July 6, 2009—Scientific Conservation Inc., (SCI), a leading provider of energy efficiency solutions for the $4.5 billion commercial building market, has launched SCIwatch, a breakthrough Automated Continuous Commissioning (ACC) software platform that enables commercial building owners and facility operators to slash annual energy spending up to 25 percent, according to the company.
SCIwatch is the industry’s only software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that persistently and automatically predicts, detects, diagnoses and prioritizes system faults and anomalies that are constantly present in commercial buildings, says the company.
As a new class of ACC software, SCIwatch is addressing the insidious but persistent problem of “energy drift,” which causes commercial buildings to lose an average of 17 percent in energy efficiency every one to two years, says SCI. With average electricity costs running $2 per square foot, this energy leakage is costing billions of dollars in unnecessary spending each year.
Energy drift can be triggered by a wide variety of problems ranging from clogged filters to more complex issues that include electrical, mechanical and HVAC system faults. In addition, anomalies in building tolerances, seasonal climate change, or varying tenant occupancy rates can contribute to the growing problem of energy seepage.
SCIwatch takes raw information from energy management systems and converts data into actionable tasks prioritized by cost savings. It provides ongoing measurement of changes in each mechanical and electrical system’s health on a 24/7 basis, and does so remotely and non-intrusively. As a result, SCIwatch persistently determines the root of systemic operational problems, predicts operational deterioration, and quantifies its associated cost.
