A detailed building automation system investigation and IoT device solution; unlocking energy efficiency optimisations, improved student wellbeing and learning, reduced operating expenses at Nepean Creative and Performing Arts High School by creating smarter buildings.
- Easy to use: Access relevant data sources in a simple, secure and accessible dashboard.
- Low cost: Reduced installation costs by $2,090 with wireless sensor selection.
- Rapid deployment: Six months.
- Meaningful data: Electricity and Water consumption, solar generation, water tank level, waste bin level, outdoor temperature and humidity, indoor temperature, humidity and light brightness, sound levels and air quality (carbon dioxide, PM2.5 and TVoC).
- No onsite cabling: 19 hours saved and future sensors can be installed anywhere in 30 seconds (peel and stick).
- Actionable insights: Improved air quality in learning environments with smart-monitoring, controls and notifications. Energy efficiency monitoring with renewables, electricity, water and waste monitoring.
IoT devices have a history of successful smart building automation deployments. Since the first IoT device was released in 1990 (a toaster that could be turned on and off over the internet) they have been a key feature of any ‘smart’ solution.
In March 2021, Nepean Creative and Performing Arts High School (NCPA) commenced a HVAC focused smart technology program. They are part of the $500 million School Infrastructure NSW (SINSW) Cooler Classrooms initiative, a sub-program of NSW Board of Education’s four-year $7.9 billion investment to upgrade new and existing schools learning environments. The Cooler Classrooms program aims to help students achieve their potential and improve learning outcomes by delivering sustainable air conditioning, heating and fresh air ventilation systems to improve indoor comfort and air quality.
This program aims to:
- Provide students and staff with the best learning and working environments possible
- Operate sustainably in alignment with the NSW government’s 2050 net zero commitment
- Minimise wasted expenditure on electricity to enable more investment in improving their education program
With their investment in infrastructure and technology, NCPA needed to validate the improvements in indoor environments and air quality. The school’s facilities team struggled to synthesise the available data to build a holistic picture of their performance. They needed an industry expert to investigate what could be improved. Someone to collect and deliver data analytics, make sense of their environments and prepare for classrooms of the future. Nube iO is that industry expert.
Over six months, Nube iO investigated, designed and implemented a solution that allows NCPA to measure and improve the school’s sustainability and air quality performance. The Nube iO solution tackled three key issues for NCPA:
- Inadequate data sources
- Disparate and misunderstood data sources
- Underperforming environmental controls
Shortly after commencing, the solution was expanded to also provide data visualisations. The new scope included a review of how the school could incorporate sustainability into the learning curriculum for students. The Nube iO solution could take advantage of the ability to measure and optimise the building automation system to engage students on sustainability initiatives.
Nube iO IoT sensors were installed in NCPA classrooms to monitor environmental conditions:
- Temperature
- Humidity
- Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
- Total Organic Volatile Compounds (TVoC)
- Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5)
Additional sensors added noise levels and the energy and water being consumed to the data being collected. NCPA was also able to utilise their ‘inaccessible solar system’ after Nube iO integrated wireless Modbus devices to collect solar generation data.
COVID-19 complications (electrical component shortages and extended lockdowns in Sydney) have created delays across the industry. Working around these delays, Nube iO still rapidly delivered results in under six months;
- The additional air quality data enhanced smart-monitoring to provide fresh air before students learning capacity becomes affected.
- Integrating NCPA solar data with energy and utility data sets provides the holistic performance of their energy performance.
- NCPA environmental, energy and water data enables them to promote school sustainability and awareness of energy usage
NCPA’s connected data requires a simple, holistic view of sustainability performance, energy expenditure and environmental management. A Single Pain of Glass (SPoG) that presents all data in one location. SINSW is on a journey to build a SPoG for all schools in the program but recognised Nube iO’s flexible, secure and accessible dashboard as an interim step that delivers all of NCPA’s requirements.
The dashboard presents;
- Energy consumption
- Solar energy generation
- Water consumption
- Water tank level
- Outside air temperature
- Humidity
- Red, amber and green (RAG) tags for outside air temperature.
The dashboard’s meaningful data visualisations defines ‘good performance’ for the Cooler Classrooms program:
- Year-round comfort: Indoor temperature monitoring confirms if classrooms are staying cool in summer and warm in winter.
- Fresh air: Air Quality monitoring confirms that the classroom environments aren’t stuffy and have enough fresh air
- Improved air quality: Air Quality sensors and smart-monitoring with RAG alerts teachers and students when fresh air is needed
- Promoting sustainability: Integrating with the solar system informs teachers and students on how NCPA is operating sustainably
- Promoting awareness: Smart-monitoring of energy and water usage empowers teachers and students to find ways to lower their use.
- Reduced energy usage: Smart-monitoring confirms that air conditioning doesn’t run longer than 2 hours at a time
- Bringing the outside in: Outdoor temperature and humidity sensor and smart-monitoring with RAG alerts notify teachers and students when they should open the windows to take advantage of good weather.
Having access to meaningful data and defining the environmental/sustainability baselines, empowers NCPA to track their building performance. IoT sensors and system integrations correlates that meaningful data to understand the return on investments made into school facilities. With Nube iO as their smart building automation and data partner, the school’s facilities team has an operational performance benchmark. NCPA can now develop informed strategies for operating sustainably, removing unnecessary spending on electricity and creating the best learning and working environments.
Nube iO is a manufacturer of IoT devices used to create smart buildings. This solution was developed in response to key industry issues such as shortage of low-cost solutions for small buildings, outdated technology and limited wireless hardware that can integrate with legacy systems. Nube iO now provides a technology bridge that is both IoT ready and smart building automation ready. If you own, operate or interact with a small building, are having problems with outdated technology or need to know more about the Nube iO deployment at Nepean Creative and Performing Arts get in touch at:
+61 2 7906 8414
info@nube-io.com