Smart Plugs Reduce Commercial Building Energy Consumption

The City of Pittsburgh, BOSS Controls, Carnegie Mellon University and other private entities joined forces as part of the Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) program to demonstrate the capability of plug load power measurement and control to achieve rapid energy savings in buildings.

BOSS Controls installed SmartEdge Energy Savers (smart plug load controllers) on various devices in City of Pittsburgh buildings, Carnegie Mellon University and the USX Tower (formerly US Steel Building). Devices included window air-conditioning units, vending machines, water coolers, coffee pots and other plug loads.

Project Summary

• Demonstrate the capability of plug load power measurement and control to achieve rapid energy savings in buildings.
• Aggregate plug loads across multiple buildings to participate in demand response events.
• Provide utilities with a virtual power plant resource while reducing peak demand costs and emissions.
• Demonstrate autonomous energy-efficiency capabilities to react to dynamic inputs such as real-time energy costs.
• Optimize the end-user experience.

What We Did

BOSS Controls installed Smart Plugs on various devices in City of Pittsburgh buildings, Carnegie Mellon University and the US Steel Tower.

The facilities represented a variety of building types, including commercial office high-rise, university and municipal facilities. Within those facilities, a variety of plug loads were selected, including water coolers and water fountains, coffee pots and vending machines.

BOSS Smart Plugs have integrated power measurement and reporting capabilities, which simplified data collection and reporting.

Baseline Data Collection

Smart Plugs were installed and connected to the selected devices to collect baseline data for a minimum of 14 days.

Schedule-Based Control

After baseline data collection, schedules were implemented to turn devices off during unoccupied periods. These periods were typically weekdays before 6:00 AM, weekdays after 6:00 PM and weekends.

The Smart Plugs were operated with the implemented schedule for a minimum of 14 days to measure and validate energy savings.

Demonstrated Results

• Schedule-based control produced substantial energy savings. Schedule-based shutdown during unoccupied periods resulted in energy savings in excess of 50%.
• High-energy-consuming equipment produced the largest total savings. Equipment such as soda vending machines provided significant energy-saving opportunities.
• Short payback periods were demonstrated. For the Smart Plugs installed in the study, simple payback was less than one year, with payback as short as four months for high-energy-consuming equipment.
• The results supported wider deployment. The combination of energy savings, shohttps://bosscontrols.comrt payback periods and verifiable results supported wider deployments throughout the facilities.

Additional Findings and Benefits

• Integrated measurement and real-time reporting enabled rapid feedback on energy savings.
• Automated controls provided end-user feedback while supporting energy savings and user experience.
• Cloud-based control provided a mechanism to support automated demand response events down to the plug-load level with measurement and verification.
• Schedule-based controls reduced operating hours and can extend equipment operating life.
• Automated alerts for unscheduled ON/OFF activity and power levels exceeding thresholds can support equipment operating performance.

BOSS SmartEdge Solution Features

• Single 120V (15 Amp) or 220V (20 Amp) grounded plug-in load controllers
• Use your existing WiFi network with no additional networking infrastructure required
• Controlled via mobile device or computer with internet connection
• Program with 7-day schedules and easily upload saved schedules to large groups of devices
  simultaneously
• Monitor real-time and peak power usage (watts)
• Monitor and graph energy consumption (kilowatt hours)
• Group and simultaneously control multiple devices by location, device type or any user defined
  category

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