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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Telecommunications delivers a message for energy management

Journal Article · · Energy (Stamford, Conn.); (United States)
OSTI ID:6728084

Centralized energy management system use is growing in the U.S. Building automation systems (BAS), the most complex and costly, are offered either as on-site or time-shared. Now, a new BAS that incorporates telecommunications technology, is being offered. The system was developed by American Telephone and Telegraph as a compatible feature of its DIMENSION family of PBXs (private branch exchanges) available to facilities with 400 to 2000 telephone lines. With the energy management feature, the DIMENSION PBX's microprocessor does double-duty by taking over the day-to-day management of a facility's energy consumpion. The Bell Energy Communication Service (ECS) is acquired as part of the overall telecommunications system. ECS has been installed successfully in several environments. For example, at a large steel plant in Pennsylvania, the energy feature is projected to trim off more than /300,000 of the plant's mammoth /32-million annual electric bill. ECS will accomplish this by applying demand management to 14 pieces of equipment peripheral to the steel-making process. Demand charges had accounted for a significant portion of the plant's utility bills. Now when the plant approaches a peak in demand, ECS will idle 500 to 600 HP air compressors for up to three minutes, utilize back-up steam turbines for additional energy production, and halt conveyors unloading coal from barges for a few minutes.

OSTI ID:
6728084
Journal Information:
Energy (Stamford, Conn.); (United States), Journal Name: Energy (Stamford, Conn.); (United States) Vol. 6:3; ISSN ENGYD
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English