AN innovative energy reduction project, led by Bristol City Council, has been named a “project to watch” by the United Nations’ Big Data Climate Challenge.
Bristol SmartSpaces is part of a Europe-wide group – part-funded by the European Commission – which is investigating ways to reduce energy in public buildings using Information communication technology.
The project concentrates on using the data from the council’s smart meters, which collect energy use data every half-an-hour from more than 500 buildings across the council’s estate.
Annually this results in 36.8 million bits of data, from electricity, gas, oil and renewable resources.
Bristol City Council’s Energy Service, in partnership with software provider SystemsLink, has created a number of user-friendly tools that convert this data into simple information and images. This is then used to help to reduce energy use.
The tools are available to users like building professionals, accountants, facilities management, caretakers and general staff. They have been piloted across the council for nearly a year and they have already resulted in energy savings of up to 20% in some buildings.
