How this IoT project is helping the Scottish Highlands cut its carbon emissions
North tasked with transforming care homes, leisure centres and council offices across Highland Council into smart buildings
The Scottish Highlands has turned to tech solutions provider North to deliver a carbon-cutting Internet of Things (IoT) project that will contribute towards Scotland's green energy ambitions.
The £400,000 project between Highland Council and North will see care homes, leisure centres and council offices transformed into smart buildings across the mountainous region.
It will draw on Scotland's National IoT network - IoT Scotland - along with smart IoT sensors to collect data on council buildings. This includes Co2 levels, temperature and humidity, ventilation, electricity consumption and light levels.
While cost reduction was a motivation for the deal, the project is also designed to cut carbon emissions and improve the environment for staff and members of the community.
"This is a great opportunity for Highland Council to embrace future-proofed IoT and data driven technologies, and as we move towards becoming a carbon neutral nation, applications like this will help reduce our carbon footprint, paving a way for Scotland to meet its green energy low carbon ambitions," said Scottish Government Connectivity Minister, Paul Wheelhouse MSP.
The project will mean council-run buildings across the Highlands - which covers a third of Scotland's land mass - can now be monitored from a centralised point across the IoT network, thereby cutting unnecessary journeys.
North - an Aliter Capital-backed IoT and tech solution provider created last October following the merger of five brands - has been tasked with delivering the project across all Highland Council buildings, with the council able to self-install pre-configured IoT sensors to monitor and gather data on building and room usage.
Via the project, the council will be keeping an eye on Co2 levels in classrooms and other buildings. The sensors will also enable the council to analyse the usage pattern of each building and the rooms within it, enabling it to save money and reduce carbon emissions by optimising heating and lighting levels.
"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," Wheelhouse explained.
Alasdair Rettie, group technical director at North, added: "This project is an excellent example of the ways in which IoT technology can transform how we live and work. The Highland Council smart buildings project will not only offer benefits in terms of cost savings and a more sustainable way of working, but will enable the council to provide the public with a better experience whilst gathering the real time data to maintain a healthy and pleasant environment."