I often get asked about the best ways to save energy in the home to achieve a reduced energy bill. My first recommendation is usually to get a smart energy meter. The benefits of this are threefold. A smart meter enables data to drive the decisions around implementing energy conservation measures by showing where energy is being used. It also allows for behavioural changes by giving direct feedback on how energy is being used in the home. Lastly, having a smart meter will expose whether your energy bill is correct or not and provides recourse in the case that you are being billed incorrectly.

As far as measures to reduce energy consumption are concerned, Gray advises that the best payback available to homeowners and tenants comes in the form of lighting energy:

LEDs and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) give a payback in the region of four months when compared to incandescent lights. As most homes still tend to be found with many incandescents in place, this often represents an easy win. Hot water generation is another area where big savings can be made. Insulating hot water pipes gives the most sure-fire saving in energy and costs very little, while also lowering water use by reducing the time it takes for hot water to reach the basin or shower. Likewise, low-flow fittings make for a universal reduction in water use as well as energy used for hot water.

A visualisation of performance modelling

Replacing an electric geyser with a heat pump or solar water heater potentially offers a very high saving, but also carries the greatest range of possible results. Solar water heaters only perform well when correctly designed and sized. Usage patterns also affect their performance quite significantly. Nonetheless, if designed and operated correctly, they represent the greatest possible reduction in energy used for hot water. Heat pumps give a more predictable saving and will reduce energy used for hot water by 50 to 70%.

Solid Insight

Recently, Solid Green has refined its Solid Insight platform, initially implemented for the commercial market in 2012, and rolled it out to the residential market as well.

By integrating with a building’s existing smart-metering systems, the application enables automated monitoring and reporting of energy and water consumption. “Solid Insight is like internet banking for your energy”, Gray explains. “When home owners are provided with clear, real-time insight into the workings of their homes, they are able to pursue sustainability goals in an informed and responsible way.”

Solid Insight for Homes provides residential energy-metering hardware and cloud software in one turnkey package, and data can be accessed via mobile phones or tablets. The system is suitable for use in new build free-standing energy efficient homes; existing homes targeting reduced energy consumption through retrofits and lifestyle changes; and multi-unit residential developments, where each tenant can access their own energy dashboard to view and manage their energy use.

For more information on the actual cost of implementing energy-efficient measures in the home, listen to Warren in conversation with Classic FM’s Tamara LePine-Williams.

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Solid Insight’s initiative has already been piloted at GBCSA’s offices in Cape Town in 2014 – and at Solid Green’s offices in Johannesburg – which have just received the first 6-Star Green Star SA Interiors certification for refurbishment undertaken in 2015.

“Solid Insight is like internet banking for your energy,” says Warren Gray, a director at Solid Green. “When users are provided with clear, real-time insight into the workings of their buildings, they are able to pursue sustainability goals as informed and responsible agents.”

The platform presents a building’s environmental data and green features in a way that engages both occupants and visitors by generating accurate live-metering data that are displayed both in building foyers and online – and which can be accessed from any connected device. By integrating with a building’s existing smart-metering systems, the application enables automated billing of energy and water consumption. Environmental reporting is also handled automatically – thus giving stakeholders access to their energy and water use in an easy to read format.

“Many BMS or SCADA systems are complicated and generate too much raw data, making them inaccessible to the average building user,” observes Chilufya Lombe, a Solid Green director. “Solid Insight allows you to display accurate live-metering data in a clear and easy to understand manner, allowing you to influence the behaviour of the users of your building.”

Solid Insight was developed to directly and efficiently address this issue, providing a simple, affordable and presentable system for green-building developers to showcase live-metering data and earn innovation points for a building’s Green Star rating. The system was then extended into the currently available Solid Insight suite, and big plans are afoot for its evolution into a complete solution.

Green City Startup

Earlier this year, Solid Insight entered Green City Startup, an initiative of the City of Johannesburg in collaboration with the University of Johannesburg and Resolution Circle, which aims to give innovative entrepreneurs with ideas in building, energy, water, transport or waste the opportunity to develop their ideas into green startups.

Solid Insight was selected as a top-20 candidate and, following an investor pitch for the Green City Startup judging panel on 10 March, was selected in the top eight. Using a R250 000 grant awarded for this purpose, the Solid Insight team is developing the platform further in anticipation of the top-three adjudication in August. This will require demonstration of a working prototype that has market traction. The first-place winner will receive an additional R1 million from the City, with prizes of R500 000 and R300 000 for second and third places, respectively.

“A further advantage of the system is that building owners can use the system to inform, educate and instil pride in a building’s users,” Gray adds. “By giving occupants access to resource-consumption data, as well as tools to affect that consumption, tenants, clients and prospective tenants know just how much you are doing to mitigate your lettable space’s carbon footprint.”

A direct benefit to building owners and developers is that the Solid Insight service is approved for earning Innovation points when determining a building’s GBCSA Green Star rating. Solid Insight is recommended for all commercial real estate, including office, retail, industrial and residential developments that either already have smart energy and water meters or are looking for such solutions.

More information on Solid Insight is available at the Solid Insight website, and Green City Startup on Twitter  (#GreenCityStartup, @TheGCStartup) and the Green City Startup website.

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