Heating and Cooling in Schools

There seems to be little argument against the fact that the best learning environment for children is when they are in an environment where they are comfortable. Educators and parents seem to agree that learning outcomes are improved if the climate is neither too hot nor too cold. This is not to say that children should not be exposed to warmer and cooler temperatures, it is just that those temperatures can provide an distraction from their learning.

In my part of Australia there was a push to install gas heaters inside class rooms without a vent or chimney. The argument was that since natural gas burns to just water and carbon dioxide that no chimney was needed. Unfortunately the gas was not as pure as hoped, and these heaters have needed to be replaced. In a large number of cases, these heaters have been replaced with reverse cycle air conditioners that can heat in winter and cool in summer.

This leaves the administrators with a few issues. The first is that the electricity infrastructure was generally not configured for such electrical loads, leading to expensive upgrades, both within the schools and within the wider grid. The second is that generally split system Air Conditioners are being installed. Each come with their own remote, and and is locally managed. And since they are locally managed, this means that the administrators are unable to directly control their energy usage.

Thankfully Redshift Wireless has a solution. We can now manage existing Split System Air Conditioners, Heaters and Heat Pumps through a central interface, and in doing so can probably provide a solution that will pay for itself in the first year or two.

How we do this is pretty simple – we make it easy for people to turn the equipment off, automatically. Even more than that, we place limits on who can use the equipment under what conditions. An example is that an administrator could stop any unit heating to above 23C in winter and cooling less than 22C in summer. We can also ensure that every device is switched off at exactly 3pm every afternoon saving even more power. All these savings add up.

If you know of a site that could benefit with the Redshift Wireless technology, or would like to help us build this business, give us a call.