Highland Council is beginning to use internet of things (IoT) sensors to monitor and gather data on factors connected to its use of buildings and rooms.
It is running the £400,000 project with IoT service and solutions provider North, utilising the IoT Scotland network with sensors that measure CO2 levels, temperature and humidity, ventilation, electricity consumption and light levels.
It plans to use the data within its analytics platform to reduce costs and cut emissions, while improving the environment in building such as care homes and schools.
North has supplied its data enablement platform that decodes, stores, visualises and shares information from the sensors.
This will also feed into plans for the maintenance, heating and lighting of each building.
European funding
Highland Council’s chair of the economy and infrastructure committee, Councillor Trish Robertson, said: “We are delighted to be working with North on a smart building – smart cities project which has been procured with the assistance of funding from the European Rural Development Fund.
“North have supplied us with a large number of monitoring devices which will allow us to monitor activity in our large estate and inform decisions on how to manage our buildings in a more energy efficient way. Alongside the hardware supplied, North have also been very proactive in supplying training and technical support to our project team.”
Scottish Government Connectivity Minister Paul Wheelhouse MSP said: “Across the Highlands, the Scottish Government funded IoT Scotland network offers a range of cost-effective sensor solutions which has a massive impact on public service delivery in some of the remotest parts of Scotland.”
Image: Inverness at dusk, from The Big Partnership
