A pair of Midland entrepreneurs have created a heating system that knows your home better than you do.
Heat Genius, based at the Innovation Birmingham Campus, senses which rooms homeowners use and when and automatically adjusts the heating accordingly – a process known as intelligent zoning.
The system works by replacing a traditional boiler programmer and radiator valves using wireless occupancy sensors, storing data on room-use online.
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Alasdair Woodbridge, who founded the product alongside Simon Turner, said he dreamed up the idea while working as an energy consultant.
He expects demand to be driven by soaring energy bills, as he claims the system can generate a £200 a year saving for a typical three-bedroom semi-detached home.
He said “I would go around to people’s homes and suggest energy-saving measures, but I got tired of there being nothing you could do for hard-to-heat homes.
“You can get cavity wall insulation or double glazing but if you already had that you were out of things to do.
“That is where our system leads the market – it can help with hard-to-heat homes.”
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“You don’t always use every room in your house,” he added. “Our system allows you to only heat the rooms you use, and tells you which ones they are.
“The problem with zoning your house can be that programming it gets complicated.
“Our system learns what rooms you use and when, which is a first for domestic use. And you can also communicate wirelessly.”
It would cost around £765 for an average three-bedroom semi-detached house to have the system fitted. Mr Woodbridge says it would be repaid in between three and four years.
A list of qualified installers, who can install the system, as well as carry out boiler servicing, has been established, although Mr Woodbridge said he was on the lookout for a firm to partner in the West Midlands.
Heat Genius has also developed a smartphone app – which means if you finish work early you can switch the heating on, in only the rooms you will use, before you get home.
He said: “The sensor measures occupancy and every time it senses something, it measures the temperature and collects the information.
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“Everything is then communicated through the internet, so it can go to your phone.
“Then if, for example, you are coming home from work early, you can use your iPhone to turn the heating on in your house. Not only that – it will only heat the rooms you are going to use.”
Henriette Lyttle-Breukelaar, head of projects at Innovation Birmingham, said the product enjoyed a vast potential customer base.
She said: “To think that you could enjoy the comfort of the rooms that you use most in the house being even warmer when you’re actually using them, without heating other rooms unnecessarily - and therefore saving money – is a concept that has very broad appeal.
“The system is also straightforward for DIY enthusiasts to install, keeping costs as low as possible.
“Heat Genius is one of 11 low carbon products and concepts that are currently being developed at the Innovation Birmingham Campus.”