For entrepreneurs in the furniture industry and interior construction, sufficient and affordable energy is no longer a given. With the Energy Compass, Royal CBM provides its members with insight based on actual consumption data, followed by expert advice and concrete next steps. Cobra Climate supplies the data platform underpinning this approach as technology partner.

Energy is no longer a given

For those producing in the furniture industry or interior construction, you rely on machines, ventilation systems, compressed air, spray booths, and heating large warehouses. At the same time, the electricity grid in large parts of the Netherlands is at capacity, and cabinet plans show the energy challenge will remain significant in coming years. For an entrepreneur, that means two risks: the capacity you need to grow is not automatically available, and energy becomes an ever-larger cost item. A new CNC line, electric forklifts, or a heat pump for the workshop: every investment in growth or sustainability requires headroom on your connection. So the question is not whether you need to do something about energy, but how you prevent energy from determining your growth.

Making decisions based on the annual bill

Many entrepreneurs know their energy consumption mainly from the annual invoice or monthly bill. That tells you how much you consume, but not when. And that timing is decisive. Your contracted transport capacity is about peaks, not totals. A company can come out fine on an annual basis and still hit the limit on a Tuesday morning at 7:30 AM when all machines start up simultaneously. Without that insight, decisions are made on gut feeling: requesting a higher capacity that requires years of waiting, buying a battery that doesn't match the profile, or postponing an expansion that would actually work fine. In our experience, the answer is almost always already in the data. It just needs to be made visible.

Outlook begins with insight

That's where CBM's Energy Compass begins. The thinking is simple: measure first, then decide. By analyzing the actual consumption profile of a location in quarter-hourly intervals instead of annual figures, it becomes clear how much headroom exists within the contracted capacity. Where are the peaks? Which processes cause them? How much margin is there to grow or electrify without immediately contacting the grid operator? CBM has systematically set up this approach for all its members, so each entrepreneur doesn't have to reinvent the wheel. The industry association pools the knowledge, and the entrepreneur gets a clear picture of their own situation. Or as CBM itself says: take control of what happens behind the meter.

What Cobra Climate does as technology partner

Behind the Energy Compass runs Cobradash, Cobra Climate's data platform. For CBM, we've set up a dedicated environment based on our Energy Director and Climate Director software. It centrally manages member locations and automatically converts meter data into reports. That works in steps. The Energy Compass Scan provides an accessible first picture of the consumption profile. The Energy Compass Analysis goes deeper and delivers concrete advice, together with our partner Sustendo. Those needing more detail can also measure at installation level with the CBM Smart Monitor, making visible where capacity flows per machine group. The Energy Compass is thus a joint product of Cobra Climate, Sustendo, and Airteq, with CBM as the sponsor.

From insight to measures and financing

Insight is not an end in itself. It's about what you do with it. So the Energy Compass doesn't stop at a report. Based on the data, the entrepreneur is guided toward concrete measures: spreading peaks by scheduling processes more intelligently, making better use of existing capacity, or investing strategically in, for example, storage or solar panels where it truly pays off. Access to subsidies and financing also belongs here, for instance for smart metering and monitoring systems. We see subsidies as tailwind, not foundation. A measure must also make sense without subsidy, and you can only judge that once you know the data. That way, every euro spent goes toward what truly makes a difference.

Why independence matters

When you receive energy advice, you want to know if that advice is neutral. That's why the premise of this partnership is clear: Cobra Climate doesn't sell batteries, solar panels, or flexibility contracts. We supply the data and the platform, and we deliberately keep it that way. As a self-financed company with eleven years of experience, we have no interest in one solution or another, only in an honest picture of your situation. That makes us a logical technology partner for an industry association wanting to help its members without selling anything. For CBM members, this means a clear starting point, evidence-based advice, and a path to action. Curious how much headroom your connection has? Check the CBM Smart Monitor at https://monitoring-cbm.base44.app/ or get in touch with us.