By making it easy to turn off electronic devices when not in use—IOTAS’ technology helps to save electricity. Was this technology created with sustainability in mind?
First and foremost we designed it for comfort and convenience for residents and messaged it that way because we were concerned that sustainability may imply something that could make the residents work harder. However, we knew that the technology could have huge implications on how individuals save energy (without having to go out of their way to do so) and how the building could be managed and optimized to save energy. If the residents leave for the day and everything automatically switches off behind them such as the lights, thermostats, and designated plug-loads without them having to think about it, there is an opportunity to save tremendously. Same with building controls, if the IOTAS system knows that the south east section of a building has very few residents in it right now, the system could automatically turn off common area thermostats and lights in that area.
As part of your pilot program, you’ve offered smart technology for free in at least one building in Portland. Moving forward, do you envision such technology being a standard feature?
We hope so. We’re facing strong demand so we believe that will be the case. We believe the demand is there because the apartment developers and owners also see a benefit to their net profits through cost savings and marketing differentiation for their buildings which increase the valuation of their buildings. We also see strong demand from residents who are moving in to experience the IOTAS Smart Apartment in the pilot building.
What is next in development for IOTAS? How does this help drive our sustainable future forward?
At the moment, we’re in the process of integrating with Amazon Echo, Nest, Apple HomeKit to allow for seamless integration of consumer devices that residents bring on their own. We’re also going to be integrating with building systems such as boilers, HVAC, etc. to make them more efficient by giving those systems more data such as presence/occupancy information.
There are 24M apartments in the US out of 124M total US households. IOTAS focuses on those 24M apartments. For residents, IOTAS automates energy savings without the resident having to actively do anything to save energy while providing smart home control plus insights about their usage patterns. For building owners. IOTAS automates energy savings, enables building-wide control, and provides insights in all vacant units and shared areas. We are engaging 24 million families and building owners in helping reduce energy usage even further by saving them money and providing them comfort and convenience.
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