The so-called internet of things has a new player as Smartcool Systems provides a tool to automate energy efficiency and energy management in small commercial buildings. A collaboration with an energy management system (EMS) is showing savings of 25 percent.
The company signed a software licensing agreement in December with smartACR, which is developing an automated energy management system that integrates Smartcool's software with its wireless control sensors and cloud-based thermostat for air conditioning, heat pump and refrigeration systems.
Over 4 million small commercial buildings in the US (90 percent of all buildings in the country) have no IT-infrastructure to manage energy use because it has not been cost effective. SmartACR is introducing a new solution for small buildings, providing a self-funding automation service consisting of intelligent wireless control sensors and a cloud-based automation platform.
Smartcool's software is forming the backbone of this new solution, which is reducing energy consumption of the air conditioning, heat pump and/or refrigeration systems in small buildings by an average of 25 percent. Savings from the EMS exceed a monthly fee, so operators of small facilities get immediate benefits of building automation, the company says.
Legacy systems are too complicated and expensive to automate with existing products, according to smartACR. But cloud-computing and wireless sensors matched with Smartcool's software make a self-funding automated energy saving system possible, it adds.
SmartACR is rolling out this service with numerous Dunkin Donuts franchisees including CAFUA management, the largest Dunkin brands franchisee in the world, as part of National Grid's energy efficiency program for restaurants.
Smartcool is supporting smartACR in finalizing product integration and anticipates rapid market penetration once the final stage of development is complete on the wireless control sensors, cloud based thermostat and web platform later in the second quarter of 2014.
Photo: Mike Mozart Flickr photostream
