About the project

How can you save energy in large municipal buildings such as sports halls, arenas, and swimming pools without spending hours on manual data analysis? In the Danish Municipality of Holstebro, they found the answer in artificial intelligence. 

The small energy team responsible for over 230,000 m² of buildings – including a wide range of sports facilities – faced a challenge: too much time was spent looking at consumption data and finding deviations manually. The team wanted to change that. In 2021, they therefore started using a new tool: the AI-based energy management system from Ento. 

“We needed a system that monitors consumption itself and tells us when something is out of the ordinary. That way, we can spend our time creating value in the buildings instead of sitting and reviewing bar charts,” says Thøger Niels Pørtner, project manager at Holstebro Municipality's corporate real estate team.

Ento’s system automatically analyses electricity, heating, and water consumption and highlights deviations that should be investigated further. This allows the municipality to prioritise its efforts where there is the most to be gained. The project has proven particularly effective in energy-intensive buildings such as sports facilities.

‍

What was the outcome of the project?

For almost four years now, Holstebro Municipality has been using Ento’s AI-based software to monitor consumption in all its buildings. In selected buildings, including nurseries and schools, the system can even regulate heating and ventilation automatically.

The software has proven particularly effective in sports facilities, where energy consumption is typically high and even small errors can be costly.  

“We have seen several cases where a fault in ventilation or heating was detected quickly because the system responded. If we had not intervened, it could have cost 50,000 DKK a year in unnecessary consumption,” says Thøger Niels Pørtner. 

But what does it cost? The implementation of the system has been relatively inexpensive and straightforward, says the project manager. It costs a minimal amount per year per site. The software is cloud-based and only requires access to existing meter data. Since the implementation, the municipality has saved a total of up to 1.8 million DKK, primarily through energy savings from ventilation and heating systems.

“It's a positive business case. Monitoring alone has given us the greatest return, and the software has quickly paid for itself,” says Thøger Niels Pørtner. 

‍

Challenges of the project

One of the biggest challenges has been organisational. Holstebro Municipality has a small energy team, so it has required planning and prioritisation to find the time to follow up on the many insights provided by the system. Especially in the set-up phase, it has been necessary to allocate resources to implement the solution and respond to the data generated by the AI. 

“The system can easily point out that there is something here that could potentially cost 50,000 DKK – but then someone has to have the time to drive out to the locations and do something about it,” says Thøger Niels Pørtner. 

In the longer term, the municipality sees potential in the system being able to regulate heating and ventilation to an even greater extent, so that errors and uneven consumption are not only detected but also handled automatically. 

This is already partially underway at selected locations, but requires technical adaptation of the control systems. 

The technical part has also presented challenges. In particular, it has taken time to access heating and water data, as this data is neither standardised nor digitised, and the information is often only available locally. While electricity data was available from the start of the project in 2021, Holstebro did not analyse heating and water data until autumn 2023. 

“It took us over two years to gain access to water and heating data. In some cases, we had to have a cup of coffee with the heating engineer and find a local solution because there were no established standards at all,” he explains. 

‍

Good advice for other municipalities 

Holstebro's experience is clear: start simple and build up. The municipality chose not to invest in expensive meters or detailed management from the outset. Instead, they used existing meters and focused on the low-hanging fruit.

"You shouldn't start by dividing a location into three measurement zones. Start with what you already have and use the data that is easy to obtain. Then you can always upgrade later," says Thøger Niels Pørtner.

At the same time, he emphasises that it is crucial to have people behind the system who actually follow up.

"It's not enough just to buy the system. It has to be used. If no one responds when the system says something is wrong, you won't get any benefit from it. It requires a dedicated effort, but the rewards are great." 

Holstebro Municipality is not resting on its laurels when it comes to implementing AI energy management. The municipality is working continuously to expand the use of AI-based monitoring and automatic control to more buildings, especially as technical systems are replaced or renovated. 

“When we install new ventilation systems, it is now a requirement that they can be connected to the system. And we also have replacement projects underway, where we are upgrading the existing control systems so that we will have full coverage in the long term,” says Thøger Niels Pørtner. 

‍

_________

The article was originally published by talogviden.dk, which is a central part of a partnership between the Danish Institute for Sports Studies (Idrættens Analyseinstitut – Idan) and Sports and Leisure Facilities in Denmark (Idræts- og Fritidsfaciliteter i Danmark – IFFD).