Retail Energy Management And Open Systems - What To Look For In Open EMS Solutions

By Andy McMillan, general manager, Philips Teletrol

For many years, retailers have been applying various tools and techniques to optimize energy usage in buildings to make the shopping experience as comfortable as possible while keeping costs down. Early attempts at energy management included programmable thermostats and light timers. Today there are thousands of innovative products and solutions to help control energy in retail environments. When these solutions are combined and managed, the result is referred to as energy management systems (EMS). These systems offer the potential to dramatically improve upon the effort to balance energy optimization with store comfort. However, modern EMS systems are not all the same. A critical difference between today's products is how they embrace the concept of "open systems," or open EMS.

Open EMS is about how energy management systems connect, talk, and manage each other. In the EMS market, two definitions of open EMS are commonly encountered. The first is based on technical standards; the second focuses on interfaces.