As autumn turns to winter and cold weather arrives, families start looking for solutions to decrease heating costs and control heat pump usage against spot prices. For some, the solution is to turn off the heat pump during expensive hours or manually lower the pump's temperature a few degrees. Yet all these actions require manual work and can be complicated for some lifestyles. Thankfully, there are solutions, such as Synergi Smart Climate, which is ideal for heat pump owners with spot-price energy contracts. This blog post will explain our Smart Climate feature, how it works, helps you save money and the range of devices it supports.
Why Smart Climate?
Heating and cooling systems are a primary source of household energy consumption and contribute to a significant proportion of household energy costs. In winter, these costs go up because it's cold and electricity prices rise. To help households meet the energy costs of heating systems, we developed the Smart Climate feature in the Synergi app, which allows families to save up to 20% percent off their heating and cooling electricity costs.
How does Smart Climate work?
Synergi's Smart Climate is one of the first products on the market to optimize the use of air-source heat pumps, smart AC controllers, and smart heaters based on the real-time price of electricity. It's designed to be user-friendly, requiring no additional equipment or installer visits to operate. To start using Smart Climate, download the app and create an account. You have to connect your device to the app using your heat pump's credentials, set your target average temperature, and switch on Smart Climate in the app.
Based on your information, Synergi will automatically optimize your device's temperature based on real-time electricity prices. In practice, as electricity prices rise, the target temperature you enter in the app is slightly lowered, reducing the device's energy consumption. When electricity prices fall, the temperature of your device is increased. However, all this is done without compromising the comfort of your indoor environment. Optimizing your heating according to electricity prices will help you save on your electricity costs, saving you up to 20% on your overall heating & cooling device electricity costs.
Please note that when Synergi Smart Climate momentarily lowers the target temperature of your device, it can make other heating appliances in your home run at a higher pace during this time. The expected savings are more significant if, for instance, heat pumps or smart heaters are your home's primary heating and cooling method.
What heating & cooling devices are supported?
Synergi Smart Climate supports Wi-Fi-enabled Mitsubishi, Panasonic, and Toshiba heat pumps and Wi-Fi-enabled Adax heaters. It works with other air-source heat pump brands connected to a Sensibo AC controller. A large number of heat pumps do not have WiFi capabilities as standard. Sensibo is a WiFi controller that costs around €90 and replaces the remote control. It can be used to send commands to control consumption remotely. If you have a heat pump without WiFi, you need a Sensibo, which you can buy directly from Sensibo or a local electronics shop.
Who is Smart Climate for?
If you have any of the supported devices and a spot-price energy contract, you're all set to make the most of the cheap hours during the heating season—fully automatically!