California Department of General Services Leads Conservation Effort

In response to a statewide conservation initiative, California's Department of General Services has introduced a pilot enterprise energy management (EEM) system in 65 of the buildings it manages for state government agencies. DGS created an energy management system that automates conservation efforts by monitoring and controlling power usage in each of the buildings around the clock.

Dan Fitzpatrick, Power Measurement account manager for the Department of General Services, said the meters' on-board Ethernet communications enable them to adapt seamlessly to the new system. "The database gathers and analyzes historical meter data and, together with the meters' onboard memory, provides a crucial data backup system for the IUE in case of network failure," Fitzpatrick said.

The system also offers the department significant future potential. As energy prices rise and conservation becomes increasingly important, the system can be expanded to include gas, water and CO2 monitoring as well as alternative technologies like distributed generation.