It occurred to me that meters relate to energy monitoring in the same way as screws relate to birdhouses.

How is that?

Some manufacturing plants start energy management from installation of meters. Too often the process ends with meters too. However costly, this result is predictable. I will explain why on an example of a birdhouse.

Why do I need to build a birdhouse?

– Plan, planks & screws, tools, handy hands and time.

What does a plant manager need to establish an energy monitoring at a plant?

– Plan, meters, tools to process data, brains to interpret data and time.

In energy monitoring, meters play the same role of screws play in birdhouse building: they are crucial, but this is not where project starts and not where it ends.

The key element in both projects is plan, which defines what will be built and for what purpose.

And how energy monitoring relates to energy management is a different story we discussed in an earlier post.