October 18, 2022 New Energy Management Tech Can Save up to £1.8bn a Year

Up to 99% of commercial buildings in UK are heating empty rooms, wasting 18TWh per year. New digital solutions are needed to cut energy use.

• Up to 99% of commercial buildings in UK are heating empty rooms
• Proven to reduce energy use in commercial buildings by up to 50%
• New technology can save up to 18TWhs of energy and prevent 9.8 million tonnes of CO2e entering the atmosphere every year
• The innovation will help fill support gap left by UK government

Oxford, UK — Energy management technology start-up, EcoSync, has announced the launch of its room-by-room, dynamic energy management platform across all commercial property sectors in a bid to reduce energy waste and costs for commercial buildings across the UK. The launch comes after successful installations within the education sector generating energy savings between 30% and 50%.

While the government has introduced a scheme to protect businesses, charities, and public sector organisations from escalating energy costs by fixing gas and electricity prices, this cap only applies to wholesale costs, which make up approximately 41% of a gas bill, and is only in place for six months. This means businesses remain exposed to escalating energy costs, and long-term forecasting and budgeting is highly problematic.

As a result, businesses need additional solutions, and the Confederation of British Industry has called for an acceleration of ‘energy efficiency programmes’ to drive conservation and reduce usage.

Dynamic energy management systems are gaining traction in domestic settings, but the same technology has not been scalable for commercial buildings. Current solutions are hardware heavy, expensive, and time-intensive to install and maintain.

99% of UK commercial buildings do not have dynamic heating control and are operating an on-or-off heating regime connected to a central boiler. This means rooms are being heated regardless of occupancy levels, wasting energy, driving up costs and increasing CO2 emissions.

Using data from overall building schedules and room booking software, EcoSync enables room-by-room energy management – immediately ceasing the practise of heating empty rooms and creating energy savings of up to 50%. This equates to 18TWhs across all commercial buildings in the UK every year. Looking at average gas prices (September 2022), this level of energy saving could reduce the annual energy bill for the UK’s commercial buildings by up to £1.8 billion.

EcoSync’s technology intelligently adapts temperature controls according to changing occupancy levels, driven by real-time data collection and machine learning digital twins of every radiator, room, and building. Its unique QR code feature, which allows occupants to adjust heating settings within pre-assigned parameters without downloading an app, ensures end user satisfaction as well as providing room-level energy use data to educate, motivate and engage occupants in energy conservation goals.

EcoSync’s sensor-less solution removes the challenge of costly and disruptive installs and time-intensive maintenance by:

• providing hardware-light bundles, which can be self-deployed and live within a matter of hours
• removing the need for wiring or battery use via unique energy harvesting technology inbuilt into valve controllers
• mitigating the need to integrate with wider IT systems via a long-range LoRaWAN network through mains powered gateways
• providing a digital twin of the building to locate areas of energy inefficiency and enable targeted upgrades and maintenance

The technology is also a critical first step for those looking to electrify their commercial buildings or achieve complete decarbonisation, with a reduction in energy use essential for successful commercial heat pump roll outs.

Nick Pledge, CEO, EcoSync, commented, “Our technology can fill the gap the government has left in support of owners and occupiers of commercial buildings, helping them not only mitigate the risks of the energy crisis, with up to 50% savings on energy bills, but also support them in reaching ambitious net zero goals. Our technology has the potential to prevent up to 9.8 million tonnes of CO2e entering the atmosphere. This is equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 147 million tree seedlings grown for 10 years.

“To achieve net zero, and reduce the impact of the energy price crisis, the world needs to stop wasting energy. Our mission is to enable commercial buildings to achieve a step-change reduction in energy waste and provide future-proofed solutions. We can do this through a unique combination of low risk and existing technologies that are simple to deploy and easy to use. We currently have customers in the education sector but are rolling out the benefits of our technology across offices, healthcare, hotels, and the public sector – ultimately supporting owners and occupiers of all commercial buildings in the UK looking to reduce their energy use, costs, and carbon emissions.”

About EcoSync:
EcoSync is a technology start-up out of Oxford University offering innovative dynamic, room-by-room energy management solutions for all commercial buildings across the UK, with a mission to reduce energy waste and stop the heating of empty rooms.

EcoSync’s technology intelligently adapts temperature controls according to changing occupancy levels and is driven by real-time data collection and machine learning digital twins of every radiator, room, and building, achieving energy savings of between 30-50%.

For more information visit: https://ecosync.energy/

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