HOT | COOL NO. 4/2012 - Interface, Users and Utilities

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By Lars Taarnskov, Marketing Manager, Frederiksberg Forsyning FOLLOW THE HEAT CONSUMPTION ON SMART PHONE AND TABLET

ABOUT FREDERIKSBERG MUNICIPALITY • A municipality in the central part of Copenhagen • Frederiksberg Forsyning supplies district heating, water and gas and diverts wastewater • 99 % of the 52,000 homes in total have district heating • 95% of the homes are flats POOR COOLING As part of Frederiksberg Municipality’s plan to reduce CO2 emissions Frederiksberg Forsyning has in recent years offered all heating customers a free check of their heating systems. One of the problems we encounter is poor cooling. “Cooling” refers to the temperature difference between the water that is received by the customer, and the water that the customer returns. Poor cooling is when the temperature of the district heating water is not cooled well enough. If the water is not cooled enough, pumping more water through all elements of the system is needed, and thus more energy will be used. In addition, all components are abraded - from private homes to power plants.

After this, they can go to our website to get suggestions for better cooling or less consumption.

Illustration text: Here the cooling is shown month by month over the last three years. The red line is the average for the past year. The cooling must be at least 31 degrees on average. The displayed customer is only 14.25 degrees and must therefore pay extra (PC version). MORE FEATURES The application for smart phone and tablet has the following features: 1. The customer logs on with customer and meter number, but can switch to a login of their own choice, e.g. "Jim" and "heat". 2. If the customer owns more than one building, he or she can connect with several meters. 3. The customers can see their consumption adjusted according to cold and warm winters. This figure is more accurate when comparing months or years. 4. Notebook: You can create a meter that

is remote-read (e.g. gas or water meter), enter your own readings and thus follow the consumption graphically.

The customers must pay extra for poor cooling, but they will not know this until they see the bill, which many only get once a year.

The app is called "Frb Supply".

LAPTOP, TABLET OR SMART PHONE The municipality makes a great effort to reduce CO2 emissions, and it has therefore been decided that it should be made easier for customers to keep an eye on their cooling and on their heat consumption. They have long been able to use their PC to do just that – but now they can also use mobile devices. A laptop, tablet or smart phone is smart, because the owner or caretaker is not obliged to e.g. stand in the basement and monitor developments. Or a board in a housing association can sit around a table with a tablet and make a heat budget. All district heating meters are remote-read, and customers therefore do not have to read the meters themselves. But they can see the cooling or the heat consumption month by month or compare two years. The customers can also get an e-mail if the cooling is below the critical limit - or if the consumption differs, say, 20%. They decide themselves how much the deviation should be. The customers also maintain the contact data.

Here the decreasing heat consumption is shown every month - for the last three years (iPad version). On the iPhone the annual consumption for the last four years is shown. The last year (99 MWh) is lower than the average (159 MWh). It has been interesting but hard work to develop four versions of the tool: One for PC, one for iPad, one for iPhone and one for Android phones. Fortunately the technology works in the direction of a "responsive design", which makes it easier to reuse design at different screen resolutions. "

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