Energy Efficiency Dashboard for Small Businesses in the Illawarra

Abstract: Energy consumption by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is increasingly becoming a matter of profitability for many businesses and a source of concern for Government agencies. Recognizing the need to improve SME’s energy consumption, the NSW - Office of Environment and Heritage (NSW-OEH) has successfully implemented a business-focused energy efficiency program. The program involved individual audits conducted by certified assessors, estimating actual energy use by appliances and providing recommendations for retrofitting of more energy efficient equipment. The SMART Infrastructure Facility and the NSW-OEH have partnered to create an online and interactive data portal (the Energy Efficiency Dashboard – EED) that brings together information collected throughout the energy efficiency program in order to better inform other business managers about the opportunities to improve their profitability and sustainability. This paper demonstrates how the Energy Efficiency Dashboard, a fusion between Business Intelligence and Geographic Information Systems, can provide a robust, highly interactive, online analytical dashboard to evaluate the effectiveness of the energy savings program. Uses of the EED include identification of business-specific best energy saving appliances and practices, business types with high potential for saving energy, and benchmarking energy use across business types. Citation: Safadi, M., Ma, J., Wickramasuriya, R., Somashekar, V., El Fakih, O. & Yalan, L. (2014). Energy Efficiency Dashboard for Small Businesses in the Illawarra. In: Campbell P. and Perez P. (Eds), Proceedings of the International Symposium of Next Generation Infrastructure, 1-4 October 2013, SMART Infrastructure Facility, University of Wollongong, Australia.