See energy use across buildings in one place
Energy meters, building management systems and utility portals each hold part of the picture. Software can bring that data together so facility teams can spot waste and compare sites.
- REST APIs
- Time-series databases
- React
- Sensor data ingestion
- Python
- Message queues
Industry overview
Software for energy and smart buildings
Energy and building data is rarely missing; it is scattered. Smart meters report to one portal, sub-meters to another, the building management system keeps its own logs and the utility sends a monthly bill. Comparing sites, spotting waste or preparing a sustainability report means pulling all of it together by hand.
Blocvibe builds software that collects meter and building data in one place, compares buildings on a fair basis and alerts facility teams when consumption looks wrong, such as equipment running after closing time. Reports for finance and sustainability are produced from the same data.
The software informs decisions. It does not control building equipment, and changes to settings stay with your facility team and existing systems.
Where software helps
- Comparing energy use across buildings fairly
- Finding equipment left running out of hours
- Producing cost and sustainability reports from one source
- Explaining changes in usage in plain language
What it needs
- Access to meter data and building systems
- Readings frequent enough to show daily patterns
- Floor areas and opening hours for each site
- Cooperation from utility or building system vendors
Challenges and business problems
Common challenges
Energy and building data is locked in separate systems. Not every business faces all of these, but most will recognise at least one.
Siloed systems
Meter data, building systems and utility bills are kept in separate places.
Hidden waste
Equipment left running out of hours goes unnoticed.
Hard comparisons
Comparing energy performance across buildings takes manual work.
Reporting demands
Sustainability and cost reporting requires data that is hard to assemble.
Our solutions and capabilities
Where software, AI and IoT can help
Combine meter and building data into dashboards and out-of-hours alerts.
Software and integration
- Portfolio energy dashboards
- Automated energy and cost reports
- Integration with utility and building systems
AI applications
- Plain-language summaries of usage changes
- Detecting unusual consumption patterns
- Drafting monthly energy reports for review
IoT capabilities
- Smart meter and sub-meter data collection
- Building sensor monitoring
- Out-of-hours usage alerts
How it fits together
How meter and building data become decisions
Data from meters, building systems and bills is combined, normalised and compared.
Stage 1 of 4
Meters and systems
We identify every source of energy and building data and confirm how often each one reports and how it can be read.
- Smart meters and sub-meters
- Building management system
- Utility bills and portals
Real-world use cases
How it can work in practice
Each example shows the problem, the solution, how it works, the technologies involved and the value it brings.
- Illustration
A portfolio energy dashboard
- The problem
- Comparing energy performance across buildings means exporting from several portals into a spreadsheet.
- The solution
- A dashboard that normalises meter data across buildings and highlights the sites using the most energy per square metre.
- How it works
- Meter readings are collected from each provider, matched to their building and adjusted for floor area and opening hours. The dashboard ranks the sites and shows how each one changes over time.
- Technologies
- REST APIs
- Time-series databases
- React
- The value
- Facility teams can see where to look first, based on a fair comparison across the portfolio.
- Illustration
Out-of-hours usage alerts
- The problem
- Heating, cooling and lighting left running after closing go unnoticed until the bill arrives.
- The solution
- Alerts when consumption stays above a building’s expected out-of-hours baseline.
- How it works
- Each building’s normal out-of-hours consumption is learned from its history. When usage stays above that baseline after closing time, the facility team receives an alert with the meter and the trend.
- Technologies
- Sensor data ingestion
- Python
- Message queues
- The value
- Waste is spotted the same evening rather than at the end of the month.
- Illustration
Monthly energy reports drafted for review
- The problem
- Monthly energy and sustainability reports take a long time to assemble and explain.
- The solution
- Reports generated from the collected data, with commentary drafted by AI for a person to check.
- How it works
- At month end, usage and cost figures are taken from the platform. A language model drafts a plain-language summary of the main changes and their likely causes, and the energy manager edits and approves it before it is shared.
- Technologies
- LLM APIs
- Python
- Relational databases
- The value
- Reporting takes less effort, and the commentary is grounded in the data rather than written from memory.
Technologies and integrations
Technologies and integrations for energy and buildings
Read-only connections to meters and building systems, with storage built for readings taken over time.
Data collection
- REST APIsMeter platforms and utility portals read through their APIs.
- Sensor data ingestionReadings received from sub-meters and building sensors.
- Message queuesBursts of interval readings handled in order.
Analysis
- PythonNormalisation, baselines and checks for unusual patterns.
- Time-series databasesInterval readings stored for trends and comparisons.
- LLM APIsReport commentary drafted for a person to review.
Dashboards and reports
- Next.jsPortfolio dashboards that run in any browser.
- ReactInteractive charts and comparisons between sites.
Systems it can connect to
- Smart meter and sub-meter platforms
- Building management systems, read-only
- Utility supplier portals and bills
- Finance and sustainability reporting tools
Logos are trademarks of their owners and show tools we work with, not partnerships. Connections depend on each system offering data access or an API.
Our development approach
A practical way to start
Start small, prove the value with one team or area, then extend what works.
Step 1: Discover
Identify the meters, systems and portals holding your data.
Step 2: Plan
Confirm data access and how often readings are available.
Step 3: Build a first version
Build a dashboard for a small group of buildings.
Step 4: Review and extend
Add alerts and reporting, then extend across the portfolio.
What the solution depends on
Benefits and business value
What it changes for your team
Waste found sooner
Out-of-hours use is flagged the same day instead of being discovered on the bill.
Fair comparisons
Sites are compared per square metre and by opening hours, not by raw totals.
Reports from one source
Cost and sustainability reports draw on the same data the dashboard shows.
No change to equipment
The software only reads data, so building systems keep working as they do today.
Related services
The services behind these solutions
- IoT Monitoring DashboardsDashboards and alerts that answer the questions your team actually asks.
- IoT DevelopmentSoftware for connected devices, from data collection to storage and apps.
- AI IntegrationAI features added to the software your team already uses.
Other industries
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Straight answers to the questions teams in this industry ask before starting.
Does the software control our heating or lighting?
No. It reads meter and building data and informs people. Changes to equipment settings are made by your facility team through your existing systems.
Which meters and building systems can it read?
It depends on the access each vendor provides. Many smart meter platforms and building management systems offer an API or a data export, and we confirm this for each site before planning.
How are buildings of different sizes compared fairly?
Usage is normalised by floor area and adjusted for opening hours, so a large office and a small store can be compared on the same basis.
Can it help with sustainability reporting?
It can collect and organise the energy data such reports need and draft summaries for review. The final report and its method stay with your team.
What if some sites have no smart meters?
Bill data can be imported to fill the gaps, and qualified partners can add sub-meters where more detail is needed. Each site is shown with the level of detail its data allows.
Want to see where your buildings use energy?
Tell us about your sites, meters and the reports you prepare today. We’ll reply by email and suggest a small first group of buildings.