Smart thermostat company receives CEFC funding

Energy management solution provider Zen Ecosystems is set to receive $5 million funding from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).

The equity investment from CEFC through its Innovation Fund will assist the company in further development and deployment of the Zen HQ and Zen Thermostat products.

Innovation Fund Executive Director Ben Gust said the technology innovations and behind-the-meter management solutions offered by Zen Ecosystems could unlock major opportunities for reducing energy consumption for retailers, hotels and motels, schools, universities, car dealerships and fast food outlets. “Traditionally, energy usage has been controlled by building management systems, which are usually only cost effective for large or industrial-use buildings,” Gust said.

Zen Ecosystems’ intelligent energy management solutions are said to help businesses save up to 25% on their energy consumption. “Zen HQ is designed for smaller footprint businesses as a low-cost, easy-to-use cloud platform for managing energy-intensive assets across single and multiple sites.

CEFC Transaction Lead Kristin Vaughan added, “Heating and cooling are typically responsible for around 40% of total building energy consumption, representing significant energy costs for businesses and consumers.

“We see there is enormous scope for innovative clean energy technologies such as these, which can help businesses achieve significant energy savings by managing their own consumption as well as lowering their carbon footprint.

“This technology also opens the way for individual users to participate in demand response initiatives, contributing to the continued stability and reliability of our energy system.”

The core products of Zen Ecosystems are the Zen Thermostat and Zen HQ. The Zen Thermostat is a smart thermostat that allows homes to remotely control and reduce their energy consumption.

Zen Ecosystems was recently named one of the Fast Company World’s Most Innovative Companies in the energy industry, highlighting its ability to help businesses more intelligently manage their HVAC and lighting systems to reduce energy consumption.

Zen Ecosystems CEO James McPhail said, “There are huge market segments, including retail chains with large portfolios of small to medium-sized buildings, crying out for smart, simple control of HVAC systems to reduce energy, peak load and maintenance costs, and Zen HQ is a simple and affordable solution to meet those needs.”

In Australia, Zen HQ is already being used by commercial customers such as the RACV, while the Zen Thermostat is part of the Telstra Smart Home range. Further development is underway to enhance compatibility across the broad range of heating and cooling systems used in the Australian market.

Zen Ecosystems is one of eight companies working with ARENA and AEMO as part of a demand response project which aims to remove electricity load from the grid and to keep energy supplies stable, reliable and affordable during periods of peak demand. As part of the project, Zen Ecosystems will deploy a network of connected, smart thermostats in commercial buildings and households in Victoria and South Australia. The network will be able to be controlled by the Zen HQ cloud platform, allowing for the adjustment of set points of heating and cooling to reduce energy consumption when AEMO calls a demand response event.

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