Energy Budgeting: A Complete Visual Guide

Energy budgeting involves managing and planning energy consumption efficiently to reduce environmental impact and costs. It helps households and organizations allocate energy use, thereby promoting financial savings and sustainability over time.

This guide dives deep into what the Energy Budget is, the strategies to budget your energy, and how to perform energy budgeting. It also explains the importance of data storytelling in an energy flow diagram.

The role of visual analytics, like the Sankey Diagram and the renewable energy chart, in the data analytics and data visualization of energy budgeting will be discussed in this guide. You’ll also be shown some monthly budget examples and financial metrics to look out for when creating energy budgeting for your organization.

What is the Energy Budget?

Definition: An energy budget is a plan that tracks and manages the amount of energy consumed against the energy available or produced. It helps in monitoring energy usage, identifying inefficiencies, and setting goals for conservation.

Energy budgets are used in businesses, homes, and environmental systems to ascertain efficient energy use, sustainability, and cost savings. Energy budget can also be seen as the balance between incoming solar energy and outgoing heat energy.

Why Calculate Budget Electricity?

• Financial Planning and Cost Control: Having an electricity budget helps businesses and households anticipate monthly (or yearly) electricity expenses. It ascertains better cash flow management, supports more accurate financial forecasting, and prevents unexpected spikes in utility bills.
• Environmental Impact: Reducing energy consumption directly contributes to lowering carbon emissions. A well-managed electricity budget reduces the environmental footprint and supports sustainable practices. This helps in aligning with eco-friendly initiatives and corporate responsibility goals.
• Operational Efficiency (for Businesses): Electricity budgeting in organizations helps in highlighting high-energy departments (or machinery). This allows for targeted energy-saving strategies. It also boosts operational efficiency and supports cost-effective business decisions.
• Goal Setting and Monitoring: An electricity budget offers a clear framework for setting consumption reduction goals, evaluating results, and tracking progress. Whether reducing energy usage by 10% or switching to renewables, budgeting gives measurable benchmarks.

What are the Strategies to Budget Your Energy?

• Track Energy Usage: You should begin by reviewing your monthly energy bills. This will help you identify patterns. You should also consider using smart meters (or energy monitoring apps) to get real-time data and insights about where and when energy is being used most.
• Set Energy Goals: Establish realistic goals to reduce consumption. This goal could be cutting monthly usage by 10%. Having a clear target encourages consistent efforts and helps track improvements.
• Unplug and Use Smart Power Strips: Electronics consume energy when idle. Unplug devices or use smart power strips to cut off power when devices are not in use.
• Switch to Energy-Efficient Appliances: Replace old appliances with energy-efficient models that come with ENERGY STAR ratings. These models use less power and perform better. This will, in turn, help you save money over time.
• Use Natural Light and Optimize Heating/Cooling: You have to maximize daylight during the day and adjust thermostats to save energy. To reduce heating and cooling loads, you should consider proper insulation and use ceiling fans.
• Conduct Energy Audits: Professional or DIY energy audits help you identify leaks or inefficiencies. It also helps you figure out areas of improvement.

How to Perform Energy Budgeting?

• Assess Current Energy Usage: You can start by gathering data from your electricity bills over the past 6-12 months. Look out for the kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption and cost trends to establish a baseline.
• Identify Major Energy Consumers: List all appliances and systems (cooling, heating, lighting) and estimate their energy usage. Use energy calculators or smart meters for more accurate results.
• Set Energy Goals: Establish clear and realistic energy-saving goals. These goals could be reducing usage by 10% or limiting peak-hour consumption. It will help guide your budgeting strategy.
• Create a Monthly Energy Budget: Based on your average consumption, you’ll have to assign a fixed energy cost for each month. Consider seasonal variations and allocate slightly more for high-usage months.
• Monitor and Adjust Regularly: Review your energy bills monthly and compare them with your budget. If you’re exceeding your budget, reassess usage patterns and make adjustments.

How to Analyze the Energy Budgeting Template in Power BI?

Example:

Consider we have the following data for a Sankey Chart.

