Energy Consumption

This aim of this article is to provide some high-level information about how the Vertical City Toolkit can be valuable for condominium corporations with respect to monitoring energy usage.

The Function of Our Toolkit

Utility costs are typically a significant yearly operating expense for a Condominium Corporation. It is not surprising to see Condominium Corporations spend close to a third of their operating budget on utilities. Given that utilities can be a major cost for many Corporations, it is vital that Corporations are aware of their utility consumption behaviours.

Consumption Prediction Model

Our toolkit is capable of processing billing information from various utilities, such as electricity, water, natural gas, and steam, and has access to both historical and current weather data. We’ve observed that energy consumption is strongly influenced by external temperature, and as such, our toolkit can analyze how each utility is impacted by weather patterns. By combining your historical billing data with weather information and applying advanced machine learning techniques, our toolkit can develop a predictive model that estimates expected consumption ranges based on current weather conditions.

Model Prediction vs Future Consumption

Once a consumption prediction model is formulated for every utility type, the consumption in future bills can be compared to predictions built from weather data over the same billing period. By accounting for temperature, consumption anomalies become much more pronounced and therefore easier to identify.

Addressing Outliers

Our toolkit is effective at using consumption prediction models to identify utility usage outliers. However, it can only flag potential issues and cannot investigate them further. To address these outliers, property managers will still need to take the lead in investigating the cause. It’s up to property managers and their staff to determine whether the unusual consumption has a valid explanation or if it signals a problem - whether mechanical or otherwise - that needs immediate attention.

Summary

While most corporations rely on their property managers to identify any utility consumption anomalies, our experience has shown that the tools needed to account for weather prior to raising any alerts are currently unavailable. The Vertical City Toolkit allows any corporation to leverage their historical billing data to effectively monitor their energy consumption and take action as necessary.