Monitoring the Present, Preserving the Past: How Tinytag Powers Energy Management in Buildings Old and New

From the soaring skyscrapers of Saudi Arabia to the stone-built farmhouses of rural France, the challenges of energy efficiency span cultures, climates, and construction types. But whether it’s a smart city rising from the desert or a centuries-old chateau, the path to better building performance begins in the same place: with reliable data.

For over 40 years, Gemini Data Loggers, the British company behind Tinytag, has been helping organisations around the world monitor, manage, and reduce their energy use. Today, Tinytag devices are trusted by engineers, consultants, facilities managers, and conservationists alike to track the real-world conditions that affect everything from operating costs to occupant wellbeing and long-term asset performance.

Ahead of this year’s EMEX Show (19–20 November, ExCel London), we’re shining a spotlight on two very different Tinytag use cases: one cutting-edge, the other steeped in history, to show how our suite of data loggers is quietly enabling progress in the built environment, no matter the setting.

Facilities at Scale: Managing Smart Buildings in Saudi Arabia

In the heart of Riyadh, Douglas Noon, a Facilities Management Consultant with CNS Ltd, is helping bring a smart city to life. As part of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is developing entire city districts, like Murabba from scratch, with ambitious energy and sustainability goals baked into the infrastructure from day one.

Douglas’s role is to ensure that once construction ends, the building systems and operational workflows are optimised for long-term performance. That includes setting up platforms like IBM Maximo for asset management and mapping out comprehensive Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) schedules using standards like SFG20.

“We’re getting the buildings set up on Maximo and sorting out all the preventative maintenance strategies in advance,” explains Douglas. “Energy savings within buildings is a big part of what I focus on.”

To do this effectively, Douglas relies on a toolkit of trusted technologies and front and centre are his Tinytag data loggers.

Plug-and-Play Monitoring with Global Portability

Douglas has purchased and personally deployed over 20 Tinytag USB data loggers, using them on projects across Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and the UK, including in NHS hospitals and national museums.

“They’re just so simple to use,” he says. “The software is excellent. You can set them up in seconds, whether you’re pulling data in every few minutes or every hour.”

For Douglas, the key is speed and flexibility. With Tinytag Explorer software, he’s able to download data, generate reports, and build technical audits or SOPs with minimal fuss. A critical advantage in fast-moving environments where downtime is expensive and decision-making needs to be backed by data.

“I’ve introduced them into multiple organisations now,” he adds. “Everywhere I go, I tend to tell people all about them.”

Conservation Meets Climate Control: Safeguarding Historic Buildings in France

On the other end of the built environment spectrum, David Bourguignon, an Energy Transition Consultant based in rural France, is focused on buildings that pre-date smart technology, often by several centuries.

David works with local authorities and homeowners near Fontainebleau, helping them protect and adapt historically significant rural buildings for modern use. These include 19th-century farmhouses, chateaux outbuildings, and bread ovens that may not be officially listed but are nonetheless culturally valuable.

Unlike new builds, these properties often lack insulation, HVAC systems, or climate control but that doesn’t mean they can’t be comfortable, energy-efficient, and well-preserved.

Passive Design with Measured Intelligence

David’s strategy is all about passive design: changing how buildings are used and ventilated instead of relying on mechanical interventions. But to implement this effectively, he first needs to understand how the building behaves naturally, and that’s where Tinytag temperature and humidity loggers come in.

“Before doing any modelling, we should start by measuring and monitoring,” says David. “Tinytag gives me that essential ‘rest state’, a real sense of how these rooms breathe throughout the year.”

By deploying Tinytags in strategic locations, David builds a “climate landscape” of each structure, identifying which rooms naturally stabilise and which are prone to spikes in humidity or temperature. This insight enables him to propose simple, low-cost changes in building use that improve comfort, reduce energy demand, and protect vulnerable materials.

“What I love is that Tinytag gives me exactly what I need without overcomplicating things,” he adds. “For people who are comfortable with digital tools, it’s an ideal choice: affordable, practical, and made in Europe.”

One System, Many Use Cases

While Douglas and David operate in vastly different environments, their challenges and solutions are remarkably similar. Both rely on Tinytag to deliver:

• Accurate, dependable data on temperature and humidity
• Compact, discreet form factors for sensitive or hard-to-reach areas
• Easy deployment without complicated infrastructure or training
• Straightforward software that makes analysis quick and actionable
   

This versatility makes Tinytag a perfect fit for a wide range of professionals across energy, FM, heritage, and engineering.

From USB to Energy Loggers: Monitoring with Momentum

While USB-based temperature and humidity logging remains a core use case, many organisations, particularly those in commercial estates or infrastructure management, are now combining these environmental insights with power usage data.

That’s why at EMEX 2025, Tinytag will be placing special emphasis on the Tinytag Energy Logger.

Tinytag Energy Logger: A Perfect Partner for Heat Pump and HVAC Projects

For professionals working with heat pumps, HVAC systems, or CHP units, the Tinytag Energy Logger offers real-time three-phase energy monitoring. Used alongside temperature loggers, it gives a full picture of both system performance and consumption patterns.

In Douglas’s own words:

“Energy savings within buildings is a big part of what I focus on.”

Whether you’re monitoring return flow temperatures, thermal comfort, or power draw across systems, pairing Tinytag’s temperature and humidity loggers, and Energy Loggers provides a holistic view of how efficiently buildings are running and where improvements can be made.

British-Made. Globally Proven.

Gemini Data Loggers has been designing and manufacturing Tinytag products in the UK since 1984. With over four decades of experience, we understand that performance, reliability, and usability are the foundation of any great monitoring system.

All Tinytag products are backed by:

• Dedicated, in-house customer support during office hours and an extensive online knowledgebase.
• Calibration services to standard, manufacture-traceable points, or to more stringent compliance standards with UKAS calibration through our partner company, Valcomm.
• Powerful data analysis software with built-in charting and reporting capabilities.
• Proven results across public and private sector buildings worldwide.
   

See Tinytag in Action at EMEX 2025

From private houses and smart cities to conservation projects and council buildings, Tinytag data loggers are helping professionals tackle real-world energy challenges, with data that’s trusted, actionable, and built to last.

Join us at EMEX on 19–20 November at ExCel London, Stand B90, and explore how Tinytag can support your organisation's energy efficiency strategy, whether you're designing the future or preserving the past.

Learn more: www.geminidataloggers.com