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CASE STUDY:

Saving Costs by Boosting Energy Efficiency at a School Building in France

🇫🇷 Thaon-les-Vosges, France

Our client

Building type: School Building

Client Name: Inyus for Gohypré Primary School

Location: Thaon-les-Vosges, France

Building parameters: 3 floors, 39 rooms, size of 3190m2

Product(s) implemented:
130 Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostats

Third-party devices:
53 temperature, humidity, presence, and CO² sensors

Partner: Inyus

“We achieved amazing cost savings fast during the initial winter season following the installation of the smart energy system, and maintained a downward trend in expenses during the subsequent season as well.”

Project owner

About Inyus

Inyus specializes in providing connected heating solutions tailored specifically for tertiary buildings in France, including those in the educational and hospitality sectors. The company focuses on enhancing the energy efficiency of these buildings by offering individual heating control of the rooms based on the occupancy and the specific user needs, resulting in a significant reduction in costs. Their tailored solutions not only preserve energy and create savings but also protect the environment by reducing the CO2 impact while at the same time maintaining a pleasant and comfortable indoor environment for the users. Inyus solutions are eligible for the BAT TH 104 Sheet, BAT TH 116 Sheet, and the BACS decree.

By integrating Inyus' advanced smart solution with MClimate LoRaWAN IoT devices, hotels, and educational institutions can improve their energy efficiency and reduce costs, leveraging a customized approach.

Challenges

Gohypré Primary School encountered a great challenge with heating inefficiency, leading to substantial energy expenses. The original heating system relied on a gas boiler to heat the radiators in the whole building 24/7, even during the night when not occupied. Radiator temperature adjustments were made only manually by the teachers in the classrooms when they decided it was too hot or cold, leaving the other areas of the building, such as canteens, infirmary, nap rooms, and corridors, to be heated constantly without any intervention. The Gohypré primary school was searching for a solution to decrease its energy expenses and improve the sustainability of its building.

 

Solution

To address the issue, the school decided to digitalize their heating system relying on Inyus as a partner who analyzed the existing installation and found out that the school's energy consumption is with an average of 190 kWh per unified heating degree day or 171 kWh/m². A smart heating solution with 119 MClimate Smart Radiator Thermostats together with 53 temperature, humidity, presence, and CO² sensors connected to the Inyus BMS was completed in June 2022 in the common areas and additional 11 TRVs in 2025 in the class rooms, allowing the regulation of the room temperature individually based on the occupancy, preventing the heating of unoccupied rooms. They’ve also set a schedule for maintaining 20°C when occupied and 16°C when the rooms are empty. Thanks to Vicki's wide compatibility with existing radiators, the installation process was fast, and there was no need for any professional assistance.

For the first heating season after the smart installation from December 2022 to February 2023, the average ratio was 137 kWh/DJU, a significant drop of 24,31% ​​of weather-corrected consumption.

In 2023, consumption is picking up again because the town hall decided to open the school during the holidays for the social centre, and the building was occupied much longer in the year.

In December 2025, energy consumption was 17% lower compared to December 2024, however, the complete data for the 2025/2026 heating season is not yet available.

Ultimately, the energy efficiency of public buildings such as Gohypré Primary School is strongly influenced by occupancy, meaning that energy use and therefore costs can be reduced by adapting the heating to when the buildings are actually used.  

Weather-corrected indicator: kWh / DJU (in kWh/DJU) Difference from last year heating season

2020/2021

146

2021/2022

181

+23.97%

2022/2023
(the year of Vicki TRV installation)

137

−24.31%

2023/2024
(the building is now used during the vacations)

180

+31.39%

2024/2025

188

+4.44%

Results

24.31% energy reduction

in the first heating season

99% compatibility

with old radiators

Up to 10 years

of battery life

Installation

within 24 hours

Gallery

Products in this case study

Vicki LoRaWAN® Smart Radiator Thermostat

Vicki LoRaWAN is a radiator thermostatic valve fully compliant with the LoRaWAN standard. It is the perfect choice for large-scale projects as it offers amazing battery life, RF performance and no maintenance for years as well functionalities such as Child Lock, Detection of opened windows and much more.

Recommended products

MClimate Wireless Thermostat LoRaWAN®

MClimate Wireless Thermostat is a stand-alone thermostat powered entirely by solar energy using an organic solar panel. The device features a 2.9" e-ink screen, sensor for movement (PIR), temperature and humidity sensor, LUX sensor and 3 buttons. The user can change the target temperature and see current indoor conditions. The device sends an uplink after any event as well as periodically.

MClimate HT + PIR lite LoRaWAN®

MClimate HT + PIR lite LoRaWAN® is a device that combines a PIR sensor with temperature and humidity sensors to ensure space indoor climate optimisation and demand-based ventilation. Powered by two AA batteries, the device can operate for up to 15 years under default configuration mode. The data from the HT + PIR can be integrated into any LoRaWAN®-compatible system, including Building Management Systems, and exposed as datapoints in Modbus, BACnet, and KNX systems through a dedicated gateway. The HT + PIR lite operates in LoRaWAN Class A, and like all other MClimate devices, supports FUOTA (Firmware Upgrades Over The Air).

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