Introduction
Imek is a Swedish HVAC consulting company working with customers globally. The company is also a Sensative partner, supplying customers with retrofitting solutions, including IoT technology. Apart from consulting, IMEK builds module homes where IoT is implemented already during the construction phase.
Below you find a summary of the customer use case, click here to skip it and go directly to the video
The company consists of three parts:
Imek (building design)
Imek works with many different types of calculations and planning to support customers in reaching sustainable and economically prosperous homes. The goal is often to obtain eco-labeling of buildings such as Svanen (SE), LEED (US), BREEAM (UK), and Green Star (CHN). Monitoring and optimizing operations based on collected data is a significant component of what qualifies a building for these eco-labels.
Imek Energi (installations)
Imek Energi does installations where typical focus areas are energy savings and individual monitoring and billing. Typical installations are solar panels, wastewater recycling systems, and geothermal heating/cooling.
Building Homes (industrial manufacturing of homes)
Building homes constructs premium module homes focusing on low energy consumption to raise the value of real estate.
Use cases
Akelius is a customer of Imek with 49 000 apartments spread out across Europe and North America. With modernity and progressivity in mind, Akelius have trialed IoT solutions in their apartments with very positive results.
In one Swedish apartment building, Imek installed Sensative’s temperature, and humidity sensors (Strips MS +Comfort) for Akelius to monitor the indoor climates and collect data to act upon. The monitored data are collected and visualized on Sensative’s horizontal platform Yggio. Through Yggio and the HVAC PLC (programmable logic controller) system, Akelius can set up scenarios (rules) for reactions to different readings.
Benefits of data collection and visualization of indoor climate:
Finding the optimal temperature for the building
By installing one Strips MS +Comfort in each apartment and getting a visualization of temperature mean values, Akelius can set the heating system accordingly. That way, Akelius can save on unnecessary heating expenses and find the optimal temperature without needing feedback from tenants. For each degree celsius that Akelius can reduce the heating system settings, they save 4% on energy expenses (if we, for example, reduce to 21° from 22°).
Detect abnormalities in individual apartments’ indoor climates
Through the data from each apartment, Akelius can easily see any readings that are out of the ordinary. Suppose an apartment seems to have a much lower temperature than other apartments. In that case, Akelius can contact the tenant to see if this is because of tenant behavior or if there is something wrong or broken in the apartment. In the same way, Akelius can notice humidity readings that could indicate, for instance, leaking windows or roofs with the following water damages. This knowledge can save the company unnecessary expenses on both heating and possible water damages.
An excellent foundation for customer support
Whenever a tenant calls customer service and has any issues with their indoor climate, Akelius will have the actual data on every apartments’ climate, giving the possibility for informed discussions with the tenant.
Possible additions and benefits from installing such an IoT system:
LoRaWAN and platform opens up possibilities
When the LoRaWAN network and necessary platform are in place, it opens up for simple extensions by adding sensors and devices. For example, smart alarms, smart home devices, smart lights control, water leak detection, individual energy metering, booking system for common facilities, and more.
Above are examples of what a customer can do with our sensors and platform when retrofitted into apartments. Imek’s Building Homes company takes this concept further- They install sensors directly into their modules at production, thus offering the building blocks for real estate with integrated IoT technology.
Benefits of equipping modules with sensors:
Avoiding structural damage during transportation
As the company manufactures complete home modules to be quickly assembled at the construction site, there is always a big risk for transportation incidents leading for instance to water damages. By monitoring during transport, the company can quickly detect any issues with moisture and deal with them before the module is put in place in the building, reducing cost while increasing the quality of the end product. Fixing these types of problems after the building has been assembled is considerably more expensive.
Monitoring of indoor climate from day one
As the building blocks now come with sensors installed, it is easy to monitor the indoor climate also post-construction, saving the installation cost for a complete retrofitted monitoring system. With a battery that can last from 10-20 years depending on how often a sensor sends data, it means low maintenance cost for a long period of time.
To learn more about Imek, visit their website @ imek-vvs.se (Swedish).
To learn more about Akelius, visit their website @ akelius.com.
Watch Sensative’s CEO Mats Pettersson and Imek’s Tomas Kvistmo do an extensive presentation on the subject for Green Connections 2020 here.
Shop for products
Strips MS +Comfort sensors can be found directly in our webshop.
For the curious customer who wants to learn about IoT and try out our sensors together with the Yggio platform, we offer a “Starter Kit to Reduce Energy Costs” for monitoring indoor temperature, humidity, and more. A powerful kit for apartments, offices, and similar buildings.
If you are interested in buying our solutions in this case or need help tailoring a solution for your specific needs, visit our webshop or contact our sales team to evaluate your possibilities and requirements. We are here to help.
