Is CLASP on your energy management radar? It should be.
Introducing a new energy management acronym you’ll be hearing a lot more about.
In June 2019, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) issued a case study, prepared by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reporting on an in-field evaluation of the use of circuit-level electrical submetering. From this field evaluation and case study sprung the new acronym CLASP referring to a circuit-level analytics and submetering platform. What it really stands for is technology that provides the ability to monitor individual circuits within a building or a portfolio of buildings, in real time, in a cost effective manner. Submetering implementation has risen sharply over the past two decades as facility owners and operators have begun to understand how attractive the Return on Investment (ROI) from measuring and managing granular energy data can be.
Recent technical developments have added to the value proposition with streamlined integration of the submetering data via cloud-based software solutions and application programming interfaces. Now, with disruptive new submetering technology and IoT enabled software platforms, building owners can’t afford not to implement a CLASP based solution.
There are two fundamental components of CLASP; the hardware and the big data software platform. Let’s break this down. The hardware consists of a multi-circuit submeter which measures the individual voltage, current, and power/energy used by individual circuits. Current transformers, either solid-core or split-core, are installed at the electrical panel, sub panel or Motor Control Center (MCC), depending on the level of granularity desired. Some advanced submeters in the market can meter up to 48 circuits in 1/2/3 phase, with voltage up to 600 VAC and current to 6000 Amps with a high degree of accuracy, meeting or exceeding ANSI 12.20 Accuracy Class. The hardware includes a number of considerations to ensure a simple, quick and cost effective installation, even in the challenging environments commonly encountered in energy retrofit situations.
On the software side, the submeter processes the amp and voltage data for each circuit and transmits this data to the internet. A Real Time Energy Monitoring (RTEM) system uses Big Data techniques to handle thousands of circuits reporting data from the meters that aggregate the energy data in real time and contextualizes the measurements. What that means is that the software platform parses and prioritizes detailed energy information, at high speed, in order for building owners and operators to understand and act on the most important data collected. With CLASP, energy analysts can develop insights into energy use and waste that wasn’t economically feasible before this breakthrough in technology.
CLASP technology provides the granular data and the tools required to conduct, on a continuous basis, a new level of energy analyses — enabling the identification of strategic energy conservation measures, fault detection, and building best practices. With this vast store of energy data and the power of Big Data analytics, energy managers are empowered to enter the new world of Forensic Energy Management and reach for new levels of energy efficiency.
CircuitMeter Inc. is a privately held Canadian firm that has developed groundbreaking circuit-level analytics and submetering technology (CLASP) which has been implemented in the market in an extremely cost effective manner. CircuitMeter’s CLASP technology has been adopted by organizations in the commercial, industrial and institutional sectors in order to assist in reducing their energy consumption, costs, and carbon footprint.