How to: Track Renewable Energy

Users can track both purchased (offsite) and generated (onsite) renewable electricity. There are 3 types of renewable electric meters that you can create in Measurabl. You can also flag a portion of usage on a grid electric meter as renewable.

To Add Renewable Energy Meters/Readings:

Navigate to your property > Go to the 'Utilities' tab on the left menu bar.

Tracking Offsite Renewable Electricity:

1. 1. Click the green '+' next to the 'Electric' header.
   2. Enter required meter info > Save.
      
      • If the meter tracks only offsite renewable usage...
        • Scroll to 'Is this meter fully renewable?', toggle to 'Yes'.
        • This will flag all meter readings as 100% offsite renewable.
          
          
      • If only a portion of the usage in the meter is offsite renewable...
        • Click into meter > Add a renewable entry by selecting the “+” next to the “Off-site Renewable Electric Usage” header.
        • Choose to flag either a % or an absolute amount of the meter’s usage as renewable.
        • Choose the timeframe for which you purchased renewables on this meter. When finished, select “Apply.” 
        • Note, that you can enter renewable entries for future time periods. For example, if you already know that the rest of the year’s usage on this meter will be partially renewable, you can flag the “To” date as 12/31 of the current year.
          
          
          

Tracking Onsite Generated Renewable Electricity:

1. 1. Click the green '+' button next to the 'On-site Renewable Electric' header.
   2. Add the basic meter information including name, type (Solar or Wind), units, and tracking instrument > Save.
      
      

How To Add Readings:

To add meter readings, you can do so either manually in the app or in bulk via spreadsheet. For each meter reading, you’ll enter both the usage (the amount of generated electricity used onsite) and the amount exported (the amount of generated electricity sent back to the grid). NOTE: There is no cost field for onsite renewable electricity because there are no purchases involved.

To Add Offsite Renewable Electricity to an Existing Electric Meter:

• • If you want to edit a grid electric meter to fully offsite renewable, you will only be able to do this for manual electric meters. Any ENERGY STAR electric meters that have usage entries on them cannot be toggled to or from fully offsite renewable. So if you need to flag an existing ENERGY STAR electric meter as fully offsite renewable, you’ll want to add a renewable entry with a “From” date of the meter’s activation date and a “To” date in the future such that all entries on the meter are and will be flagged as 100% renewable.
    
    
  • If you want to edit a grid electric meter to flag a portion of its usage as renewable, you may do so by adding a renewable entry as described above.
    
    

FAQs:

1. When should I flag a meter as partially renewable?
   • If you have a contract (or purchase Renewable Energy Certificates [RECs]) to source a % of your electricity from renewables that differs significantly from the typical grid electric mix.
   • If you know your utility provider’s % renewable is significantly higher than the regional grid.
   • Measurabl’s local grid emission factors already capture renewable electricity sources used by the local grid, so there’s no need to flag a portion of electric usage as renewable except in the two cases above.
     
     
2. What about renewable natural gas, or district energy?
   • Aside from the Renewable Diesel fuel type, Measurabl currently does not support renewables for energy types besides electricity. If you’re interested in tracking renewables across other energy types, please let us know.
     
     
3. Where is my renewable data displayed?

   • Off-site renewable electric usage and Scope 2 Market-Based and Location-Based carbon emissions are displayed on the 'Utilities' tab of any property.
     

   • You can also find your renewable data rolled up at the portfolio level in our Analytics > Portfolio Trends feature. Note that this is only viewable by portfolio/subgroup members.