An understanding of energy consumption is considered a prerequisite to achieving sustainable and energy-efficient buildings. This is where energy metering and monitoring systems are used. Both UCT and the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika can benefit from the implementation of the energy monitoring system, which

• provides important insight into energy consumption patterns,
• identifies areas for waste, or
• allows for making prudent decisions on how best to optimise building efficiency.

The HPI d-school Building has various electrical energy smart meters installed throughout the building, which are connected to a central monitoring system. The latter is used to extract data on energy usage of the building, which the building manager can then use to identify trends, areas of excessive consumption and out-of-hours operation of systems to make informed decisions for continuous improvement of the energy efficiency of the building.