The fact that connections between open windows/doors and heating/cooling are created in smart houses – in order not to waste energy senselessly – is now standard and no longer a distinctive feature. Rather, the real challenge lies in the design of intelligent solutions that among other things Include the location and nature of the property. To illustrate, an example from southern Spain, a region where we have already implemented many smart home technologies:
Although many houses are still facing south, i.e. towards the sea, the typical “Andalusian” style with small windows that protect from the sun can hardly be found in the new construction. On the contrary, large glass surfaces are predominantly preferred in order to be able to enjoy the sea view as fully as possible. The logical consequence is appropriate shade (external blinds, canopies) against the high sun in summer. By default, blinds are programmed to extend automatically as soon as a certain room temperature is exceeded. In winter, however, when the sun is low, the southern rooms are still heated up strongly, the northern rooms, however, remain too cold (in some projects we measured 26 degrees in the southern rooms and 16 in the north-facing rooms, quite normal for southern Spain).
We have made use of this special feature. If you have installed underfloor heating, the elegant and intelligent solution looks like this:
We compare the affected rooms and if there is a temperature difference of at least 5 degrees, our control system opens the underfloor heating valves. The water from the underfloor heating, heated by the sun in the southern rooms, mixes with that of the northern rooms. As a result, the room temperature is equalized without any additional energy supply. Free heating and air conditioning – if you disregard the minimal cost of the demand-controlled pump that circulates the water.