Guru Reside: using IoT and machine learning to combat poor health outcomes by improving the thermal efficiency and indoor air quality of dwellings

We know that cold houses [increase mortality and respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity][0], while poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) further affects the health outcomes of occupants, [particularly those related to Covid-19][1]. With the social and economic impacts of Covid-19 leading to changing patterns of domestic housing use, now more than ever the question of the quality of the UK's housing stock is one of inequality and social justice. Currently, there is little to no verification of the thermal efficiency or of the IAQ performance of dwellings as-built. Lax standards and poor inspection by contractors often mean real performance of new housing and deep energy efficiency retrofits is not what was promised, but no data on where the problems are means housing managers don't know where to focus attention. Guru Reside will solve these problems by providing landlords real-time visibility and intelligent risk alerting on the thermal and IAQ performance of their properties. This will enable them to take a preventative approach to the maintenance of their building stock, predicting issues such as mould formation before they occur, reducing maintenance costs, and ensuring any interventions deliver the results they promised, all the while improving the health outcomes of residents. The project will utilise Guru's new hardware, the Hub III Core, that enables the integration of third-party hardware and sensors into Guru's existing network and data infrastructure on residential sites. This in turn allows us to provide our clients with additional tools to monitor and manage their dwellings using this existing infrastructure reducing the investment needed. Leading the project, Guru Systems delivers market-leading hardware and data analytics platforms for heat networks, improving performance for developers, heat suppliers and customers. Guru is joined by Fairheat, who bring their expertise on heating systems, and The Monomoy Company providing expertise around IAQ analysis and sensor technology. Heat networks are of particular interest to the question of thermal efficiency and IAQ. As a fundamental part of the UK's strategy to meet the decarbonisation target, the proportion of UK heating delivered over heat networks is projected to rise from 2% to 20% by 2050\. Guru Reside will improve the IAQ and thermal efficiency of dwellings by bringing together a team of experts to develop a low cost, data-driven solution to manage the performance of the dwellings under their management that leverages Guru's existing expertise, technology platform and client base. [0]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK535294/ [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/climate/climate-pollution-coronavirus-lungs.html