Energy-related information presentation system

Abstract

A system and approach for diagnostic visualizations of, for example, building control systems data. A focus may be on a similarity metric for comparing operations among sites relative to energy consumption. Normalizing factors may be used across sites with varying equipment consumption levels to be compared automatically. There may also be a high level overview of an enterprise of sites. For instance, consumption totals of the sites may be normalized by site size and length of time of a billing period to identify such things as outlier sites. One may use a main view of geographic distribution dynamically linked to subviews showing distribution by size, by aggregated climate, and so on. With these views, one may quickly drill through the enterprise and identify sites of interest for further investigation. A key metric may be intensity which invokes viewing virtually all sites by normalized consumption for a unit amount of time.

1 - 6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . An energy-related information presentation system comprising:
 a processor; and   one or more detectors for obtaining data on instances of heating, ventilation and air conditioning and/or lighting equipment at one or more sites of an enterprise; and   wherein:   the one or more detectors are connected to the processor;   the processor receives the data from the one or more detectors on instances of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning and/or lighting equipment at the one or more sites;   the processor outputs a normalization of the equipment across the one or more sites based on data on instances of the equipment;   an instance of the equipment is an TRU;   the normalization comprises a directly measured quantity of energy units divided by a product of a square footage of an energy consumption site and a number of days in a billing cycle represented by the directly measured quantity of energy units; and   a normalization output by the processor is calculated in units of kWh/SF/Day.   
     
     
         8 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 7 , wherein the processor outputs automated anomaly detection based on the normalization. 
     
     
         9 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 8 , wherein the processor evaluates abnormalities in operational procedures of instances of equipment across an enterprise at the one or more sites of the enterprise. 
     
     
         10 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 9 , wherein the processor provides normalizations based on a total capacity of the equipment at a site. 
     
     
         11 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 10 , the processor compares sites against one another using normalizations for each site. 
     
     
         12 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the data from the one or more detectors provide a basis for a drill down to details of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning and/or lighting equipment; and   the processor provides a normalization of the equipment across the one or more sites, using data of instances of the equipment to build the normalization.   
     
     
         13 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 7 , wherein the processor compares sites against one another, with a normalization of an aggregation of the number of days in a billing cycle represented by the directly measured quantity of energy units by a count of instances of equipment for each site. 
     
     
         14 . An energy-related information presentation system comprising:
 a processor; and   one or more detectors for obtaining data on instances of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning and/or lighting equipment at one or more sites of an enterprise; and   wherein:   the one or more detectors are connected to the processor;   the processor receives the data from the one or more detectors on instances of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning and/or lighting equipment at the one or more sites;   the processor outputs normalizations of the equipment across the one or more sites based on data on instances of the equipment;   the data from the one or more detectors provide a basis for a drill down to details of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning and/or lighting equipment;   the processor provides normalizations of the equipment across the one or more sites, using data of instances of the equipment to build the normalizations;   the normalizations each comprise a directly measured quantity of energy units divided by a product of a square footage of an energy consumption site and a number of days in a billing cycle represented by the directly measured quantity of energy units; and   normalizations output by the processor are calculated in units of kWh/SF/Day.   
     
     
         15 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 14 , wherein the processor provides the normalizations based on a total capacity of the equipment at a site. 
     
     
         16 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 14 , the processor compares sites against one another using the normalizations for each site. 
     
     
         17 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 14 , wherein the normalizations are used by the processor to evaluate abnormalities in operational procedures across an enterprise of instances of equipment at the one or more sites of the enterprise. 
     
     
         18 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 a display connected to the processor; and   wherein:   the display provides a visualization to support identification of certain issues of a site among sites by a human user of the sites; and   a site comprises energy consuming equipment.   
     
     
         19 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 18 , wherein:
 the visualization includes normalization factors to drive the human user to a specific site of interest, and automatically generate views of a highest priority site;   the highest priority site is the specific site of interest having a largest number and/or biggest issues relative to the sites by the human user of the sites; and   an interest, a priority and/or an issue relates to energy consumption at a site.   
     
     
         20 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 19 , wherein normalization factors are used to provide an approach for the human user to compare a single site against other sites. 
     
     
         21 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 18 , wherein:
 a first element of the visualization is a link to a calendar view for comparison of sites across days of week, weeks of a month and/or weeks of a year; and   a second element of the visualization is a link to a detailed daily profile view for analysis of an operation of pieces of energy consumption equipment at a site level.   
     
     
         22 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 21 , wherein the calendar view further comprises weather data and a scrolling and/or selection capability to provide navigation through time and across sites. 
     
     
         23 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 21 , wherein:
 the calendar view comprises data of lighting and/or data of heating, ventilation and air conditioning of the energy consuming equipment; and   the detailed daily profile view comprises a simultaneous overview of data of heating, ventilation and air conditioning and/or of lighting of pieces the energy consuming equipment.   
     
     
         24 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 21 , wherein:
 the detailed daily profile view further comprises highlights of individual operating stages of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment and/or lighting of each piece of energy consuming equipment over a daily period; and   a capability for a user to scroll through time for a specific site having stages of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment and/or lighting at a level of sites.   
     
     
         25 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 a dashboard provided by the display; and   wherein the dashboard has one or more windows for viewing one or more energy consuming sites where an energy consumption metric is presented on a geographic map and the energy consumption metric is coded via shape, size, shade and/or color to identify certain deviations in the energy consumption metric.   
     
     
         26 . The energy-related information presentation system of  claim 25 , wherein:
 the dashboard further comprises one or more linking views that provide contextual information about the one or more energy consuming sites to a user; and   the contextual information comprises:
 a geographic distribution; 
 a distribution by size; 
 a distribution by aggregated climate zone; and/or 
 a distribution across virtually all sites to reveal consumption in an overall context of an enterprise of the sites.