The challenge of comfort and quality of life for workers
The levels of temperature felt and the air quality breathed can have a direct influence on the behaviour of users and employees. Poor air quality can cause problems (fatigue, sleepiness) and can be bad for both health and also employee performance (drop in productivity, sick-leaves, less motivation, etc.). The business activities and profitability of companies are affected.
To get around these economic and health risks, the European and Belgian regulations impose levels of CO2 to be met. For inside air, the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) is around 400 ppm (parts per million). It is considered that health risks occur on average, above 1000 ppm (1800 mg/m3) in the interior environment.
To know more about the applicable regulations in Belgium, check out the website of the Federal Public Service employment work and social consultation in Belgium[FR].
Energy maintenance and environmental audits in the service of user comfort
For nearly three years now, TEM (now Engie Solutions), the Belgian player in TBM systems and Enless have collaborated in projects aimed at maintaining the quality of living and working conditions for the occupants of residential and office buildings.
ENGIE SOLUTIONS (TEM), a player in Building Technical Management
As a Belgian maintenance specialist, TEM[FR] (now Engie Solutions) has as its main goal, to ensure the quality of living through equipment maintenance.
TEM is active throughout the Belgian territory even if most of its activities are concentrated in the Brussels region. It has many clients: managers of hospital office buildings, industrial buildings, government administrations, shopping centres and various municipalities.
TEM takes care of 370 buildings and 265 heating plants for which they perform maintenance and optimised energy management (monitoring of consumptions, continuous improvement of techniques, etc.).
Establishment of audits using Enless transmitters
On these sites, TEM also performs spot audit campaigns using Enless Wireless radio sensors for the purpose of checking that the comfort conditions (temperature, relative humidity, CO2) are properly met. The Belgian regulation in fact impose a carbon dioxide threshold of 900 ppm maximum for recent buildings and 1200 ppm for the building is categorised as being a significant technical hindrance to rapid evolution.
The audits conducted indicate if the installations in place (heating, air conditioning, ventilation systems, etc.) function correctly and are optimally configured. If alarming values are detected, it is possible therefore, for teams to take corrective actions directly (modification of operating hours, replacement of defective equipment, etc.).
Valentin Maerevoet, Energy manager at TEM recounts: “Integration of Enless monitoring solutions allows us to offer our clients, a more complete service. When the audit phases are conducted, the data gathered reliably and accurately by the Enless Sigfox transmitters, allows us to make readjustments of the settings of our heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment.”
In real terms, the values of temperature, relative humidity and CO2 are read generally every 15 minutes via Enless Wireless Sigfox ambient transmitters.
The setting of the periodicity is done during the installation of the transmitters, via the Sigfox Backend and can then be modified simply and remotely at any time.
The display of the data collected by the Enless probes and transmitted via the Sigfox cloud is then done via the ENERGIS.CLOUD platform, which incorporates an alarm system if the thresholds are exceeded (applicable legal thresholds for CO2).
Protection of sensitive industrial activities
On certain client sites, TEM sets up long term maintenance using Enless Wireless transmitters which are then installed permanently to provide the monitoring of values over time, whenever it concerns monitoring a sensitive site by its sector or core activity.
Thus, a printworks has been equipped with radio transmitters for ambient temperature and humidity for the purpose of protecting its raw material, paper.
Automated monitoring of water consumption
TEM and Enless Wireless have also collaborated on water metering equipment for several clients. At this time, 5 water consumption monitoring campaigns are currently in progress for the purpose of identifying leaks and the installations causing them. These campaigns last from a week to one month and involve a dozen Enless Wireless remote reading Pulse transmitters connected to the water meters of the sites.
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