Heat Map Analysis allows you to find energy efficiency and building scheduling improvement opportunities by displaying an entire year of hourly data in a single graph.
👍 This article will help you:
Identify opportunities for building scheduling improvements
Make correlations between usage and occupancy or weather
To access Heat Map Analysis, go to Apps in the side menu at left, then Heat Map Analysis.
Overview
Heat Map Analysis is a color-coded grid, consisting of 24 hours on the x-axis and a specified number of days on the y-axis, that displays average demand for a selected point. It can plot up to an entire year of hourly data: 8,760 data points.
Cell color represents relative average demand during each one-hour period. For consumption points, red indicates very high consumption, and dark green indicates very low consumption. For production points, dark green represents high energy generation, and light green represents low energy generation.
In the Heat Map graph, you can configure:
Field | Instructions |
Building | Select a building. |
Point | Select the data point you wish to graph. |
Period | Select the time period. Choose from standard calendar views or rolling views. |
Overlay (optional) | Select an optional graph overlay, such as degree days, outdoor temperature, peak demand, or baseload. |
Above: Graph of electricity use over the last 90 days compared to degree days.
📘Notes on the Heat Map app
Points with a Point scope of 'Other' do not render in Heat Map app.
Overlays of 'Degree days' and 'Outdoor temperature' display the average hourly value for the day.
For natural gas points, you may see large swaths of "offline" values in the graph. One possible reason is that your building is only using natural gas when the heating system is on and it is the cooling season. You can verify this by comparing the data to a 'degree days' overlay.
Best practices & ways to use
Determine if usage correlates with occupancy
For most resources, usage will correlate with occupancy if the building is well-scheduled and well-managed. Resource use will be low when the building is unoccupied. Exceptions to this rule include warehouses and data centers.
For buildings with predictable occupancy patterns, like low- or no-occupancy during nights, weekends, and holidays, Heat Map Analysis makes it easy to see whether resource use is correlated with occupancy. Here’s what to look for:
Observation | Description |
High use outside of normal operating hours | Yellow and red bars after operating hours on weekdays show the impact of scheduling programs, such as temperature setbacks, that cause building systems to run during the evening and nighttime hours when the building isn’t occupied. |
Green horizontal bars during weekends | Weekly green or yellow horizontal bars indicate that the building’s consumption is lower during weekends. |
Green horizontal bars during holidays | Green or yellow bars during holidays indicate that the building’s consumption is lower during holidays. |
Empty bars | Empty bars indicate that there are periods with missing data. |
Above: Various issues identified in a heat map.
Even in carefully managed facilities, occupant schedules may shift, equipment changes may occur, controls settings may be inadvertently adjusted, and scheduling and controls modifications that were meant to be only temporary may be forgotten. Heat Map Analysis makes all of these problems immediately obvious.
Above: Suddenly high consumption during nighttime hours in a building that normally exhibits low consumption, assuming weather conditions cannot explain the change.
Determine if usage correlates with outdoor temperature
In many buildings, resource use will correlate with outdoor temperature and weather conditions in addition to correlating with occupancy. For example, a building with electric heating but no air conditioning should have higher electricity use during cold days and lower use during warm days. The degree days and temperature overlay options make it easy to confirm whether these correlations exist.
In the graph, you may notice that high energy use occurs at the same time as high heating or cooling degree days, which means that your building is using more energy to keep the temperature at a comfortable level during very hot or very cold days. In addition to degree days, this view can display outdoor temperature, peak demand, and baseload.
Above: Total electricity use clearly correlates with outdoor temperature and weather conditions.
Document atypical patterns or positive improvements
If you notice something that deserves to be called out in the graph, you can create a note. Notes are tied to a specific time range that spans from one hour to many days, and they are visible to all users. Notes are indicated by gray markers on the right side of the graph. Hover over a marker to view the note.
To add a note, select a cell, or drag your cursor to highlight the desired range across many cells. In the context menu that appears, select 'Add a new note'. Enter your note and select 'Save'.
Identify metering problems or data gaps
If you’ve been having problems with your metering infrastructure, Heat Map Analysis is great place to identify where a point has gaps. Simply look for empty cells in the graph. If you have a backup dataset for a point, you can enter data for the missing periods by going to the meter's Data Manager tab.
Troubleshooting
Problem | Solution |
My heat map is all one color. | If your heat map is all or mostly dark green, with one or few red cells, it probably means that you have a very large spike in your data. |
My heat map looks like the Lithuanian flag. | If your heat map appears to be all one color for a series of rows and then all another color, it is likely displaying data for a bill point. This will also be the case if you are viewing a manual point with monthly readings. |
Some buildings aren’t available in the menu. | Only buildings that have a point associated with them are available for display. |