Honeywell releases thermostat designed to keep worshipers cool in mosques

Honeywell, a U.S.-based heating and air conditioning manufacturer, is now marketing the VisionPRO 8000 thermostat, which has been designed specifically for mosques.

The company set out to design a special thermostat to meet the challenge of cooling mosques as they often house large and open interior spaces, which means they are particularly energy-intensive to cool.

Ensuring a comfortable but energy-efficient environment for five daily prayer times is a challenge across the warm Middle East region, a challenge Honeywell aimed to solve.

Honeywell’s VisionPRO 8000 thermostat is equipped with a GPS enabled call-to-prayer feature called ‘auto-azan,’ which detects prayer times according to the mosque’s location and automatically lowers temperatures during crowded peak times. The thermostat saves energy when the building is unoccupied.

The new technology comes as there is growing focus in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on more environmentally conscious living. With more than five thousand mosques in the UAE alone, the VisionPRO 8000 thermostat could save enormous amounts of energy annually.

“We designed this product with our customers in mind,” Dilip Sinha, regional business leader for Honeywell Middle East, said. “We observed how they used their thermostats and measured the ebb and flow of worshippers as well as the temperatures required to ensure optimal comfort."

The thermostat successfully completed pilot testing in the UAE over the last year and is now available on the market.