When we talk about smart heating control, we usually think of private homes whose owners improve the energy efficiency of the heating/cooling system and their daily comfort with smart technologies. We are keen to invest in such modernity because we want to live comfortably and pay as little as possible for it. This is what automation is designed for. But what about public buildings? Since we don’t live in them every day, don’t they need automation? Maybe modern heating controls only work in residential or leisure facilities? Absolutely not.
Let’s start with the fact that such facilities are workplaces. In administrative buildings, officials spend eight hours five days a week. The fact that most people (petitioners) only come there for a while doesn’t mean that employees don’t deserve comfort and the operating budget to be relieved. Not to mention educational and medical facilities. After all, a school and hospital is also a public building. In schools, sports facilities and especially hospitals, employees also spend long, exhausting hours.
And with all this, users of schools, kindergartens, hospitals or sanatoriums are no longer momentary supplicants. We all criticize the situations when students and patients freeze in winter or “melt” in summer heat. And this is exactly what happens if we don’t invest in modern heating and cooling controls. This is still the sad reality in many facilities. Wise care of public institutions requires a progressive approach. These institutions – in order to function for years – need energy efficiency every day. If administrators of public buildings want to wisely manage the facilities entrusted to them, they should prioritize investment in modern heating and cooling controls.
Only that a necessary condition for effective temperature control is proper thermal insulation.
If – as managers or investors – we are thinking about controlling heating or cooling in a facility that has been in operation for at least a few years, we cannot ignore the subject of thermomodernization. Without this, we will not be able to achieve maximum energy-saving effects. Modern heating control is right where we control thermal insulation. So let’s indicate briefly what measures are involved at all.
We can make the thermomodernization of a public building at three levels, which determine the degree of renovation work:
These will include:
Comprehensive thermomodernization is the simultaneous use of all advances in technology and construction – in the service of energy efficiency.
As administrators, we decide for ourselves how to protect a public building from energy losses. It depends on budget, time and individual factors, but the more we do, the more we gain. Every improvement replacement makes sense. Even a single one. In this context, remember that the installation of efficient control automation does not at all have to mean a deep renovation – devices can be purchased in a wireless version.
Even basic temperature control in administrative buildings has benefits. It is easy to predict that at the top of this list are improved efficiency of the installation (that is, financial savings) and the well-being of officials (thermal comfort improves concentration, and finally mood). But that’s not all.
Modern control of heating and cooling in offices guarantees simple operation and better control over, after all, a large building. With the mobile app, the host always has an overview of the temperature in all rooms, and can change the settings in seconds no matter where he is. Temperatures are just the way he wants them at any hour (savings!), which is watched over by schedules stored in the thermostats and created rules. In turn, the installation of opening sensors will allow him, even moments before the office closes, to make sure that when leaving, he doesn’t leave the windows open anywhere. Simple actions, but they give convenience that cannot be overestimated. They also improve security and eliminate the human error factor – the administrator won’t forget to turn on the
heating/cooling for the night or close the windows after the afternoon airing.
All of the above improvements will also work great in schools or kindergartens, although here the stakes are even higher. The working rhythm of such institutions is different, so it can generate higher energy losses. Students – unlike officials – have different schedules every day. Classrooms are not rooms in the office, where activity is constant (8:00 am – 4:00 pm).On some days at certain hours they simply stand empty. While cooling the rooms is less of a problem here, as children take a summer break from school, efficient heating is already a challenge. After all, pumping heat into empty rooms is a textbook example of wasted energy – and a lot of money.
Zone control – individual control in each room and utility room, is the key to heating savings. What temperature the thermostats will maintain always depends on the settings of the building host. At the same time, these settings can be protected against unwanted parameter changes by students.
No life situation requires comfort as much as the one when we are sick and want to recover. And that’s exactly what medical facilities are helping with, as they also look for savings in everything. It would be good if they found them in controlling the installation, which – without control – generates the highest operating costs.
A hospital is not just a public building. It is a place where technology should reach first. Investment in modern heating control not only optimizes the maintenance costs of such a facility, but also supports a much more valuable asset – the health of patients. Because although we don’t appreciate it on a daily basis, improved well-being is linked to thermal comfort. If patients in a hospital are too hot or too cold, it is natural that their immune system does not support healing as it could under more optimal conditions. Temperature also affects the respiratory system. Too high dries out the mucous membranes (and takes away vitality), but too low increases the risk of infections, colds, and consequently prolongs healing.
By choosing modern heating controls, the hospital administrator can see information about heating/cooling energy consumption at any time. There is no room for coincidence here. The charts available on the mobile app allow for accurate analysis of the plant’s performance and programming of schedules even well in advance. All this can be done comfortably, over coffee. And once the building’s host has chosen the best settings, he or she then simply locks them in so that no one from the patients or staff can make changes in energy consumption.
By controlling the temperature by zones in a public facility – this rule does not apply only in houses – we optimize the consumption of the heating/cooling medium. The system draws it only as much as is needed to heat/cool the room in question – strictly according to the manager’s instructions. This is a fact, not a promise.
The control algorithms are accurate – they are mathematical programs. They save heating fuel at night and on holidays, but also in rooms that are temporarily empty (school rooms, hospitals) or utility rooms.
The mobile app gives quick answers to important questions (where is what temperature, where are the windows open, etc.). So we are talking not only about saving money, but also time. About reducing not only costs, but also human effort. This is the great advantage of automation.
Another advantage is incomparably better control over the condition of the building. The administrator knows more, so he has more time to react and plan measures to save money or increase security.
Full control over the temperature in each room provides ideal comfort for those who use the public building. A person focuses on exactly what he is supposed to do: work, study, recover. He is not distracted by cold or heat. The right temperature increases concentration, improves mood and health.
And finally, ecology. We must not forget that the balanced intake of the heating/cooling medium on a large scale ensures less pollution of nature. Smog is a huge problem. The less we burn, the lower the concentration of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the air.
Modern heating controls from ENGO Controls provide the greatest precision whether you need to control the heating system, the cooling system – or both. With ENGO Controls systems, savings in a public building are up to 30%. Our product range includes wired, wireless, as well as Internet-based controls. Thermostats, control-boces and actuators guarantee the highest quality workmanship and many years of service life.