SensorFlow provides solutions for smart energy management in Malaysia
Managing a building to perform at its most optimal state can be a challenge in itself. And what about a hotel, where there are hundreds of rooms that the building manager has to look after? With the inception of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, managing a building to perform at its very best will become a reality.
SensorFlow is a Singapore-based startup that was recently launched in Malaysia, which provides IoT solutions for hotel room environment management.
Founded in 2016, SensorFlow’s solution allows hotels to monitor, analyse and automate hotel room environments specifically the air-conditioning in order to optimise energy efficiency and reduce operational costs.
“Global energy demand is increasing year-on-year and buildings alone account for almost half of global energy and carbon emissions. In particular, the tourism and hospitality sector accounts for 10% of global emissions, which has alarming impacts on global warming. However, at SensorFlow we believe that protecting the planet should not cost the Earth,” said SensorFlow Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Saikrishnan Ranganathan.
He further elaborated, “With our smart automation solution, we see this as an opportunity to partner with hotels in Malaysia by providing an affordable, non-disruptive solution that allows hoteliers to better manage and conserve energy for significant cost savings.”
SensorFlow will provide a set of sensors that can be installed in a room, which helps automate empty rooms consequently reducing unnecessary expenditure. The sensors are able to detect when the guest has exited the room and will increase the air-conditioning temperature or turn it off to save energy.
The advance IoT technology can also help monitor hotel room environments in real-time, including temperature, humidity, occupancy status and energy consumption.
The building manager or hoteliers will be able to access the data collected from the web-based analytics dashboard which also allows remote control and management of all rooms.
Saikrishnan said that by supplying constant data monitoring of the hotel’s heat, ventilation and air-conditioning system, hoteliers can progress beyond reactive measures and into predictive maintenance approach.
The other function of SensorFlow is it can block off and inspect rooms that have poorly performing equipment, and send out hotel engineers and repairmen without interfering the guest’s time.
In addition, with the sensor being able to detect room occupancy, SensorFlow can also help optimise housekeeping routes to minimise guest disturbance.
Saikrishnan claims that with SensorFlow, hotels can save up to 30% in energy consumption, and up to 40% savings on maintenance costs. The sensors can be installed within 10 minutes for each room equipped with a battery that can last up to five years.
Currently SensorFlow has installed sensors for about 2,000 rooms across Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore. Saikrishnan said that they are looking to expand to other Asian countries soon, and even Europe and the United States in the coming year.
SensorFlow have provided their systems to The Ascott Citadines in Singapore and the Alila Villas Uluwatu in Bali. By 2022, they are aiming to hit at least 800,000 rooms across the region.
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