrasonic frequencies. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further include deriving energy required by a facility or facility subsystem, based at least in part on the measured parameter that is selected from the group of measured parameters consisting of building orientation, time of day, outside air temperature, inside air temperature, reheat coil water temperature, cold air temperature, CO2, and enthalpy of return air. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further include deriving energy required by a facility or a facility subsystem, based at least in part on derived factors that are selected from the group of factors that contribute to facility heat loading and energy use consisting of a building size, a building type, a building occupancy, a time of day, a day of the week, a day of the year, vacation schedules, ambient weather information, forecast weather information, gas usage, hot water usage, chilled water usage, ventilation requirements, lighting heat loads, an equipment load, an appliance load, a server load, a computer load, and number of computers that are present in the facility. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further include outputting data, based at least in part on a comparison of the measured parameter of energy usage and a derived parameter of energy required by the facility or subsystem from the group consisting of a lighting circuit, a motor circuit, an air handling system, a pump, a fan, a boiler, and an HVAC compressor system. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein determining whether the significant change in the measured parameter is caused by the change in energy usage or energy required by a building or a building subsystem includes:
 acquiring an additional sample of the measured parameter; and   determining whether the additional sample of the measured parameter is proportional to the significant change of the measured parameter, wherein when the additional sample of the measured parameter is proportional to the significant change in the measured parameter, the significant change in the measured parameter is caused by the change in the energy usage or the energy required by the building or the building subsystem.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further include disregarding the significant change in the measured parameter when the additional sample of the measured parameter is not proportional to the significant change in the measured parameter. 
     
     
         17 . A system for measuring, analyzing and controlling energy usage of a facility or facility subsystem, the system comprising:
 a plurality of energy measurement devices configured to measure one or more parameters indicative of energy usage for a plurality of circuits, sub-circuits, or systems wherein a first sampling rate for measuring is substantially continuous;   a plurality of measurement devices configured to measure one or more parameters indicative of energy efficiency of systems and facilities, wherein a second sampling rate for measuring is substantially continuous;   a plurality of measurement devices configured to measure one or more parameters indicative of an environmental condition of the systems and facilities, wherein a third sampling rate for measuring is substantially continuous;   computer hardware including at least one computer processor; and   computer-readable storage including computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the computer hardware to perform operations defined by the computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions including:
 automatically transmitting information related to at least one of the measured parameters at a rate that enables monitoring of current energy efficiency; 
 automatically obtaining environmental conditions including weather data; 
 automatically determining at least one control sequence to maximize energy efficiency; 
 automatically calculating at least one demand reduction potential; 
 automatically determining at least one control sequence to minimize demand usage at any time; 
 automatically transmitting at least one control command to at least one of the systems and facilities including equipment; 
 detecting a significant change in a measured parameter; 
 determining whether the significant change in the measured parameter is caused by a change in the energy usage; 
 determining whether the significant change in the measured parameter caused a change in the energy efficiency; and 
 automatically transmitting information related to the significant change in the measured parameter caused by the change in the energy efficiency after detecting the significant change. 
   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further include outputting, based at least in part on the measured parameter, a variable duty cycle signal for load control of at least one electric circuit, wherein the load control includes at least one of electric energy control and carbon footprint control, and wherein the electric circuit is selected from the group consisting of a lighting circuit, a motor circuit, an air handling system, and an HVAC compressor system. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further include outputting demand response energy load use data that is based at least in part on a comparison of the measured parameter of the energy usage to a derived parameter of energy required for a facility subsystem, and providing an output signal, based at least in part on the comparison, that enables reduction in the energy usage in one or more building subsystems selected from the group consisting of a lighting circuit, a motor circuit, an air handling system, an HVAC reheat coil system, and an HVAC compressor system. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the measured parameter includes at least one of motor speed, motor temperature, motor vibration, belt tension, motor balance, motor torque, motor power consumption, motor phase imbalance, motor power factor, motor power quality, motor harmonic energy, motor fundamental energy, facility demand reduction requirements, utility demand reduction requirements, and parameters upstream and downstream of a motor, analyzed data includes at least one of motor efficiency and motor maintenance requirements, and the control command includes at least one of turning the motor on, turning the motor off, reducing motor speed, reducing motor frequency, and pulse width modulation of motor power.