Panasonic and Schneider Electric partner to expediate the future of heating

With consumer demand for heat pumps at an all-time high, Panasonic has partnered with Drayton by Schneider Electric to offer its Wiser room-by-room heating control system. Seamlessly integrating with Panasonic Aquarea Air Source Heat Pumps and the Aquarea Smart Cloud and Service Cloud apps, the Wiser system provides an additional element of energy control and simple home automation.

This new partnership will allow installers of Panasonic’s Aquarea air source heat pumps to offer their customers room-by-room heating control by fitting Wiser with the Aquarea system. The combination of smart controls will help make homes as energy efficient as possible by bringing different electrical devices under the control of one app, helping homeowners to lower their bills and reduce their carbon footprint.

Wiser can be set up in the usual way with the Panasonic Aquarea heat pump, enabling installers to easily create multi-zone systems, where heating is easily remotely controlled room-by-room. Customers will be able to monitor and easily adjust the heating in each room and via any web-enabled device, including Android and iOS applications and Internet browsers. The app will enable users to eliminate unnecessary heating thanks to Wiser’s smart modes. For example, activating Away Mode when a property is unoccupied helps to reduce energy consumption.

Left to right - Mark Murton, Richard Bishop, Paul Taylor, Jeremy Palmer & Vincent Mahoney.

Remi Volpe, Managing Director at Drayton, said: “In order for a Net Zero home to be achieved, different technologies are going to be required to work together to optimise their performance. This is particularly important when it comes to the heating system and this new partnership with Panasonic is one that will enable us to develop Wiser into a full home-automation solution. Phase 1 sees the integration of Wiser with Panasonic’s low carbon Aquarea heat pump, and future phases will see the capabilities of the Wiser Home app expanded to include other Panasonic devices, such as lighting and electrical appliances.”

Richard Bishop, Head of Marketing for UK and Ireland at Panasonic, added: “Here at Panasonic, we place great importance on forging ethical partnerships that align with our core values. This is why we are incredibly excited to be working with Schneider Electric; another manufacturer that is driving change when it comes to low carbon living. This integration will further provide homeowners more control over each room in their homes, as well as additional access to detailed insights, which will enable them to make more informed decisions, at a time when keeping energy usage under control is more important than ever.”

When installed together, heating engineers can easily select Panasonic as a ‘Partner Connection’ within the Wiser Home app, unlocking new Insight capabilities, available exclusively to Panasonic Aquarea heat pump users. Within the dedicated Insights page, homeowners will be able to see the temperatures in each room or individual zone.

Users will benefit from all the features of the Panasonic Smart Cloud App, such as scheduling and access to a detailed breakdown of the system’s energy consumption from 60 minutes to 7 days and ability to schedule the settings to ensure a constant and comfortable temperature throughout. This can help end users compare space utilisation and adjust the system so that energy is not wasted.

The Wiser Control System displayed at this year’s InstallerSHOW.

Aquarea Air to Water Heat Pump Range

The Panasonic Aquarea range of heat pumps is known for being a highly efficient solution, utilising the air as a 100% renewable energy source to provide heating, cooling and domestic hot water. The latest Aquarea heat pumps use R32 refrigerant for increased savings and better environmental results. R32 is easy to recycle, has zero impact on the ozone layer and 75% less impact on global warming, helping to lower the carbon footprint of residential homes. The Aquarea range is rated A+++ in low temperature operation, which is the highest energy class, according to the new Energy Labelling Directive 2010/30/EC.

The Aquarea range is extensive and includes the Aquarea High Performance, Aquarea T-CAP and Aquarea HT Ranges offering a heat pump solution to suit most UK’s homes whatever the size and requirements for heating and hot water production.  Visit www.aircon.panasonic.eu/GB_en/ranges/aquarea

The average household in the UK emits 2.7 tonnes of CO2 every year[1] from heating alone. Switching to air to water heat pumps to provide heating to our homes could help lower housing emissions significantly, plus residents can save on their fuel bills. Air to water heat pumps is the future for the housing sector and an essential step in challenging the climate change problem.

With a change in culture, many companies are now working together to bring alternative technologies to market in a collaborative approach such as this new partnership between Panasonic and Schneider Electric, to provide housebuilders, housing associations and consumers alike to share knowledge, testing and the ability to replicate success with renewable technologies for efficient and cost-effective heating and cooling solutions.

A Panasonic Aquarea monobloc installed at a 3 bedroom semi-detached home.

Panasonic has additionally partnered with a number of affordable housing developers to test and understand how to make homes of all sizes more energy efficient and affordable for all for both retrofit and new build projects.

A commitment to challenge climate change is something that Panasonic has at the top of its agenda. The company invests significantly in R&D and is well-known for its innovative technology and sustainable products. The constantly evolving Panasonic Aquarea range of air to water heat pumps is an example and is key to delivering the ‘Panasonic Environmental Vision for 2050’, to help home reduce emissions from heating and cooling. Panasonic’s range of innovative low carbon heat pump solutions are reliable, deliver energy-efficient and cost-effective for residential and commercial markets.

Panasonic is hugely passionate about the environment and believe they can help the UK housing sector meet its low carbon targets by supporting and advising social housing providers and developers both for new builds and retrofit. Switching technologies from traditional systems powered by Mains Gas, Oil or LPG to an Air Source Heat Pump such as the Panasonic Aquarea Range, can deliver significant cost savings, to heating performance.

For more information, please contact a member of the team via emailing uk-aircon@eu.panasonic.com or visit www.aircon.panasonic.eu/GB_en

[1] https://citu.co.uk/citu-live/what-is-the-carbon-footprint-of-a-house/