Accurate Allocation of energy in production processes - the importance of using metamodels

What exactly are metamodels?
‘To measure is to know’, is the adagio at the heart of energy management.
Systematically collecting the readings from a network of (sub)meters is indeed
the starting point. The boom in submetering of the last decade brought with
it a proliferation of software packages focused on collecting, validating and
visualising information. At the time of writing this document, Capterra lists
156 applications under the heading ‘energy management’. If we add generic
enterprise data management software being used for storing metered data the
tally goes up even more.
Data management is important, but only a first step. Data needs to be interpreted
within the specific structure of the company to really build understanding of
the energy situation. Identifying the real cost drivers or the most attractive
improvement projects, following up on performance - or assigning energy to
internal users - can only be done when there is more info on the context. For
each measured value, there needs to be information on where and when it was
recorded, what kind of process/building the meter is associated with, what
kind of energy flow is being measured and how it is related to other meters
and flows. Such ‘data on the data’ are what is called metadata. A structured
overview of all relevant metadata and the relationships between them, is what
is called a meta-model.
Most energy management software is not built around metamodels and
is therefore limited to recording and visualising metered values, leaving
interpretation entirely to the user/energy manager. A limited number of
programs -as mentioned before - do incorporate some kind of model and
allow for energy reports that are organisation-specific and infused with
meaning. Typical examples include the monitoring of the consumption of an
entire building based on the readings of several submeters or the reporting on
(variable) energy costs of an entire department.
The core elements of metamodels
Complete metamodels for energy management contain three basic categories
of information.
Structure of energy flows
Every production process consists of a number of conversions, which together
transform flows of raw material into a (semi-)finished product. This is reflected
energetically as well. A number of energy flows are acquired or produced
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