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Pitch

Energy is wasted by overheating/cooling homes/offices. Live/work at the most economic/comfortable temperature with an intelligent ComfoMeter


Description

Summary

Around 40% of energy is used to heat or cool buildings (1). A lot of this energy could be saved by the many offices and homes that are overheated in winter and over-cooled in winter.

Generally people have little idea about the relationship between comfort and economy and the purpose of this proposal is to show these relationships and how this can be used to save energy without being uncomfortable.

Your comfort depends on the temperature, humidity, what you are wearing and the airflow across your body. These factors combine to form your Comfort Zone and can be used to calculate your comfortable range of temperatures.

If you measure the temperature and humidity of the air around you and you know your clothing and airflow levels, it is possible to work out the temperature that uses least energy but still keeps you comfortable and also show how far from this ideal you are. It is also possible to see the effects of changing clothing and airflow levels.

The eco-wand ComfoMeter system does just this. The ComfoMeter is a USB peripheral that measures temperature and humidity into your computer and the eco-wand program shows the data and how far from ideal you are.

This is a rigorous system that adds rigour and depth to the “turn the thermostat down a degree” and “put on a woolly jumper” advice.

By telling the system whether you are heating or cooling, the system will save energy in both summer and winter.

The system can also show the effectiveness of timer settings and insulation.

By following the advice given by the system, people in homes and offices all over the world can be shown how to save energy without sacrificing comfort.

In the office, as well as the above functions, the ComfoMeter can act as a low cost easily deployed remote real-time data logger.

I have developed the system and pre-production prototypes are being used locally. The full production model is almost ready. The computer messages are currently only in English.

Details of the system can be seen at www.eco-wand.com


Category of the action

Changing public perceptions on climate change


What actions do you propose?

People overheat and over-cool their homes and offices. Governments exhort people to “turn their thermostats down a degree” but this is very imprecise. By measuring the temperature and humidity and comparing these with the Comfort Zone, the user can see how far from ideal they are, ideal being the boundary between comfort and economy. The user can change the comfort zone parameters and see the difference that can make to their energy use. The system can also advise on changes the user can make that will reduce the energy consumption. The system works for both heating and cooling.

All that is needed is a eco-wand ComfoMeter USB temperature and humidity wand, a USB extension lead and a computer (Windows, Mac or Linux). Nowadays, most households and offices have such computers.

The ComfoMeter is plugged into the computer and the user is shown the most economical temperature. Behaviour is changed by showing the definite action that can be taken to save money on energy costs which implies a reduction in CO2.

If we can get these devices into homes and offices worldwide then a lot of energy can be saved.

The hardware and software are nearly ready – pre-production prototypes are being used. What we need now is to get people using the devices which, in the UK, we retail at £29.99 + VAT.

Like an electrical supply Energy Meter, the ComfoMeter alerts users to their own behaviour.

By using the users computer, we can keep the price of the wand low, provide many additional features and make the system easy to understand and use.

For additional energy saving, the Chart feature allows users to see the effect of their system timers allowing them to be set correctly.

 


Who will take these actions?

Ultimately householders, office workers and office managers will be making the savings but a number of other organisations could be instrumental in bringing the system to users attention, possibly giving the devices to end users.

  • Governments run energy saving campaigns,

  • Utility companies give away or publicize energy saving devices

  • Environmental groups such as Greenpeace, WWF, Green Party etc could promote the devices

The case color and legend and the software headings and color scheme are all customizable so (subject to a minimum order) the groups above can have their own labeled devices.

I have developed the tools, now I need people to use them.

People all over the world could get involved in this project, introducing the system to groups in their own country and translating the publicity material, manuals and screen messages from English into their own language – the software is written in Java so is easily internationalized.

Universities, with their myriad of buildings, make good test beds and demonstration sites for the system. Three of my test sites are in Scottish Universities.


Where will these actions be taken?

Most impact would be industrialised countries with non-temperate climates and those countries/regions that have an energy supply problem such as Japan, South Korea, China, Germany, California and UK.

There are probably other areas in the world which have an impending supply problem where reducing demand will give a quicker and cheaper solution than providing more generating capacity or new gas supply capacity.

Although the areas mentioned above would return the biggest saving quickest, significant saving can still be made wherever energy is used to heat/cool buildings and computers are common.


How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?

It is said that turning the thermostat down by 1°C (1.8°F) in winter will reduce your energy bill by 7% but it not as simple as that. My system shows that putting on a woolly sweater reduces the ideal thermostat value by 1.7°C (3°F). So following the advice could reduce energy usage by 5 to 10% in households.

It then depends on how many households and offices we can get to adopt the system


What are other key benefits?

Measuring the temperature at different points in an office could help eradicate disputes about it being too hot/too cold leading to a more productive workforce.

Measuring the temperature at different points in a home could eliminate the heating of rooms when heating is not required.

Allows experimentation to see effectiveness of energy saving measures like drawing blind or curtains/drapes at night.

The easy of set-up, charting and remote monitoring can reduce the time and effort for an energy engineer to find problems within a building.

Charting can show when timers should come on and go off.

The time for a building to cool after heating is removed is a measure of the effectiveness of insulation. This can be seen on the history chart and trigger action if the insulation is sub-standard.

Dew Point display can warn of condensation problems.

Heat Index Display can warn of overheating of the user.

Alarms (with emails) can warn of hypothermia or overheating.


What are the proposal’s costs?

Currently to low volume retail price in the UK is £30 + VAT (including delivery and software). The USB is extra as they are readily available elsewhere.

In quantity, the cost to middle men could be reduced significantly.

Provided there is the local volume demand, the devices could be made wherever there is a suitable Electronic Assembly contractor thus saving shipping across the world.


Time line

The hardware is a relatively simple piece of electronics which can be popped into a jiffy bag for distribution. With people working on promoting the device across the world, it could be deployed worldwide in 5 years. It would have diminishing returns on CO2 saving as more houses and offices become better insulated but even then people may still overheat/cool their homes and offices.


Related proposals


References

1 http://www.c2es.org/technology/overview/buildings#1