Veutility is a new addition to the crowded energy management market. The company&'s main selling point is that it uses data from a single smart meter to calculate a signature for each appliance drawing electricity. Veutility calls this signature &''appliance DNA&''. This signature is then used to track that appliance&'s energy consumption via a web interface.
Most energy management systems cannot measure the consumption of an individual appliance without using aあsmart-plug (an intelligent outlet that can measure power usage)あfor each device. Building management systems often deploy a large number of sensors attached to circuits in the building to pinpoint consumption more accurately.
Veutility recentlyあwon the &''Ireland&'s Innovator&'' award at the Globe Forum&'s Pitch competition.あVeutility CEO, Antonio Ruzzelli, is a researcher at University College Dublin&'s Clarity centre, working on sensor technologies. The algorithms used to identify individual appliances and calculate &''appliance DNA&'', were developed there.
Veutility&'s system works with any off-the-shelf smart meter, and only one meter is required per building or business. It also does not require any training (some energy management systems require appliances to be switched on and off to train the system). Another feature it offers is benchmarking, which allows facility managers to compare their consumption to that of similar businesses, e.g. compare the energy consumption of several hotels in a chain.
Veutilityあtargets businesses with large electricity bills. It is currently running a series of pilots in Dublin with hotels, banks, restaurants and a pharmaceutical company. In hotels, the pilots are already showing results of 20-40 percent reductions in consumption. Ruzzelli gave an example from a pilot where a new chef in a hotel was not told to turn off an extra fan in a restaurant kitchen. That single appliance costs thousands of euros a month to run and was quickly identified by Veutility&'s system as a major energy consumer.
As the system matures, Ruzzelli hopes to build up a database of appliance DNA profiles that can be used to provide recommendations to facility managers such as suggestions for more energy-efficient equipment. Veutility will also track how the signatures of appliances change over time, since they get less efficient as they age.
Competitors include startups like AlertMe, TED, Powersavvy and Ecofactor, but none of these seems to track energy consumption at the appliance level. Veutility&'s business model is based on subscriptions, whose costs will vary depending on the size of the customer.
Veutility is based in Dublin, Ireland and is currently raising funding.
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Companies: AlertMe, ecofactor, Powersavvy, TED, veutility
Companies: AlertMe, ecofactor, Powersavvy, TED, veutility
Ciara Byrne is a full time techie and part-time writer. She has worked as a software developer, team lead, engineering manager and mobile standards expert. Ciara is based in Amsterdam and her interests include creative companies, useful technology, torture by piano and cycling in high heels. Follow her on Twitter at @deciara.
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