By using sensors in our buildings, we can collaborate with our customers to develop our campus areas and learning environments, creating a more attractive campus experience for students and staff. With the help of sensors, we learn more about how the buildings are used, and the aggregated data can be used to make data-driven decisions to optimize space utilization, reduce energy consumption, and improve indoor climate.
What can sensors help with?
By analyzing attendance data and universities' own data on the booking rates of lecture halls, we can see if booked rooms are actually being used. Tests that Akademiska Hus has conducted together with the universities show that using this information can lead to simple scheduling adjustments, thereby increasing room utilization by 20-30 percent.
With the help of the sensors' occupancy data, we can create more consistent temperatures in the buildings by adjusting ventilation and heating more efficiently.
In the future, we also hope to provide easily accessible information about where on campus there are available study spaces or group rooms.
How the sensors work
On the campuses where Akademiska Hus installs sensors, it is always done in close collaboration with the universities and colleges.
Personal privacy always comes first when sensors are installed on campus. The sensors detect if someone enters a room and measure, for example, room temperature, humidity, light intensity, and/or movement using passive IR technology.
From some sensors, we also get an estimate of how many people are in the premises, showing which areas and rooms are popular. Most of our sensors do not collect data that can be traced to any individual. Where sensor data, in combination with other information, constitutes personal data, we comply with GDPR and other applicable laws and regulations. Specific information about the processing of sensor data that constitutes personal data is available for each university and is provided by the university. A copy can also be obtained via gdpr@akademiskahus.se.