The huge number of Student accommodation buildings being provided have seen rapid increases in numbers over the last 10-years with all the major cities Universities providing a mixture of on and off site purpose built accommodation buildings plus provision of older buildings with traditional radiator heating systems running off central plant.
High-Rise Apartment Buildings suffer the same issues
With the continuous pressure and drive to try and save energy, doing so in buildings that see a continuous revolving door of varying occupancy and usage is a common problem. Students attend different lectures at many different times means that switching off radiators in empty rooms accounts for around 45% of wasted energy
Student accommodation buildings are typically heated using conventional Boilers providing heat to each room via radiators and the problem is that rooms are continuously being heated even when they are empty. In reality you can't expect occupants to switch their radiators on/off when they leave or enter their rooms.
This problem isn't unique to just student accommodation. High-rise apartment buildings suffer the same issues as do office buildings, especially if they are multi-let with cellular offices and meeting rooms.
Building managers have little or no control
With many thousands of student accommodation, apartment living and offices buildings throughout the UK operating this way, its very difficult for building managers and facilities service providers to reduce energy when they are heating empty rooms.
What can be done other than manually going to each room to see whether they are occupied and then potentially shutting off radiator valve?
You've probably heard of Google Nest and Hive which allows for remotely shutting down radiators that aren't being used. These assume you have retrofitted each valve with a smart radiator valve controller. These work great in a domestic environment, but what about buildings with several hundred radiators?
Managers can take control via a Dashboard
The EnviroLogik Smart Radiator Control and Monitoring system allows for Building managers and service providers to remotely shut-down unused rooms and can conveniently also connect to Room booking systems. Additionally room occupants have access to a smart app meaning they can set their own temperatures (within agreed high/low ranges) and switch off/on their own rooms radiator as required.
You can find out full information about the product on this page here
