Schneider Electric has announced an initiative to help companies optimise energy efficiency across different parts of their businesses. It is based on an architecture called EcoStruxure which brings together Schneider’s expertise in power, process and machines, building controls, data centres, and security.

At the launch recently, Schneider’s chief marketing officer, Aaron Davis (above), argued that “uncoordinated component-level attempts to solve energy management issues by different corporate functions, without a comprehensive plan, can inhibit a company’s ability to meet efficiency goals.

The EcoStruxure vision, Davis explained, was to “develop and deploy an integrated architecture that ties together [Schneider’s] five key domains of expertise to make energy safe, reliable, efficient, productive and green”. The architecture will provide the connections to create intelligent energy management systems across all applications.

Schneider contends that with the new architecture, businesses can expect better results and improvements in operations through systematic energy visibility and real-time control of energy use. It will also be possible, for example, to embed video surveillance into applications, enhancing safety while cutting operating costs. All forms of wasted energy can be captured and mitigated to improve efficiency.

The company will be rolling out EcoStruxure and offering related training during 2010.