Energy sub-metering
Pulsenode C nodes clamp onto panels to measure load by system, floor or tenant, so after-hours baseload and peak drivers become visible within days.
Commercial facilities
Know what your buildings are doing tonight
We sub-meter energy, watch chillers and air handlers for early faults, count occupancy without identifying anyone and flag water leaks, across one building or a portfolio, on hardware you own.
What goes wrong
One utility bill, a hundred unanswered questions
Most commercial buildings get one electricity bill and one water bill, and very little insight into what drives either. Is the after-hours load the lighting, the servers or an air handler that never schedules off? Which tenant floor is responsible for the summer peak? Without sub-metering, energy work is guesswork, and savings are hard to prove.
Mechanical problems tend to be found by occupants. A chiller loses efficiency for months before a hot afternoon exposes it. An air-handler fan bearing degrades until it seizes, and the first alarm is a comfort complaint. Meanwhile, leaks announce themselves as ceiling stains.
Facility teams also need occupancy data, to set ventilation, clean the spaces people actually use and plan leases, but employees and tenants are rightly wary of cameras. And portfolios with buildings of different ages and different building automation vendors rarely produce numbers that can be compared side by side.
Applications
Smart facility monitoring, from the plant room to the portfolio
Chiller, AHU and pump condition
Pulsenode W sensors trend vibration and temperature on chillers, air-handler fans and pumps, catching bearing, belt and motor faults before occupants feel them.
Privacy-preserving occupancy
Counts are computed on the sensor and only numbers leave it. No images are stored or transmitted. See seeing without surveillance.
Environmental quality
Temperature, humidity and air-quality readings pulled from your building automation points or third-party sensors over Modbus or MQTT, and shown alongside occupancy and energy.
Water leaks
Leak-detection cables and spot sensors wired to Gatepoint inputs, plus after-hours flow on the water sub-meter, so a running fixture or burst line is flagged that night.
Multi-site portfolios
One naming model across buildings, with optional private-cloud aggregation in Perflens Console for side-by-side comparisons of energy, faults and occupancy.
Recommended stack
Recommended stack for a commercial building
| Application | Hardware | Service |
|---|---|---|
| Energy sub-metering | Pulsenode C on panels; Gatepoint G2 | Facility & Energy Monitoring |
| Chillers, AHUs and pumps | Pulsenode W; Pulsenode C on motor circuits | Predictive Maintenance |
| Occupancy counts | Lensnode T configured to output counts only; Gatepoint G2 | Facility & Energy Monitoring |
| Environmental quality | Existing BMS points or third-party sensors over Modbus or MQTT | Facility & Energy Monitoring |
| Water leaks | Leak sensors into Gatepoint inputs; water sub-meter data | Facility & Energy Monitoring |
| Portfolio reporting | Perflens Console with private-cloud aggregation | Perflens Care for fleet health |
Environment and compliance
Privacy, IT policies and portfolio reporting
- Privacy by design. Occupancy counting happens on the device, and only counts leave it. There is no facial recognition and no identity, and we don't collect the biometric identifiers that some state privacy laws regulate. We document every sensor's field of view so you can explain it to tenants and employees.
- Your BMS stays. We read from your building automation system where it has the data, and add sensing where it doesn't. Control of the building stays with the BMS.
- Tenant billing. Pulsenode C is for operational sub-metering. If you bill tenants for energy, use revenue-grade meters; we'll read them over Modbus and put their data alongside ours.
- IT and security. Gatepoints need no internet connection and sit on a network segment you define, hardened in line with IEC 62443. Our security documentation, including SBOMs, is available to your IT team before anything is installed.
- Reporting. Energy data exports to CSV and Parquet for benchmarking and for the building performance reporting some cities and states now require.
Honest fit
Which buildings benefit most
A good fit when
- Offices, campuses, labs and retail portfolios with significant energy spend
- Buildings with aging chillers and air handlers and a history of comfort complaints
- Owners who need occupancy data but won't put identifying cameras in front of people
- Portfolios with mixed building automation vendors and no common reporting
Probably not when
- Buildings whose BMS already provides fault detection and analytics you trust. Use it, and talk to us only about the gaps.
- Small buildings on simple rooftop units, where a good service contract covers most of the risk
See it in context
Energy and HVAC monitoring in a modeled scenario
Compressed-air and energy monitoring
The sensing a commercial building needs, applied to a distribution center's compressors, dock doors and HVAC. Modeled compressed-air energy falls by about a quarter.
Read more
Facility & Energy Operations Monitoring
Sub-metering, HVAC and refrigeration health, environmental monitoring and privacy-preserving occupancy.
Read more
Predictive Maintenance & Condition Monitoring
Vibration, temperature and motor-current monitoring for chillers, air handlers and pumps.
Read moreFAQ
Questions we hear often
Do you replace our building management system?
No. The BMS keeps controlling the building. We read the points it already has, add sub-metering, condition monitoring, occupancy and leak sensing where it has gaps, and send alerts to your team or your work-order system.
How does occupancy counting protect privacy?
The sensor computes counts on the device and transmits only the numbers. No images are stored or sent, there is no facial recognition, and nothing identifies a person. Our article on privacy-preserving sensing explains the design.
Can we bill tenants from your sub-meters?
We don't recommend it. Pulsenode C is built for operational sub-metering, finding waste and faults. For tenant billing, use revenue-grade meters; we can read them and show their data alongside everything else.
Do you need access to our corporate network?
No. Gatepoints run without an internet connection on a segment you define, and remote support uses an outbound connection you control and can switch off. Your IT team gets our security documentation before installation.
What does facility monitoring cost?
Facility monitoring starts at $1,450 per building per month for buildings up to 150,000 sq ft on a 36-month term, with Care Essentials included. Condition monitoring on chillers, air handlers and pumps falls under the asset-monitoring subscription, from $89 per monitored asset per month (minimum 25 assets). See pricing.
Pick one building and find its waste
A 45-minute discovery call is enough to choose a pilot building and agree what a Proof of Value should measure, from after-hours load to chiller health.