Engineering a low-cost solution for wasteful radiator-based heating systems

Marshall Cox – Founder

mpc2139@columbia.edu
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 Team
Marshall Cox, PhD Candidate
• First non-founding employee of QD Vision
• Holds 6 US patents

John Sarik, PhD Candidate

• Established NYC hardware hacker
• Expert in DIY electronics for education,
rapid prototyping, and energy harvesting

Prof. John Kymissis

• Professor of Electrical Engineering, PI of CLUE
• Consultant for founding of QD Vision, a MIT-
based startup

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• Radiator-heated apartments are notorious for poor temperature control

• Apartment heating efficiencies vary dramatically

• Regulations in NYC require that apartments be kept at 68° minimum at all times

These three conditions combine to result in

uncomfortable tenants and unnecessarily high energy bills

My Apartment before RadLab

0 12 hours 24 hours 36 hours

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Can radiator heating systems become more like modern systems?

RadLab radiator retrofit:

• Radiator is enveloped by an insulating media

• Heat is distributed to room by fans

• Temperature is monitored and logged wirelessly

My Apartment after RadLab

0 2 Days 4 Days 4
 Smart Heating System

Apt. A Apt. B Apt. C

Boiler Room
• More efficient heat transfer past “hot” apartments to “cold” apartments
• No unnecessary boiler firing
• “Problem” apartment diagnosis with data analytics 5
The RadLab system saves energy by keeping the temperature of apartments
at comfortable levels and communicating temperature data to the central
boiler. As a result, windows stay closed and the boiler only has to fire when
apartments call for heat. System intelligence can optimize the heat
distribution throughout a building for efficiency and comfort.

Example apartment overheated to 80F

• 0.02 BTU/hr x 1 ft3 = 1 degree F / hour
• 10 degrees F / hour = .2 BTU / hour x 1ft3
• Average apartment size 700ft2 * 9ft ceilings ~= 6000ft3
 3000BTUs / hour saved
 Savings

• $1600/year to heat a 700ft2 apartment (NYSERDA)

• 15% of that energy is wasted because of overheating (GreeningABlock.org)
• 2 million apartments in NYC in building of 5 or more units (target demographic)
• Conserving this energy would save NYC residents $480 million every year
• Conserving this energy is equivalent to taking 500,000 cars off the road
• Conserving this energy saves $240 per apartment every year

Using preliminary cost estimates,

payback period less than 1 year

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 Emissions
• 2 million apartments in NYC in building of 5 or more units (target demographic)
• Conserving 15% of this energy is equivalent to saving 34 million BTU / year
• Conserving this energy would remove 3,250 metric tons of SO2 from the air / year
• Conserving this energy would remove 375 metric tons of PM2.5 from the air / year
• Conserving this energy would remove 2.5 million metric tons of CO2 from the air / year

Emissions Savings per 700ft2 Apt

• BTU’s 17m
• SO2 3lbs
• PM2.5 0.4lbs
• CO2 3000lbs

15% reduction / square foot apartment space

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 Achievements

• Provisional patent filed through CU

• Proof of concept in my apartment

Apartment-installed system: installation takes

minutes and conforms to existing enclosures

Next Steps
• Pilot Study:
• Cluster of apartments that share 1 heating line
• Funding to cover hardware, installation, and maintenance
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