Energy Management for the 99%
Updated 30 June 2018
Dave Kumec, Chef and Owner of Mission Hill Creamery makes premium-quality ice cream in Santa Cruz, California. His ice cream is handcrafted in small batches, using the finest, freshest, local organic ingredients.
In addition to his focus on how his ice cream is made, Dave pays attention to when it is made. "We make most of our ice cream during Pacific Gas & Electric off peak hours." This saves Dave money and makes his operations greener - off peak electricity has a lower carbon footprint than on peak.
Dave is able to keep an eye on his operations thanks to a free PG&E tool - Share My Data (SMD). 99% of PG&E\ 9.7 million customers have access to SMD. That's why we call SMD "energy management for the 99%".
Placer County in the Sierra foothills uses SMD to monitor operations in an historic courthouse, office building, library, and jail. The county's energy consultant James Doolittle says that SMD "has helped identify multiple equipment failures, enabling quick resolution and avoiding associated costs."
SMD - what's under the hood?
SMD provides the key components of an energy management system:
Data collection and storage - like 99% of PG&E's customers, Dave has a smart meter which measures electric use every 15 minutes. Two years of historic data (including monthly bills) are stored, and new readings are added daily.
Data access - SMD uses the open source technology called "Green Button Connect My Data". So all Dave had to do was sign up on-line, a 2 minute process. He authorized a trusted partner to access his energy data and voila, he was done.
Analytics -- this is the most valuable component of SMD. There are dozens of 3rd party apps that analyze SMD data to help PG&E residential and business customers manage their energy use, costs, and carbon footprint.
Of course we're partial to Meter Insights. It's the only SMD app designed for small-medium businesses like Mission Hill Creamery. We understand that Dave's top priority is making fantastic ice cream. Meter Insights keeps a watch on his operations 24x7 and alerts him when something unusual happens.
More information about SMD is available here.
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