A smart building's primary task is to maintain the indoor environment to be comfortable for the people in it. Atamate's smart building technology is flexible enough to operate any type of building service and to choose the combination of services that make the building comfortable as energy efficiently as possible. The components communicate using wireless technology, which makes it straightforward to retrofit to an existing building.
The atBOS sensor network comprehensively monitors a building’s indoor environment and energy use. The data facilitates building management and can also be used in various independently assessed certifications relevant to its environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) rating. This article introduces the main residential and non-residential certifications used in Britain.
The Atamate Schools project is intended to meet the following objectives for schools:
Cutting domestic carbon emissions is essential to achieving net-zero by 2050. Current policy is to renovate existing buildings to energy performance certificate (EPC) band C. However, that does not measure carbon emissions so every building could achieve band C and still leave the sector far short of net-zero. Here’s why.
Air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) are widely promoted as a source of low-cost, low-carbon space and water heating. However, a model of ASHP-powered heating in London shows that they compare unfavourably to heating derived directly from mains electricity, especially when compared to real-world data from flats using direct electric heating.
This winter’s hike in international natural gas prices will lead to heating price hikes this winter. It exposes the vulnerability of Britain’s dependence on imported gas, both for heating homes and for generating electricity, and illustrates the importance of initiatives to replace gas heating systems.
Yesterday, the government announced a £450 million boiler upgrade scheme, offering £5,000 grants for households replacing gas-boilers with low-carbon heating systems. The scheme does not specify what low-carbon system should be used although it repeatedly refers to air-source heat pumps.
Our Senior Data Scientist, Dr Kat Kelly recently showed that rented flats using variable ventilation and direct electrical heating under Atamate smart control delivered better energy efficiency than predicted for heat pump-based systems. We argue that the data shows that automation has been under-valued in planned reforms to the UK building regulations.
District heating schemes use a single powerplant to provide heating and hot water to many buildings. They have been promoted as important in decarbonising the British economy but their dependence on gas limits their carbon efficiency and heat is lost as it is distributed which causes internal gains.