A University spinout company tipped as the UK’s brightest home tech startup, and winner of the 2013 British Gas Connected Homes competition, has been acquired by Quby, Europe’s leading developer of smart thermostats and energy displays. Joulo, co-founded by Southampton’s Dr Reuben Wilcock and Professor Alex Rogers, develops smart energy monitoring technology that delivers insight into heating systems, allowing customers to save money on their energy bills and make their homes more comfortable. In an initial trial of 750 users of the Joulo logger, potential annual savings in excess of £50,000 were identified.
The logger, which can be sent in the post and activated by the simple push of a button, sits on top of a thermostat collecting temperature data.
“From that, it builds a simple thermal model of how your home responds to the heating system,” explains Alex. “Once we have that model, we can do “what if” analysis. We have developed algorithms that can look at thermal data and make inferences as to how the home is doing and how much energy you would save if you made changes like better insulation.”
The acquisition of Joulo provides Quby with both the logger and the advanced algorithms to add to its portfolio. Alex and Reuben continue to work with Quby as they take Joulo to market across Europe.
