EET Uses frogblue to Save Thousands of Standby Hours

The energy crisis is upon Europe, affecting not only private consumers but businesses just as much. Few people can afford not to think about energy optimisation and savings these days, but how do you do that when you also have a business that relies on energy to provide light for buildings and power for computers and monitors?

"Most of people know that money can be saved if we remember to switch off the lights, and a number of companies have started to focus over the past few months on switching off the lights in the office building when the last person leaves. But apart from the lights, probably few of us have thought about how much power a company actually uses when staff have gone home. The fact is that many companies have a wide range of 'power guzzlers' in the form of monitors, docking stations and chargers for headsets and mobile phones, which, with simple installations, can reduce a company's power consumption by thousands of dollars", says Mads Lindebjerg, CE/Smart Home product manager for multispecialist EET Danemark.

German company frogblue offers a solution that wirelessly connects the building's many installations of lighting, heating, ventilation, roller shutters, alarm systems, awnings and windows, making the building both intelligent and energy-saving.

"In its simplest form, the solution involves installing a series of 'frogs', the name of the devices that are placed in the existing electrical installations. The various 'frogs' are set up to turn lights on and off, switch off devices that are not in use and control roller shutters, awnings and windows. Via Bluetooth, they connect wirelessly to other 'frogs' in the installation and exchange the various information that dictates what actions to take - for example, run down roller shutters when all lights are off", explains Mads Lindebjerg.

The solution from frogblue can be used in existing installations, it is simple to set up, which ensures that the installation cost can be kept to a minimum and all 'frogs' can talk to each other via Bluetooth.

As well as transforming buildings into a 'Smart Building', a frogblue solution can also deliver significant energy savings for businesses, benefiting not only the economy but of course the environment. For example, a quick calculation shows that a classic desk set consisting of four height-adjustable desks, four docking stations, seven monitors, various chargers for headsets and mobile phones has a total standby consumption of 0.05kWh. Assuming an average of 7,132 standby hours per year, the calculation shows that the standby cost per year, based on an average price per kWh of €0.5, is €170. In isolation, this may not sound like much of a saving, but if you extrapolate this amount to a larger office building with, say, 100 desk groups, it is a considerable saving, achieved while staff are off work.

Facts about the frogblue solution

• for existing buildings and new builds

• installed by electricians in the 230V installation

• no extra cable runs

• quick installation

• fits all switches & light sources

• scalable as required

• easy configuration

• local and remote backup

• no LAN/Wi-Fi setup required

frogblue uses Bluetooth 4.2 LE Mesh network for communication between devices. It offers the following advantages:

• global standard

• simple connection to tablets and smartphones

• double encrypted

• message recognition

• 50m range in free view

• no need to have a hub

• 100 frogs = 20 watts