Are Dumb Window Air Conditioners Freezing Your Building Out from Savings?
So you’ve started to think about moving toward making your multifamily building smart -- but how can window air conditioning units fit into the equation? As it turns out, traditional window and through the wall AC units have much more to offer towards creating an intelligent system than most realize.
Up to now, users had to make the decision between leaving the AC on all day when no one is there, or coming home to a hot apartment and waiting hours for it to cool down. Which do they choose, comfort or waste? But now, buildings with those old units can be utilized in a much better way, with the simple addition of a load control module that connects to Embue’s smart thermostat via secure wireless connection to Embue’s building-wide mesh network.
Once connected, the unit can be monitored and controlled by building staff via Embue Super, unlocking a whole new realm of control over the unit and ensuring ideal, consistent temperatures while reducing energy waste. If desired, residents can even be given remote access via the Embue Remote app to ensure comfort, allowing them to turn their AC on shortly before arriving home, so residents can come home to a pre-cooled room, without wasting energy. For those residents who pay for electricity, this is a great solution. And Embue’s occupancy-prediction machine learning algorithms can sense whether residents are home or not, and turn the system on or off accordingly. It can also adapt to users’ schedules, turning on shortly before they arrive home.
This upgrade is applicable to all buildings with window AC units, including affordable and student housing. Air conditioning units are second only to heating as the most expensive appliance to run in the home, so making them more efficient is one of the first steps towards achieving a fully smart energy system that saves money, lowers energy usage, reduces carbon emissions and improves resident comfort and satisfaction.