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Fortum: Helping households save costs by optimizing heating

Around the world, the need to make buildings more energy efficient and reduce CO2 emissions is becoming increasingly important. One significant way to achieve this is to give building inhabitants new ways to more precisely monitor their temperature and humidity – and give accurate, timely feedback to energy providers.

The challenge

In the Fortum case, a way was sought to optimize the entire heating system, not only according to the current outdoor temperature but also based on a building’s indoor temperature and humidity.

From an idea to concept and valuable service

The starting point for this project was in June of 2016, as part of Fortum’s accelerator program, which provides a framework to conceptualize, design and test new services in a lean and customer-centric way. The potential of digital services to provide a significant differentiator in competition with other heating methods was identified, and it was noted that, when done correctly, digital services could enable significant customer value that would otherwise be unattainable.

Outcomes and impact

  • 15 000apartments using the service*

    *Fortum SmartLiving Lämmityksen optimoint
  • 10%average savings per year

What we did

Futurice and Fortum used the Lean Service Creation (LSC) methodology to co-create a successful energy optimization service. The project began with validating the end user problem as one worth solving. After the first concept was defined, it was immediately validated with the end users and then moved forward to build an Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which included both the initial design and development phases of a mobile web application.

The concept was based on project partner company’s Leanheat optimization product. The result is a service that allows each end user to monitor and adjust their building’s climate and send timely, accurate feedback. With this solution, the entire heating system can now be optimized, not only according to the outdoor temperature but also based on a building’s indoor temperature and humidity.

Fortum Smart Living App small image

How it works

  • Installation

    Fortum SmartLiving meter is installed.

  • Monitoring

    The household residents can monitor the temperature and humidity of the apartment with a mobile interface.

  • Optimization

    The temperature and humidity can be optimized with the Leanheat optimatization product.

The best thing about the service is that the heating costs for our building have decreased by 13% in less than a year.
Satu Lind
As Oy Espoon Kilonhovi

Extension after successs

After very positive feedback Fortum decided to scale the initial service to include not just building residents, but also housing companies that are responsible for apartment management and maintenance. In this second phase, building managers are provided with regular reports that offer an overview of their entire housing company heating profile, including both the current situation and also the historical data.

The service is now available to approximately 15,000 homes in Finland, Poland and Norway. This strong growth is expected to continue, and the service will be expanded by introducing new features such as water consumption monitoring.

Fortum Smart Living is a completely new type of household service that easily scales. Installing the Smart Living sensors takes just minutes and requires no actions from the customer.
Anne Salonen
Development Manager, Fortum

Why it matters

This Futurice client solution is significant for a number of reasons. In this project we, together with Fortum and Leanheat, created a service that brings interior climate control closer to end users, while also helping to save on heating costs. Additionally, it both gives residents enhanced transparency and control, and provides Fortum with an additional competitive edge and greener social image.

The service enables value chain optimization from residents and apartments to heat production and choice of fuel supply.

young children with guardian reading in inside tent

About Fortum

Fortum is a leading clean-energy company providing customers with electricity, heating and cooling, as well as smart solutions for improving resource efficiency. Headquartered in Espoo, Finland, Fortum also provides services for the power generation sector, and solutions for consumers so that allows them to make smarter, more well-informed energy choices.

Fortum employs around 9,000 professionals in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, Poland and India. In 2018, their sales were EUR 5.2 billion and 57% of their electricity generation was CO2 free. Fortum's share is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.

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