by Brianna Crandall — August 7, 2013—Ecova, a total energy and sustainability management company, recently released its second annual report on big data energy trends. The benchmarking report draws from Ecova’s Big Data Warehouse, which contains over 2.5 billion points of data—daily detailed insight from more than 700,000 facilities, reaching back more than a decade and covering just over 8% of the total U.S. commercial and industrial electric load.
This year’s analysis, specifically pulled from 150,000 facilities, shows a decrease in total electric consumption intensity of 8.8% and a 6% decrease in peak demand. From a vertical view, many retail organizations (including medium box retail, small box retail, and mercantile malls) have slashed more than 12% of consumption from their portfolios since 2008, says Ecova.
Ecova clients show a continued decrease in total electric consumption intensity.
The Big Data Look at Energy Trends: 2008-2012 report gives other major commercial and industrial companies timely benchmarks for their own trend analysis. Organizations that leverage benchmarking understand how they are performing against the average, and then use the data to drive additional operational improvements and savings, notes Ecova.
“Energy costs are top-of-mind for many executives, and while many companies are making significant strides in cost and consumption reduction, there is still a lot of work to be done,” said Jeff Heggedahl, CEO, Ecova. “Measuring against Ecova’s benchmarks will enable companies to evaluate how they are performing in comparison to peers. Data is critical to implementing a successful energy management strategy. It empowers intelligent decision-making, which helps organizations prioritize resources on high-impact projects.”
Electricity consumption trends by market segment between Q4 2008 and Q4 2012.
Energy and facilities managers know that current economic conditions and environmental climate shifts are driving the need for serious energy cost and consumption reduction programs. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has determined that commercial facilities account for 36% of all U.S. electricity consumption and cost more than $190 billion in energy every year.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently found that 30% of the energy used in these buildings is wasted, so improving efficiency obviously has the potential to create tens of billions of dollars in savings. This year, Ecova’s analysis concludes that consistent industry benchmarking coupled with other energy and sustainability initiatives produces measurable consumption reduction results for commercial and industrial facilities.
Highlights from Big Data Look at Energy Trends: 2008-2012:
- Ecova clients experienced a three-times higher rate of total consumption reduction compared to commercial facilities as reported in data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
- The study shows a decrease in total electric consumption of 8.8%.
- The study reveals a corresponding 6% reduction in peak demand, indicating that organizations are making significant investments in hardware and behavioral changes to reduce peak demand.
- The cost of electricity has decreased between 2008 and 2012; however, there are wide variances between regulated and deregulated markets. In deregulated markets the study uncovers a decrease in electric prices of 14%; however, in regulated markets, electric prices have increased 4%.
- Natural gas prices have exhibited a much steeper drop of 36% since 2008.
- Energy usage has declined in all vertical markets except Healthcare (Inpatient).
- Water and sewer prices have climbed by almost 30% since 2008.
To make the power of this big data actionable for clients, in the fall of 2013 Ecova will expand its Energy Performance Report service to include vertical peer market data from the Ecova Data Warehouse, allowing for local and regional peer energy performance comparisons.
