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Combatting Damp and Mold Problems in the UK By Using Multiple Smart Device

Combatting Damp and Mold Problems in the UK By Using Multiple Smart Device

A long-standing issue for UK housing market

The rapid adoption of IoT devices in UK housing is setting the beginning of a new era in dealing with the dampness and mold in buildings. Technology-enabled solutions such as environmental sensors that measure temperature, humidity, and CO2 are becoming increasingly common for dealing with these issues. Considering that the English Housing Survey (EHS) for 2021-22 identified 935,000 households in England alone grappling with severe damp problems, the advantages for residents are clear: improved living conditions and a safer indoor environment.

Rather than dealing with occupants' health problems and costly renovations down the line, landlords and real estate companies managing thousands of buildings are shifting toward a proactive approach to detecting and addressing potential problems before they become severe. Data from LoRaWAN hardware devices like the ones mentioned above are helping them to allocate resources strategically and save renovation and maintenance costs.


Assessing the severity of the damp and mold problems


Mold and dampness can cause serious health issues among the vulnerable segments of society — children and the elderly, who are still affected by it. Research indicates that mold exposure can worsen respiratory issues, trigger asthma, and potentially contribute to the development of dementia. In retrofitting older buildings, prioritizing indoor air quality becomes crucial for the occupants' well-being and therefore for property managers. Additionally, it's crucial not to overlook the psychological impact of residing in such environments. Studies have revealed a significant connection between living in damp, mould-infested conditions and mental health problems.


Government Recommendations to Improve Residential Safety


The UK has stringent regulations regarding indoor air quality and health and safety in residential properties. Due to some tragic events leading to the death of a 2 years old child that got a lot of publicity, the Housing Ombudsman in the UK highlighted good practices including the implementation of:
• Humidity and temperature sensors
• Specialist damp & mold teams
• Root cause analysis modelling
• Dedicated damp & mold dashboard
• Staff training
• Dedicated apps for reporting issues
These sensors would serve as an early warning system, flagging when a property is at risk of mold growth. Moreover, the Ombudsman emphasizes the importance of utilizing data collected by these sensors to facilitate predictive modelling. This approach could potentially enable housing providers to proactively identify properties at risk, preventing the onset of severe damp and mold issues.


Managing Tenant Satisfaction and Cost Efficiency in Real Estate


As a result of worries related to mold and dampness, the overall contentment of private home renters can decline to 64%, as indicated by EHS. Consequently, real estate companies are compelled to confront the challenges associated with these issues in their properties. Providing a comfortable and healthy living environment with IoT devices helps them retain tenants, reducing turnover and associated expenses. Taking action to mitigate mold and dampness in their early stages is considerably more cost-effective than conducting extensive remediation later. Humidity and temperature sensors not only help property managers save on repair and renovation expenses but also can aid in optimizing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems implementing energy-efficient HVAC settings, reducing energy consumption and operational costs.


The Crucial Role of Smart Sensors

In the battle against dampness and mold, sensors are becoming crucial. According to retrofit guidelines like PAS 2035, EESSH 2, and ORP in Wales, incorporating sensors is emphasized as a best practice to ensure that homes function as intended following any form of intervention, be it maintenance or retrofit measures. Sensors like the MClimate HT Sensor LoRaWAN and MClimate CO2 Display LoRaWAN strategically installed in common problem areas such as kitchens, living rooms, and bedrooms can monitor key indicators that contribute to mold formation and effectively prevent it. The MClimate Enterprise buildings management platform can be used to create a digital twin of any building connecting all the MClimate LoRaWAN devices and make dashboards and rules for easy tracking of the data of the property. The regular analytics and reports generated in the platform help predicting the underlying root cause of mold and damp appearance, whether it’s lack of adequate ventilation or other contributing factors. The ability to control these devices remotely via the Enterprise platform also enables the configuration of notifications for instances where specific indicators surpass normal levels. Even minor leaks from old pipes could potentially lead to mold issues within the properties. To address this possibility the real estate managers can install the Flood Sensor LoRaWAN and T-Valve LoRaWAN to detect even the smallest leaks and promptly halt them, averting expensive damages.
In the battle against dampness and mold, sensors and building management platforms are now indispensable tools for the property managers.


