Could eDAS® help you with ESOS Phase 2 Compliance?

How EMS and eDAS® can help you achieve compliance and put systems in place for future energy and environmental monitoring

With the passing of the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme Qualification date (31^st December 2018), ESOS Phase 2 is officially underway. If your organisation qualifies for ESOS (determine if your organisation qualifies for ESOS), then 3 actions must be achieved by the 5^th of December 2019:

1. Total energy consumption must be measured over a 12-month period and include 31^st December 2018;
2. Energy audits must be carried out to identify cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities; and
3. Report compliance to the national scheme administrator – Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and Natural Resources Wales.

As mentioned in our blog ‘The Importance of Energy Monitoring’, failing to comply with ESOS will be costly. In 2018, 16 organisations were penalised for failing to report compliance to the appropriate national scheme administrator. The penalties ranged in values from £1,500 to £45,000 (DEFRA).

Michael Carr, EMS’ ESOS Lead Assessor, describes the importance of complying with ESOS and why doing so early can save time and money,

“Participants often underestimate the time required to collect energy data and fulfil the audit requirements which on Phase 1 led of a rush of last minute compliance submissions adding considerable stress to the process!

We would encourage participants to programme their ESOS Audit to be commenced shortly after the end of the Reference Period to avoid a last minute scramble to comply.

It must always be borne in mind that the objective of undertaking the ESOS Audit should be to save money through lower energy consumption and not just legal compliance.”

At EMS we can help your organisation achieve compliance with ESOS Phase 2. As previously mentioned, we have an appropriately qualified ESOS Lead Assessor that can analyse, profile, benchmark the energy data and prepare the ESOS Evidence Pack.

We can also help your organisation put systems in place for future energy monitoring and compliance with other energy and carbon reporting legislation, i.e. Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR) framework. EMS have developed a software application that monitors and reports accurate and real-time environmental monitoring data – eDAS®. The system is a data acquisition programme that provides increased visibility of your organisation’s environmental performance to help identify costs savings, maintain legal compliance, improve decision support, environmental awareness and business efficiency. The software is available in 3 different package formats:

1. eDAS® Site: Enables the site to centralise and view environmental monitoring data on a user-friendly, on-site touchscreen PC
2. eDAS® Web: Centralises data on a cloud based platform which allows you to view your environmental monitoring data from a remote location
3. eDAS® Ultima: Centralises and presents data on both an on-site touchscreen PC and secure cloud based platform

Below is an image of what the programme looks like during real-time.

In Figure 1, the following are illustrated:

• Purple line graph shows energy use throughout the day;
• Daily cost of energy use (pence) is illustrated in the red bar graph;
• Blue line graph shows energy vs. temperature; and
• Green bar graph represents monthly energy costs (pence).

This page can be amended to add in additional beneficial energy data, such as kgCO₂e.

Figure 1 is an excellent example of how eDAS® can help your organisation set SMART energy efficiency targets and maintain compliance with environmental legislation and permit requirements. It is also important to note that the system can be utilised for trade effluent and emissions monitoring which is beneficial to organisations that hold a trade effluent discharge consent and/or have an environmental permit with emissions limits.

If you have any questions about ESOS Phase 2, energy monitoring or the eDAS® system, please contact Rebecca Chapman at 0114 272 2272 or rebecca.chapman@em-solutions.co.uk