Interview with Canan from Endoks

Endoks wants to integrate their smart EMS into the EMS of buildings, which enables to enhance the energy efficiency.

Canan shares her insights about main objectives of their work package, what their EMS will be capable of, and why it's not enough to only collect data.

You can watch the full interview here or you can read the transcript below:

Mo 0:06
Welcome to the next interview in the interview series of the ECO-Qube project. I'm joined today by Canan S., would you like to introduce yourself and your company? 

Canan 0:20
I’m more than happy to introduce myself and my company. I’m Canan from Endoks Energy, and I'm the R&D Center Director of Endoks Energy, and we are the leader of work package three of the ECO-Qube project. I want to briefly mention some background about my company. Endoks Energy was founded with the aim of making life on earth sustainable for everyone by monitoring, managing and saving energy. And with this aim, we produce energy management solutions in line with our vision. Our products can monitor real-time data, from both the consumption and production side. And we have a flexible design, making us the leader in the energy management system market in Turkey. And on the other hand, we have solutions for all grades, from generation plants to single end users. And last but not least, we have special IoT (Internet of Things) products to provide an intelligent, smart energy management system.

Mo 2:09
So Endoks and smart energy: that's what the audience needs to associate. You guys are the smart energy guys, the smart energy partners in this project.

Canan 2:21
Yeah. Yeah, you are exactly right. We are smart energy managers.

Mo 2:27
Yes, exactly. And tell me, why did you join the ECO-Qube project?

Canan 2:34
At the beginning of the project, we didn't know a lot about data centers. We found out that data centers are a major contributor to the global carbon footprint within the ICT sector; they are responsible for 3% of electric power consumption and this is estimated to increase to 6% by 2022, unfortunately. This is a huge ratio and this made the project important and interesting for us since our aim is energy efficiency for all grades. So with this aim, the most innovative and most important part of the project for us is the smart energy management system. Our system is different from others in that it offers the ability to integrate into the building energy management system, which enhances energy efficiency. It's a really important task to decrease the carbon footprint of the data centers. Renewable energy integration is also an important point for data centers to enhance energy efficiency and decrease energy consumption. And from that point, the question that we ask ourselves is how data centers can benefit more from the renewable energy sources of the host building. And I'm honored to say that with the ECO- Qube project, it will be possible. We are very close to getting there with this project. 

 Mo 5:32
So you were drawn to the project because of the possibility of energy management making data centers smart and increasing the efficiency of their energy use. And in the information I've seen, it can be up to about 30% more energy-efficient, which is quite interesting. Hopefully, the project bears those results. I'd like to ask you about work package three, which Endoks is leading. What are the main objectives of that work package?

Canan 6:10
The main objective of our work package is to develop a smart energy management system which can interface with the building energy management system. And this is a specified and customized energy management system. The integration with the building energy management system that we will demonstrate through our EMPApilot is very important for our work package.

Mo 6:53
And what goes into that smart energy management system? What are the constituent components of the system? As you said, you're integrating with the building management system. What else?

Canan 7:08
Of course, I will try to explain. The energy management system will be able to send and receive signals from all parts of the systems within the facility of the data centers, which are important components of energy consumption. Our EMS will be able to monitor real-time energy consumption and production within the data center, making it a tool to enhance energy efficiency. Our energy management system will be used as a tool for energy efficiency when we integrate it into the building EMS.

Mo 8:15
And what are the challenges that you've come across?

Canan 8:18
The most important thing for a smart and efficient energy management system is collecting data. However, collecting data is not enough on its own. Analyzing this data and gathering meaningful insights from this data is more important than simply collecting data. And I'm honored to say that with the ECO-Qube project we will be able to do this. We are collecting data, we are analyzing data, and we have meaningful insights. So this makes this project important and unique from our side.

Mo 9:18
So the data that you capture is really important. But it’s more important what you do with that data, how you work it, and the insights that you can derive from it. So that's what's unique about this project: the sheer number of sources of data, the interfaces with different owners and stakeholders, and that give you the data that you can then work with. Very interesting. And as you said, that is where the biggest challenge is –, the complexity, the number of interfaces.  What is revolutionary about the project? So in two years' time when the project is finished, hopefully, we'll have the ECO-Qube methodology or some sort of product. What is revolutionary about it?

Canan 10:03
ECO-Qube is a data-driven project that utilizes unused valuable data coming from data center companies. And this large amount of data they create is used by the artificial intelligence system to define both cooling and energy requirements. We basically changed the market by listening to the data centers and IT equipment. This is the most important revolution from our side. The ECO-Qube project and our approach will change data center assessment. With ECO-Qube, we no longer need sensor data or inefficient KPIs to evaluate the energy efficiency of the data centers. And this is the most important point and the revolution of the project from our side.

Mo 11:23
So the data center becomes a data-driven data center, almost like a digital twin. You're making data centers smart, where previously they'd never been smart.

Canan 11:42
In fact, you can make decisions by listening to your own data center, and this will make life easier. Since you won't have any more sensors, you can evaluate your efficiency by listening to your own equipment.

Mo 12:06
Amazing. So to use an analogy, then it's sort of like using your Apple Watch to track a lot of data about your body, your heart rate, your temperature, etcetera. It's quite interesting because it makes the data center more real-time and dynamic, where previously a lot of this data was retrospective reporting. So last question: Canan Is there anything else that you'd like to share about Endoks’ role in the ECO-Qube project?

Canan 12:50
Yes, I want to share that our project is a revolutionary project. And in addition to that, as Endoks we are working on guidelines for improving energy efficiency, which include both measures and good practices for edge-computing applications. I want to suggest all stakeholders follow ECO-Qube and our outputs and deliverables, which we think will be very useful for edge-computing data centers to enhance energy efficiency.

Mo 13:44
Amazing. Thank you Canan for joining us today. Just to reiterate what you've just said. So follow the deliverables of the project as we progress through the project.  We are in month 15, I believe, of a 36-month project. There is an ECO-Qube website and an ECO-Qube newsletter and they're not sent that often, so it's not spam. So I recommend everyone to sign up for this quite revolutionary research project. Canan Thank you for joining us today.

Canan 14:22
I thank you for giving me this opportunity, and we are very happy as an energy management provider to be involved in this type of innovative and revolutionary project.

Mo 14:38
Brilliant. Thank you very much.

Canan 14:41
Thank you so much. Bye.