LOWERING ENERGY COSTS
As stewards of God’s creation, a number of savvy church leaders and managers have realized the need to develop strategies that lower energy costs and improve comfort and operation in many of our nations houses of worship. The benefits are numerous including providing a healthy sacred space as well as protecting God’s creation for current and future generations.
NetworkThermostat is leading the way through simple and powerful solutions that ‘bridge the gap’ between conventional thermostats and large, expensive building control systems. With the networked thermostat, managers can control and monitor a single thermostat, and the entire facility using the PC. Jerry Drew, is the president of NetworkThermostat and leads a team of dedicated professionals towards the goal of “it’s gotta be simple”. Jerry has been a leader in developing and simplifying technology to improve energy efficiency and manage operational resources. Lets look at the facts.
What does the Facility Manager need from the thermostat in terms of different set points? Most conventional programmable stats offer 4 different set points per day. This allows, as an example, 72 F in the morning to provide comfort to the opening of the office, 70F during the day, while activities occur, 72 F in the evening for class work and 68 F at night while closed. This example is considered, in the thermostat industry, to be an average or typical user. However, the reality of facilities is that, due to size and activities that occur, the occupancy schedules can make the standard programmable thermostat, with its rigid scheduling program, useless.
Enter the network thermostat. NetX™ technology brings computerized networking to thermostats much like local area network (LAN) technology brought cost effective networking to the PC. By providing very simple and powerful controls, the Facility Manager operates the thermostat just as any other conventional thermostat placed on the wall. The distinct difference between NetX™ thermostats and a conventional thermostat is communications. The thermostat can be approached and adjusted, just like any electronic thermostat.
CONTROL FROM YOUR PC
The network thermostat system allows the Facility Manager to review all thermostats in the facility right on the office PC, and to control and monitor events and decide, based on activities, what temperature levels to maintain. The advantages are an unparalleled level of customization and energy savings. These attributes are especially popular considering the volatility and continued escalation of energy prices.
TESTIMONIALS– Church of the Rock
Pastor of Operations, Duane Masters, of Church of the Rock in Winnipeg, Manitoba has installied a customized NetX™ system in his 90,000-foot facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba. “In managing a large sanctuary and many classrooms we found that often we were cooling or heating areas that were unused, sometimes for days. Congregants would increase or decrease the temperature and not return to a standard, and the system would be left on. We needed a system that would easily monitor every area of our building, provide a simple way to maximize daily comfort and ensure energy savings The NetX™ system met all those needs, and the added bonus was the ease of installation.”
Legacy Christian Church
Jamie Schools of Legacy Christian Church in Overland Park, Kansas found the installation seamless, and the outstanding customer service and on-site training to be invaluable. “We are faced daily with increases to utility costs and the impact that electric utility deregulation and higher energy prices will have on our bottom line. We are realizing savings already”.
Colonial Baptist Church
The Colonial Baptist Church in North Carolina has also installed the NetX system this year. Facility Engineer Justin Barrett is responsible for maintaining the 160,000 square feet, which spans five buildings that are interconnected. “The installation was straightforward and simple, and once everything was wired we had a working system up and running on our office computer” Phase 1 of the system was installed in March and the savings are twofold. “I have peace of mind knowing that the AC’s are shutting off in a timely manner, but more importantly we have reduced equipment runtime. We had a number of mechanical failures which resulted in freezing and water damage, this no longer occurs so we have realized energy, equipment and labor reductions in the first 6 months.”
Northwest Christian Church
Simple Operation—controlled by your office PC, you have all the information at your fingertips. Exceptional Convenience – eliminating the need for individual programming and resetting of thermostats saves time. Energy Savings— the temperature settings are customized within the system for our facility – which immediately delivers increased energy savings. Ed Carter of the Northwest Christian Church in Georgia states these features and benefits adding a final point “My staff and I have peace of mind knowing that our system is operating optimally, whether we are in the building or not” .
AWARD WINNING COMPANY
Frost & Sullivan selected Jerry Drew, founder of XCI Corporation (XCI is an earlier iteration of NetworkThermostat) as the recipient of the 2006 Frost & Sullivan Award for Entrepreneurial Company of the Year in the North American thermostats market for its success in a competitive market. The Award recognizes the company’s initiative and calculated risk-taking in succeeding in the market despite its small size. NetX™ keen market insight enabled it to recognize the promise held by networked or communicating thermostats at a time when few had an inkling of its potential. This early-mover advantage allowed NetX™ to expand its business and even out-position larger competitors in winning new construction contracts. NetX™ is also the winner of WFX 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 New Product Awards, which recognizes the most innovative new products in a variety of categories.
The team of NetX™ continues to expand its product portfolio, and to work with customers to create user friendly interfaces that provide energy savings without the initial cost prohibitive investment. As an active member of Irving Bible Church, in Irving, Texas Jerry Drew states “ We will continue to innovate new products reflecting our responsibility and joy in maintaining God’s creation for all.”
You should look into network thermostats if…
- You have been under pressure to reduce energy use
- Your system relies on locked manual thermostats
- Your system consists of labor intensive programmable thermostats
- You want remote control of all individual rooms in your church
- Your current control system requires extensive computer skills and can only be operated by a few people on staff
- You have rejected a building automation system because it is too costly