Case study: Morgan Lovell

Conaway: Mesh network enables the firm to monitor its energy use

Wireless technology has become synonymous with empowering the workforce, allowing people to embrace flexible working patterns. But wireless technologies are now doing so much more. At office design consultancy Morgan Lovell, they are helping to turn some dumb, inanimate objects into very smart – and green – little devices.

Morgan Lovell has deployed a small army of smart energy meters throughout its offices, which are all connected using a mesh network based on the ZigBee standard. The move has already helped cut the firm’s energy bills by 30 per cent.

ZigBee is a low-power, low-cost radio communications standard that can be used to link up a series of sensors, creating a mesh network.

Currently, the smart meters are installed on the air conditioning unit and the ground and first floors of Morgan Lovell’s London HQ. Information about energy use is relayed via the mesh network to a web portal, where users can access it from a dashboard.

“By bringing energy use closer to people, it allows them to take action to reduce costs and meet their green commitments,” says Lara Conaway, Morgan Lovell’s sustainability manager.

The project, which cost about £3,000, has already paid for itself and now Morgan Lovell plans to roll out the technology to its Birmingham and Wokingham offices.

“Within 24 hours of becoming operational I could see via the tracker on the dashboard that the air conditioning was pulling in power overnight. As a result, I checked the timer and found it was faulty, which meant it was on at night. Until we had the wireless network in place, we couldn’t tell that was happening,” says Conaway.

Correcting that fault has already cut energy use, shaving £5,000 off the firm’s annual bill.