The Benefit of Thermal Energy Metering

With increased energy costs and mandates from government agencies to reduce carbon emissions, it is becoming more essential to accurately measure and monitor thermal consumption within buildings. There is an upward trend in many facilities installing thermal energy meters (BTU meters) in commercial/multi-tenant energy metering, and monitoring applications such as retail units, condominiums, apartments, or central plant systems.

What is a thermal energy meter?

A thermal energy meter is an HVAC field device used in buildings to measure energy consumption in a hydronic system for either heating or cooling. Thermal energy meters allow building owners to accurately track energy usage and allocate specific costs to each unit.

A thermal energy meter consists of three elements:

• A flow meter on the hydronic system
• Two temperature sensors on the supply and return lines to calculate Delta T
• BTU calculator

Belimo thermal energy meters use ultrasonic transit time technology; with no moving parts to clog the system with debris offering accurate measurement. The multi-point wet calibration of each meter in production ensures high accuracy over the entire flow measurement range. Using BACnet/IP & MSTP, Modbus TCP & RTU, the thermal energy meter can be integrated directly into the building management system. No extra communication gateway is required. The thermal energy meter's embedded web server securely connects to the Belimo Cloud. Authorized 3rd-party billing services platforms can access the available energy data and use it for tenant billing.

Thermal energy meters from Belimo are designed to be multi-application devices, i.e., to be used as heat meters, cold meters, or as combined Heat and cold meters. They can be installed either in return or in the supply of the heat exchangers. The thermal energy meters can be installed in dedicated areas to monitor each unit in commercial buildings.

The benefits are numerous.

• Owners have insight into their energy consumption.
• Readings are available via computer, smartphone app,
• Identify potential system malfunctions or educate tenants on optimum temperature settings.
• Multi-point wet calibrated to ensure accuracy and repeatability.
• ±2% accuracy of reading and ±0.5% repeatability for accurate and precise measurement.
• IoT capability allows for remote meter reading and data utilized for billing.
• Power over Ethernet (PoE) utilized for both data and power simplifies installation, reducing the need for additional transformers and wiring.
• Utilize ultrasonic technology with patented automatic glycol compensation algorithm to provide accurate and repeatable flow measurements of water and water/glycol mixtures without drift.
• Thermal heat transfer energy data is transparent and allows users to view and document system performance during commissioning and over time.
• Field configuration via the Belimo Assistant App and a smartphone for easy field adjustments.
• Seamless system integration analog feedback and Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP BACnet MSTP and BACnet IP.

Measurements are vital in determining where we can conserve energy, and the only way is to measure consumption. Energy metering is trending; it will become universal and mainstream. 
Learn more online or download the product brochure.