Visualise the real impact of your Energy Performance Actions (EPA) with Time Periods Comparison!
In energy performance initiatives, it’s often challenging to precisely quantify the impact of an implemented action or, conversely, to measure a drift. Did the new heating system control actually pay off? And how can you prove it?
To answer these questions, Smart Impulse has developed a new time period comparison analysis feature on its platform, available in the Analyses tab.
A feature designed to highlight your actions in just two clicks
Until now, tracking consumption month by month or week by week made it difficult to isolate the exact impact of an action or a drift related to a specific usage.
This new feature provides a simple tool to quickly compare two comparable periods:
- Impact period: after the action has been implemented
- Reference period: before the action. By default, this is automatically set to the same period the previous year, if available, or to the immediately preceding period. It can also be manually adjusted.
Compare what’s comparable
The comparison is based on a simple yet powerful logic:
- Select the impacted period: the time frame during which an action was applied (e.g., May).
- Reference period is proposed automatically (e.g., the same period last year).
- Visualise the results: graphs highlight the average power profiles at 10-minute intervals, weekly or daily, overall or by specific usage.
- Measure the impact: the difference between the before/after periods is automatically calculated and intelligently extrapolated to a full year.
Note: This analysis is especially useful for non-temperature-sensitive uses (lighting, IT, etc.) or for thermosensitive uses when comparing periods with similar climatic conditions (no weather correction applied at this stage).
Analyse in detail, usage by end-use
A major advantage of this feature is the ability to zoom in on a specific usage to isolate the effects of an action.
For example: you reduced heating to optimise consumption, but extended building operating hours at the same time. Overall building consumption may seem slightly higher…
Looking only at total consumption between the two periods could suggest a 2.6% deviation due to extended hours.
However, by focusing on the relevant usage, heating in this case, you actually observe a 31.7% savings for that usage. A real performance improvement that would have gone unnoticed without this targeted analysis.
This tool is particularly valuable for measuring the effectiveness of specific actions, even in complex contexts (changes in occupancy, unusual weather, evolving usage patterns).
Visualise impact at the right time and place
What makes this tool even more powerful is the ability to see impact day by day within the compared period. Actions do not always have a uniform effect:
Example: In a school building, a control adjustment may only affect Wednesdays or weekends.
With period comparison, you can detect localised effects: an abnormal consumption spike on Wednesday night may reveal a misconfigured piece of equipment. All of this is visible at a glance in the graph, with 10-minute resolution.
Beyond the typical week, you can also compare typical days: occupied days, unoccupied days, or a specific day like Wednesday.
This allows you to focus the analysis on key moments, isolating other days from the graph and impact calculations, resulting in more precise diagnostics and a better understanding of energy behavior day by day.
Readable savings, automatically extrapolated
For each comparison, the platform calculates:
- Average savings, weekly or daily (kWh/day or kWh/week)
- Annual equivalent (kWh, €, and CO₂), automatically extrapolated based on the days analysed for typical day comparison
Example: If the building is occupied 5 days/week and the comparison is made on unoccupied days, the daily kWh savings are extrapolated to 2 days/week × 52 weeks = 104 days.
This provides a clear, quantified estimate of annual gains or losses.
A feature for all stakeholders
This new functionality addresses the needs of multiple profiles:
- Energy managers: demonstrate the impact of action plans
- Facility managers: track the effect of new settings or technical interventions
- Occupants: visualize the effect of behaviors or adjustments
- Owners and asset managers: efficiently manage large-scale energy strategies
It also helps structure dialogue around shared data, in line with the Tertiary Decree, BACS Decree, EnPCs, or an ISO 50001 approach.
In summary
- Compare two periods to quickly assess the impact of an action or deviation
- Zoom in usage by usage for detailed, actionable insights
- Visualise results immediately, with automatic annual extrapolation
- Use a simple yet powerful tool serving all stakeholders
Stay tuned for the next episode 😉