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Distributed Monitoring Systems (DMS) are essential to implement global policies and daily practices to preserve and improve the energy efficiency of an organization. The Level of Coverage (LoC) is a primary aspect in design, evaluation and implementation/extension of a DMS. The LoC is a numeric indicator representing the ability of a DMS to properly monitor the energy consumption/production in specific Zones and for particular Uses. It allows comparison and choice among several DMS implementations, differing for number and positioning of the measuring instruments. This paper presents a new method for LoC computation. It can be easily implemented in SW and allows to directly calculate not only the LoC of the whole DMS and its subsections but also semi-aggregated LoCs referred to specific Uses or specific Zones. The latter aspect is very useful for assessing the energy monitoring plan adopted in mandatory or voluntary energy audits.

This paper analyzes the requirements for implementing an Energy Management Information System (EMIS) and proposes some methodology criteria and tools for its design, deployment and management. An EMIS combines software, hardware, and data modelling and processing to support people in their efforts to daily manage energy at any level (process, system, facility, and enterprise) year after year. An EMIS has to be designed and operated to fulfill national and international standards and to support improvements of energy performance within the organization. The distributed metering system (DMS) represents just a subset (in terms of signal collection and management) of the EMIS that monitor the energy parameters and the factors that influence energy use in monitored systems. In the paper two main point will be addressed; the first one provides an overview, in the field of energy efficiency measurement and monitoring; the second one of the technical standards that can be considered as essential, furnishes architectural criteria for the design and the implementation of an EMIS. The paper introduces a procedure to assess the DMS introducing the Level of Coverage.

The standards related to energy management emphasize the role of the measurement activity but no exhaustive guidelines have been published for outlining requirements and architecture of a comprehensive energy efficiency monitoring system that goes beyond a simple measuring system. A Monitoring System for Energy Efficiency should transform several kinds of energetic and context data into actionable pieces of information for controlling energy performance, improving operations and maintenance as well as verifying the effectiveness and the continuity of corrective actions. Eventually the energy efficiency monitoring system should be modular to be upgraded over the time and to fit the needs of any organization. This paper aims at contributing to the work of CEN-CENELEC JWG9 "Energy measurement plan for organizations" by providing background information for the development of its standards and for future work.

It is well known that the control of energy consumptions in a building or in an organization enables to improve the energy performance (EP). The measurement plan defines the procedure for the design, deployment, utilization, maintenance and improvement of a distributed measurement and monitoring system (DMS). A DMS is able to measure and analyze the EP of the organization according to factors that influence the operation of the site. The paper suggests a method of assessment of a DMS based on different criteria. The paper focused on the criterion of the Level of Coverage. The authors suggest the definition of a Level of Coverage Numeric Indicator (LoCNI) that evaluates the capacity of the DMS to track consumptions by zones and by uses.