Case Study

How Turner Construction saved costs and improved energy efficiency with VITALITY’s smart sensing systems

Company
Summary

Turner implements smart sensing systems through VITALITY to optimize utility spend and improve environmental commitment.

Published

December 17, 2020

A bit of context

Turner is a North America-based, international construction services company and is a leading builder in diverse market segments. The company has earned recognition for undertaking large, complex projects, fostering innovation, embracing emerging technologies, and making a difference for their clients, employees, and community.

Focus

Turner has committed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption of their on-site construction operations by 50 percent by 2030, thus having a measurable impact on the environment by better controlling the building process itself.

Overview

In order to meet the company’s environmental commitment, Turner turned to VITALITY asking them to design and implement smart sensing systems which create granular utility data monitored and viewed on real time dashboards. This allowed Turner to make data driven decisions that optimize utility spend and water consumption on construction projects.

The design is simple, cost effective, and pays for itself through energy and construction cost savings. Each construction site is sub-metered, VITALITY software queries the sub-meter creating an extremely accurate visualization of how and when power and water are used. By submetering different aspects of the site such as welding circuits, construction trailers, lighting circuits, etc. Turner has access to dynamic readings which they can use to determine solutions for identified problems and issues, helping them improve their energy efficiency. For example, from power data Turner has identified that during evening and night hours many construction sites would use more energy than anticipated even though they were unoccupied, because lights and equipment were still energized. Armed with this information, they were able to power down certain parts of the sites during non-construction hours reducing energy consumption.

On the water side Turner has also been able to use data from submetering to monitor and react to anomalies created when spigots are left on or when leaks occur, significantly improving construction site water usage.

The ability to monitor actual energy and water consumption has improved construction costs and provided Turner with the option to pass said cost savings onto their clients. As an added benefit, once the construction is complete the meters can be left in place so building owners can then monitor their own water and energy consumption, use predictive analytics for equipment maintenance and identify possible energy conservation measures.

VITALITY

VITALITY is the central platform for smart buildings. Our software, metering, and analytics technologies enable organizations to better understand their energy footprint. With this data, we help facilitate cost savings by identifying areas of optimization around energy consumption and efficiency from new construction to building occupancy.

21

Sites

86

Meters

100%

VITALITY Platform

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