The Next Era of Housing: Scalable IoT Solutions


The acceleration of the smart technology revolution is reshaping the potential of real estate in the UK. Property managers can now harness a range of IoT devices to effectively address mold and dampness issues, ensuring tenant satisfaction and retention, while also achieving cost savings and preventing property damages.


 

Sources: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-housing-quality-and-condition/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-housing-quality-and-condition

MClimate is taking part in the Clean Cities ClimAccelerator 2022

MClimate is taking part in the Clean Cities ClimAccelerator 2022

Continuing on our mission to make the world a cleaner place, MClimate is participating in this year’s Clean Cities ClimAccelerator. Using our combined resources and experience, we can scale up solutions on a global level and set great examples on a city level in Europe. The ultimate goal of the Clean Cities ClimAccelerator is to create systemic change in cities for a more livable, resilient and clean environment that has a positive effect on the quality of urban life and meet challenging net-zero targets.

The Clean Cities ClimAccelerator is a joint initiative of the Impact Hub Vienna and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), funded by EIT Climate-KIC. It is a public-private partnership aimed at accelerating the adoption of climate neutral solutions in the cities of Vienna and Madrid.

The accelerator program focuses on key challenges in urban environments, including community retrofitting, green spaces, mobility, renewable energy, and data and information systems.

In terms of information and data systems, collecting data is a powerful tool that cities can use to achieve their climate goals and improve their quality of life through smart urban planning, focusing on decarbonization, energy efficiency and air quality. IoT software and hardware can be an effective way to help cities make better decisions about retrofitting their existing older and inefficient building stock and planning maintenance by identifying areas in need of improvements based on the latest energy efficiency trends.

The challenge we are focused on is how to help municipalities collect and analyse data in a reliable and timely manner with the help of the Internet of Things (IoT) and optimize their real estate portfolio of buildings through information, analysis of consumption patterns and energy use controls in the cities. Our platform or integration with existing city platforms and building management systems can also be used to control buildings remotely removing any inefficiency in unoccupied public spaces and help reporting efforts monitoring carbon emissions, carbon footprint analysis and support urban decarbonization processes.

Until today the lack of low power and wide range technologies coupled with the need to control costs, to rapidly deploy and connect every sensor across a smart city, regardless of whether those sensors are underground, in buildings or in the public spaces in between, prevented many cities from taking advantage of what IoT solutions have to offer. Thanks to LPWAN networks and their extremely low power requirements, devices can be connected for months to 10+years years using simple AA batteries, enabling a range of solutions where charging a device or replacing a battery is simply impractical.

Today, IoT is a fundamental tool for city leaders to realize their climate goals and create a more liveable, sustainable built environment. The use of IoT software and hardware provides cities with a powerful way to make better decisions about building stock and retrofitting existing inefficient buildings. IoT enables cities to collect data on specific aspects of their built environments through sensors that can monitor energy-efficiency trends, air quality levels and other important factors.

Learn more about the Clean Cities ClimAccelerator on their website.

We are looking forward to be part of this challenge working with the jury including Zaragoza City of Knowledge Foundation, City Hall of Zaragoza, La Pinada / Zubilabs, Repsol, Vienna Business Agency, Urban Innovation Vienna, AWS and Distrito Castellana Norte, and we are dedicated to work alongside all the other participants to find quick but long-lasting solutions setting the path for other cities in Europe to follow.

We are excited to be a bronze sponsor of the LoRaWAN World Expo 2022

We are excited to be a bronze sponsor of the LoRaWAN World Expo 2022

At MClimate we make any building smart, reducing the carbon footprint of the building and increasing the comfort of the people inside. Our mission is to create high-end, beautiful technological products that support decarbonisation plans of companies and individuals, so that together we can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations.

This year we are excited to be a bronze sponsor of the LoRaWAN World Expo 2022 and we invite our partners to join us in Paris.

At the expo, you will have the chance to meet our expert team, see our solutions and products and discuss potential collaborations opportunities together as well as how LoRaWAN allows deployment of large-scale decarbonisation projects. We are looking forward to connecting with other industry members, sharing experience and fostering the success of the ecosystem together.

 

See you in Paris!

Lyubomir Yanchev, CEO of MClimate