What is Building Management? And how does energy monitoring help make your building more sustainable?
More and more organizations are switching to smart building management. And not without reason. Energy prices are volatile, laws and regulations are becoming stricter, and sustainability is high on the agenda. Yet one crucial question remains: how do you maintain control over your building’s energy consumption?
In this blog, we explain how building management works, why energy monitoring is essential, and how you can start implementing smarter and sustainable building management today.
What is Building Management?
Building management is the total of processes and systems that ensure buildings function safely, comfortably, efficiently, and sustainably. This includes climate control (heating, cooling, ventilation), lighting, security and access control, technical maintenance, and building energy management. Within the latter category, energy monitoring plays an increasingly important role.
With a well-designed building management system, you have control not only over technology but also over performance, sustainability, and costs.
Why energy monitoring is essential for building management
Without insight, no action. This especially applies to energy. Many buildings waste energy unnoticed, simply because there’s no good insight into consumption patterns.
With a smart energy monitoring system:
- You detect waste, such as unnecessarily running installations
- You compare buildings, branches, or floors
- You set savings goals, measure progress, and report easily
- You comply faster with regulations, such as the Energy Saving Obligation or EED audit obligation
This allows you to optimize your building’s energy consumption in a targeted way.
How does energy monitoring work in building management?
Energy monitoring starts with data. Measuring = knowing. Here are the key steps:
1. Connection to your meters
Whether it’s electricity, gas, heat, or water: smart meters or existing measurement data give you access to real-time consumption information.
2. Collect and visualize data
In a platform like EnergyGrip from Aurum Europe, all your data is clearly displayed in dashboards. Per building, per floor, or per installation.
3. Analyze and compare
Detect anomalies, set thresholds, and compare locations or periods. This way you discover hidden savings opportunities.
4. Automate and adjust
In advanced applications, you can even automatically control installations based on consumption data. It doesn’t get smarter than that.
What does energy monitoring deliver for your buildings?
Energy monitoring is relevant for all types of buildings – from office buildings and hospitals to educational institutions and shopping centers. Organizations with multiple locations or high energy consumption especially benefit directly from:
✅ Lower energy costs
By detecting waste and optimally utilizing sustainable sources, you save structurally.
✅ CO₂ reduction
Less energy consumption = less emissions. This way you actively work on climate goals and sustainable building management.
✅ Higher building value
Sustainable buildings with good energy management score better on labels like BREEAM or GPR. This increases your real estate value and attractiveness to tenants or buyers.
✅ Insight and control
You know where you stand, where you can improve, and can make well-founded decisions based on insight into your building’s energy management.
✅ Prepared for future legislation
Increasingly strict regulations around sustainability require measurable results. With energy monitoring, you’re prepared and can report easily.
How does building management contribute to sustainability?
Smart building management isn’t just about cost savings – it’s also about sustainability and future-proofing your real estate. The combination of energy monitoring and sustainable technology creates powerful synergy: you not only see what you consume but can also actively control how and when you use energy.
By linking energy monitoring to:
Solar Panels
You get real-time insight into both generation and consumption. This way you can optimally use self-generated energy and limit feed-back.
Heat Pumps
By accurately monitoring heat pump consumption, you prevent peak loads, immediately see when they run inefficiently, and can fine-tune based on usage patterns.
Smart Thermostats
With smart temperature control per room, you can increase comfort and prevent unnecessary heating. Especially in combination with energy monitoring, you see exactly where to adjust.
Energy Management Systems (EMS)
Energy monitoring often forms the data layer under a broader EMS. This allows you to add automatic control, such as switching off installations outside working hours or optimizing charging stations.
Building management legislation: are you prepared?
More and more organizations must comply with sustainability obligations, such as the Energy Savings Information Duty or energy savings obligation for large buildings.
Through energy monitoring, you’re able to:
- Accurately report energy consumption and measures
- Use data as substantiation in audits
- Early detection of where savings potential lies
That’s why we wrote a whitepaper; Regulations and smart metering – How to stay compliant?
Conclusion
Building management without energy monitoring is like driving a car without a dashboard: you don’t know where you’re going, how fast you’re going (how much you’re consuming), or when something goes wrong. With smart energy monitoring from Aurum Europe, you gain control over your consumption, lower costs, and take steps toward a sustainable future.
Want to know how your buildings are doing? Or curious about the potential of energy monitoring?
