Intelligent control systems save energy in apartments

VIP Sähkö, an Instalco subsidiary in Finland, is specialised in the design and installation of electrical solutions for newly constructed apartment buildings. One of the most recent sustainable projects for VIP Sähkö was our installation of a KNX system at a large apartment complex in Helsinki. The solution provides security and also saves energy.

KNX is the global standard for home and property automation to automatically control such things as the lighting, sun protection, security system, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, monitoring, alarms, water and energy consumption.

The customer and housing construction company, Lapti, contracted VIP Sähkö for installation of a complete KNX system for a total of 250 newly constructed apartments owned by three separate housing cooperatives in Helsinki. They were also assigned the task of installing photovoltaic systems that will generate electricity for lighting at the properties.

“These types of smart, energy-saving systems for apartments and condominiums are the future for housing production. The system is self-controlling so that electricity consumption is optimised throughout the day and night, making it as energy efficient as possible,” says Antti Juvonen, CEO at VIP Sähkö.

When a resident leaves the unit, electricity consumption is shut down and the level for ventilation, cooling and heating is simultaneously optimised. The system also has a monitoring function that is available to each resident online. If, for example, there is a water leakage, the ventilation system stops working or some other problem arises, the system will automatically generate an alarm.

For this project, the KNX system from ABB was used and VIP Sähkö installed all of the system’s components and devices. Programming of the system was done in collaboration with ABB.