What is the RDMC Energy Tracker?

The RDMC Energy Tracker is a software product that can display the electrcity consumption information on all networked computer systems for any building or site that has an electrcity data logger installed at the power distribution board. The software provides a highly extensible means to display, record and report on any number of electricity data loggers that is designed to work on any sized computer network. A simple, light-weight and network friendly software solution to provide the information to your computer users about how much electricity their workplace is consuming.

Why use the RDMC Energy Tracker?

It is becoming well known that the cost of producing electricity extends well beyond the simple dollar value of the end product. To empower all employees of your business to find ways of reducing electricity consumption means providing the information in a clear, concise and real-time manner. Most businesses implement some form of an electricity reduction programs but to measure the success of any such program real data is required. This is where hardware such as data loggers coupled with software such as the RDMC Energy Tracker provide a solution.

What are the benefits?

There are numerous benefits to implementing an electricity monitoring solution. The first and most obvious is the ability to see exactly how much electricity your business is using and allow you to easily see this on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Over time historical data will provide you with an accurate means to predict the cost of electricity to your business making budget forecasts more accurate. More importantly it allows you to initiate programs to encourage all employees to find ways to reduce electricity consumption. Since the computer system is an essential tool for most employees it makes sense to display just how much electricity their workplace is using. By displaying such information on all computers it raises the awerness considerably and also proves the effectivenss of electricity reduction programs through a graphical and reporting interface. The whole purpose is to reduce the amount of electricity consumed, not only to reduce operational costs but also to become a responsible business as part of the global community reducing green house gas emissions.

How does it work?

The first step is having an electricity data logger installed. If you need information on this SOESoft can provide assistance in purchase and installation of an appropriate data logger. Once the data logger has been installed you can install and configure the RDMC Energy Tracker. The software has been specifically designed to be quick and easy with a simple setup taking less than a day. There are three components that make up the solution:

1. RDMC Energy Tracker Client: a software component that is installed on all computer systems.
2. RDMC Energy Tracker Service: a software component that is installed to a server that is responsible for processing data from the data logger and delivering it to the client software.
3. RDMC Energy Tracker Administration Console: a software component that is installed to a system administrators computer to centrally configure all of the RDMC Energy Tracker Services.

Importantly the whole solution has been designed for simple single site networks to large distributed networks that can include numerous WAN links of all types. The distributed architecture ensures you can manage a single data logger to hundreds of data loggers and ensure the computers at each site receive the correct electricity consumption information from their local data logger. The design of the software is such that the network traffic generated is minimal and will not impact on other business systems.

Current electricity consumption information is displayed in three configurable interfaces by the client software and it reacts depending on the latest reading versus a set monthly expected average. How it reacts is completely customisable based on the green, yellow and red zones that represent the percentage utilisation (Green 0 - 80%, Yellow > 80% <=90%, Red > 90%). The client includes configurable actions such as:

1. Displaying text based on the current utilisation zone.
2. Displaying MSN style popup messages with text based on the current utilisation zone.
3. Displaying task bar balloons with text based on the current utilisation zone.

All of these customisable interface components allow you to define exactly how much information is displayed to the the end user and hence the awareness level can be controlled.

Who is using it?

Currently we have several customers implementing this solution however the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA) has been instrumental in providing much of the scope for development. DAFWA have long realised that they needed to lead by example in not only implementing power reduction projects but also in proving that such projects actually work. Hence the RDMC Energy Tracker provides the means to assist in the implementation of such projects by proving to all DAFWA employees that it is working. By measuring, monitoring and reporting DAFWA management can make much better informed descisions on many policies that drive the organisation. This has already proven to be successful and has had flow on benefits of reducing operational costs and thus reducing the all important carbon emissions caused by its day to day operations. Through such innovation the challenge is put back to the individuals to adjust their work habits that as a whole can make a real difference.

Reporting

An optional reporting module is available that provides a standard set of html based reports that are perfect for intranet and internet based access. These reports provide all of the historical, monetary and carbon reduction data in a simple and concise format. Additional reports can also be easily created and the solution can be tailored to your specific requirements.

Requirements

1. Windows 2000 Workstation
2. Windows 2000 Server
3. Windows XP
4. Windows 2003 Server
5. Windows Vista
6. Windows Server 2008
7. Microsoft Active Directory

Optional

1. Microsoft SQL Server
2. Microsoft SQL Reporting Services

More Information

For more information regarding the RDMC Energy Tracker please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

An example of an electricity data logger as used by DAFWA can be found here: http://www.datataker.com/products/dt80.html

Interested in what it looks like? Go here for some images.

Current Version: V1.0.10