Energy Source	Technology/Process	Flow Stage	End Use Sector	Energy (MWh)
Solar Purchase	Solar Inverters	Electricity Supply	Residential Demand	8,200
Solar Purchase	Solar Inverters	Electricity Supply	Commercial Demand	6,150
Wind Purchase	Wind Turbines	Electricity Supply	Industrial Demand	9,480
Wind Purchase	Wind Turbines	Electricity Supply	Residential Demand	4,320
Biomass Purchase	Biomass Boilers	Heat Supply	District Heating	5,950
Biomass Purchase	Biomass Boilers	Heat Supply	Industrial Heating	3,120
Hydropower	Hydro Plant	Grid Distribution	Transmission Losses	1,980
Hydropower	Hydro Plant	Grid Distribution	Industrial Demand	7,430
Geothermal	Heat Pumps	Heat Supply	Residential Heating	2,640
Geothermal	Heat Pumps	Heat Supply	Commercial Heating	1,870

Chart Creation Steps in Power BI

• Log in to Power BI.
• Enter your email. Click the “Submit” button.

• You are redirected to your Microsoft account.
• Enter your password and click “Sign in”.

 

• Choose whether to stay signed in.

 

• Once done, the Power BI home screen will open. First, you need to add data to your report, click on the “Paste data into a blank report”.

 

• Paste the data table above into a blank table, name it, and click on the “Load” button.

• To build a Sankey Chart, you will initially have to import an add-in or Power BI visual through App Source. You will find the Visualizations panel on the right side of your Power BI dashboard.
• Select “Get more Visuals”.

• Search ‘ChartExpo’ and select the Sankey Diagram.

• Click on the “ADD” button,

• After that, you can select the “Sankey Chart” icon in the visualization panel.

 

• To add a Sankey Chart visual, click on the chart icon and choose the dimension and measures.

• In Visualization’s properties, click on License Settings and add the key so that you’ll see the Sankey Chart without a watermark.

 

• Now, after applying the key, the watermark is removed from the chart.

• Now, we will enhance the chart’s appearance, and to do so, we can modify the title to better align with the visualized data.

• You can set bar colors from “Visual”.

• You can change font size and node width for better visualization from “Nodes Font Size”.

• The final look of the Sankey Chart is given below.

Key Insights

• 55% of renewable energy flows into the electricity supply, making it the dominant channel.
• Industrial demand accounts for 33% of end use, higher than residential (24%) and commercial (12%).
• 18% of energy is lost in grid distribution, while 27% supports heating needs, showing both inefficiencies and heating’s importance.

Tips for Calculating Energy Budgeting in Power BI

• Import Clean Data: You should ascertain that your energy consumption data (from meters, utility bills, or IoT devices) is accurate and formatted properly before importing it into Power BI.
• Create DAX Measures: Use DAX formulas to calculate total consumption, budget variance, average usage, and cost per unit over time.
• Segment by Source or Area: Break down data by buildings, departments, or energy sources for granular insights.
• Use Date Hierarchies: Organize data by day, month, or year using Power BI’s time budget variance and cost per unit over time.

FAQs

How do you budget your energy?

You can budget your energy by tracking usage, setting monthly limits, adjusting habits, using energy-efficient appliances, and monitoring bills to stay within goals while reducing environmental impact and costs.

What is the energy budget rule?

The energy budget rule refers to balancing energy output and input, and that ensures that the amount of energy consumed does not exceed the available (or allocated) energy for a specified period or activity.

What is the energy budget method?

The energy budget method involves tracking energy inputs (like fuel and electricity) and outputs (like production and consumption) to ascertain efficient use, control costs, and reduce waste. This helps promote sustainability and financial management.

Wrap Up

An energy budget tracks energy usage versus availability to ascertain efficiency. Calculating budget electricity helps identify savings opportunities, manage costs, and promote sustainable energy consumption for environmental and financial benefits.

To properly perform energy budgeting, you’ll have to set energy goals and conduct periodic audits. Always establish clear and realistic energy-saving goals, like limiting peak-hour consumption or reducing usage by 10%.

Furthermore, you have to carry out regular facility or home energy audits to detect inefficiencies or leaks. These audits also help identify opportunities for further savings.

Finally, you have to review your energy bills monthly and compare them with your budget. If you’re exceeding the budget, reassess usage patterns and make adjustments.

Now that you know what the energy budget is, how will you use Power BI visualization tools to represent your facility’s energy budget?