BAS, BMS, EMS... What's in Your Building?
By 9f405e387eb227b9db4d15b2dd5f8384 ·
In our recent industry survey and white paper on building and energy management, we found out that many building professionals use the terms Building Automation/Management Systems (BAS/BMS) and Energy Management Software (EMS) interchangeably. We thought we could clear up some of the confusion.
In short, a BAS or BMS automates the control of things like heat pumps, lighting systems, HVAC boxes, and all of this simplifies the jobs of chief engineers and building operators. However, if there isn’t already an existing system, implementing BAS can often be cost prohibitive when compared to EMS, and the systems often lack an analytical overlay, ease of useand reporting to enable you, property managers or anyone else to understand what exactly needs to be done.
Essentially, a BAS/BMS will not effectively optimize building management, since its primary purpose is to automate and control vs. analyzing.
Here’s where Energy Management Software/Systems (EMS) come in. EMS provides advanced analytics and are the brains of the operation, taking in all the data and processing the information as they come. These complex patterns include electric, water, gas as well as steam consumption, weather changes, dollar visibility and using all that information as well as benchmarking with similar buildings in the area to project expected behavior, identify savings opportunities and reduce the risk of energy expense over-runs. Contact us to learn how EMS can help .
From features such as automated tenant bill recovery, account-level budget and variance reporting, to advanced forecasting and team coaching, these invaluable analytics provide a dashboard and platform for property managers and chief engineers like yourself to collaborate, so YOU don't need to waste an extra minute of your precious time. These analytics work in tandem with a BAS, allowing you to understand what's going on in a building, and automate or initiate changes as necessary.
Unlike a BAS/BMS which is primarily the domain of a building engineers, EMS analytics also benefit property managers with automated tenant bill recovery, account-level budget and variance reporting, and advanced forecasting. The analytics also often provide a dashboard and platform for property managers and chief engineers to collaborate, so YOU don’t need to waste an extra minute of your precious time.
In terms of deployment, EMS can work alone: In fact, EMS is a very cost-effective way of initiating positive changes in organization, cost reduction and optimization. However, if you have a BMS/BAS already installed, you can still use EMS optimize building performance, increasing ROI on that large investment. EMS and BAS can serve different purposes, and can be integrated, though that is not a requirement to benefit.
So. What's in YOUR building?