Forced-air heating systems lose a meaningful share of their energy before it ever reaches a student — heat escapes through ductwork, is lost reheating air that leaks out under doors, and is wasted warming ceiling space no one occupies.
Far-infrared panels convert electrical energy to radiant heat at approximately 98% efficiency, and because that heat is absorbed directly by bodies and surfaces rather than air, very little of it is lost to convection or leakage.
In practice, this means studios can often run infrared panels at a lower thermostat setting than an equivalent forced-air system while achieving the same felt warmth during class — directly reducing kilowatt-hour consumption across a full class schedule.
Zoned WiFi and Zigbee thermostat control (covered in more detail in our controls guide) compounds these savings further, allowing studios to schedule pre-heating only ahead of booked classes rather than running heating continuously through the day.
For studios evaluating the switch, we typically recommend comparing 12 months of existing heating costs against the manufacturer's published wattage and coverage figures for the panel configuration your floor plan requires — most studios see the payback period land well within the panel's 20-year service life.