2023-09-15 09:30:18
If the sobriety measures put in place by companies primarily include electricity and gas, many of them also want to reduce their consumption of water and industrial gases. The company EFICIA, which offers a global building management solution, is currently seeing an increase in requests for water management. We asked Alric MARC, its founder, to tell us more about it.
Alric MARC, president and founder of EFICIA
(credit: EFICIA)
EFICIA is a company created in 2013 and specialized in the energy management of buildings.
It offers professionals remote control of the main energy-consuming equipment: heating, lighting, ventilation, etc.
In addition to energy management, EFICIA also works with players in the professional world on water management and plans to add water supervision to its 100% free consumption monitoring and analysis application.
Engineering techniques: Why opt for the installation of water meters on an industrial or commercial site? Do users not have access to consumption data from their main meter?
Alric Marc : This is the heart of the problem. Companies wishing to manage their water consumption are currently faced with a problem: network managers do not share water consumption data with independent third parties, because they do not have a legal obligation to do so.
This prevents the integration of water consumption data into companies’ EMS, which is absurd when electricity and gas consumption data are shared and integrated!
In fact, the CRE[1] requires energy suppliers to integrate “customer outputs”, i.e. connectors, on electricity and gas meters, in order to enable the exploitation of consumption data.
For water, unfortunately there is neither standard nor legal obligation to make data accessible. In fact, if “connected” water meters are equipped with an antenna that sends information to the supplier, the consumer has no way of connecting to it!
This is the reason why the application offered on the EFICIA website integrates the control of electricity and gas well, but not that of water.
We therefore need a law that would correct this state of affairs.
Have you noticed an increase in requests regarding the management of corporate water consumption?
Although our first installations dedicated to water management date from 2013, we have noticed an increase in requests for around 6 months. You should know that water management is not obligatory, the approach of these companies is therefore truly oriented towards sustainable development. Furthermore, even if episodes of drought are increasing and this seems to coincide with the arrival of the Water plan, the process has been underway for a long time, particularly with certain large DIY brands.
Why are major DIY brands implementing water management solutions?
To lead by example! You should know that these stores, through the products they have on their shelves, want to convey a positive image to their customers. These major brands sell products linked to sustainable development to individuals: insulation materials, solar panels, heat pumps.[2]stoves, devices that save energy and water, etc.
They cannot therefore encourage their customers to invest in the green transition for their housing if they do not do it themselves, especially as they develop their own private labels.
With these brands, we have therefore put in place real deployment plans, to equip all of the sites with systems including several water meters (up to 10 sometimes). Implementing our solution allows them to identify potential leaks or misuse.
As for leaks, when we know that a simple leaking tap can waste up to 120 liters per day and that a toilet flush can waste up to 600 liters, the volume lost quickly becomes significant for a great brand!
Indeed, some stores are extremely large and employ several hundred people, their consumption is therefore proportional to their size.
There are also other sources of leaks, particularly in the pipes. Sometimes they are visible, therefore easily detectable, but in certain cases, for example for buried pipes, the leak will remain invisible for a long time. The worst is when the leak occurs on a buried fire network. These networks are sized to provide significant water flow rates[3]an undetected leak can be costly and even cause significant damage (floor subsidence, humidity problems, etc.).
For these reasons, it is therefore important to install a meter on your RIA (armed fire valve) network!
And what are the bad uses of water?
This could be due to overconsumption of drinking water, such as poor use of rainwater. In their water management approach, these companies sometimes provide rainwater recovery systems on roofs and car parks, particularly on “new” sites. But having recuperators is not a guarantee of water savings; users must still use this water, particularly for watering.
Installing meters therefore makes it possible to check whether this water is being used. To control uses, we also install various sensors to measure the water level in the tanks, as well as the temperature and humidity level of the air. This makes it possible to condition watering to the weather conditions, because it is not always useful to water when the humidity level is high. Of course, the customer is free to follow the advice we give them or not!
[1] Energy Regulatory Commission
[2] Heat pump
[3] Minimum flow rate between 34 l/min and 128 l/min depending on the dimensions of the pipe, i.e. 3 to 10 times more than a drinking water network!
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