How can behavioural change be used to drive down energy use in student accommodation? There is a widespread consensus that the key areas that will help the UK to meet climate and environmental goals relate to how we travel, what we eat, what we buy, and energy use....
Tom McAndrew, Project Manager at Prefect Controls, witnessed an auspicious event this week. The installation of the 50,000th control unit on the Irus Portal! For those unfamiliar with Irus, it is the Building Energy Management System designed specifically for...
Summer arrives, the weather warms, flowers bloom, all is good with the world! But, for students in our universities, it’s exam season mid-May to mid-June. Four weeks of cramming. Then, Relax! Nothing more can be done. Pack the car, and head off for a well-deserved...
The University of the West of England (UWE) is benefitting from investing in a heating control system that is saving energy in student accommodation. Work began during the pandemic. Contractors took advantage of empty blocks, installing Prefect’s Irus system...
Adrian Barber from Prefect Controls explains the benefit of Building Energy Management Systems (BeMS), used for energy saving in student accommodation either autonomously or alongside a BMS. Technological solutions are the only way to administer the control and...
In the 12 months up to January 2023 gas prices rose by 129.4% while electricity was just over half this at 66.7%. Significant percentages. However, apply monetary values, and a different picture emerges - per kWh (at time of writing) gas is costing domestic customers...
Since 1868, when the first instantaneous water heater was patented, we have witnessed a long evolution in the heating of water. With each innovation, safety, efficiency and convenience have incrementally improved, but the fundamental principles have remained the same....
As UK universities strive to meet the net-zero and decarbonisation targets of 2030 and beyond - there is a collective responsibility to make things happen. From the large infrastructure decisions that are made to our individual choices - perhaps we can re-purpose the...
Researching “student expectations” and their accommodation experiences, I found myself down a rabbit hole. I came across a post regarding a student who had just arrived at university. After a week, their anxiety had grown because depression was preventing engagement...
Since 2011/12 the number of domestic fires in Great Britain has fallen by 23.5%. That is good news, surely. But fire crews were still called out to almost 35,500 incidents in 2021/22. When the data is drilled into and we remove deliberate actions and downright...
