The installed lighting load in the manufacturing and workshop areas of Task Displays in Leicester has been reduced by 44% with the support of a Carbon Trust loan. Task Displays operates from 3700 m2 premises in Leicester and supplies most of the UK’s major shopping centres with bespoke displays for individual retail outlets or across a wide chain of stores.

All Four Seasons, which specialises in air conditioning and heat pumps, has devised an approach to producing domestic hot water by utilising heat that would otherwise be rejected by air-conditioning systems. Called Eco Hot Box, the system can be retrofitted to many existing systems — including splits and VRF systems.

Carbon-dioxide emissions from a village hall in Devon are expected to be reduced by 9 t a year following the installation of 100 solar photo-voltaic modules that will produce about 16.5 MWh of electricity a year. Becosolar installed the 180 W monocrystalline solar modules on the existing slated roof of Rattery Village Hall following a site assessment by Devon Association of Renewable Energy.

As the country steps up efforts to tackle the sustainability of existing buildings, offsite pre-fabrication of building-services modules is set to play an increasingly important role, says Paul Cooper.

Every building that exists today needs to reduce its energy consumption by 30% by 2020 to meet the Government target of reducing energy consumption by 20%. David Lewis suggests how.

Replacing aging boilers with modern, high-efficiency models can make a huge dent on carbon emissions — with much shorter payback periods than renewable technologies. Richard Evans explains why boilers have a much longer shelf life than some are suggesting.

To provide energy-efficient supply and extract ventilation for the refurbishment of Oxford City Council’s Northway Community Centre, Vent-Axia has supplied its Sentinel Totus D-ERV demand energy-recovery system. The upgrade to the centre involved moving and changing the use of existing committee rooms and creating a new IT hub. As a result, two new internal rooms were created, one for child-focused activities and a large meeting room — and both required upgraded ventilation.

The installation of solar photo-voltaic panels on affordable homes in Huddersfield has proved even more energy efficient than Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing and supplier Photon Energy expected.

Enjoying the energy-saving benefits of adding variable-speed pumps to existing systems requires modifications to the system. Wayne Rose shares some ideas.

Electricity costs for lighting the Isambard Brunel car park in Portsmouth has been nearly halved following the installation of new energy-efficient lamps in existing fittings using the Save It Easy Device from Energys. The reduction in electricity costs is £17 573 a year, representing 87 t of carbon.

Osram has developed a way to replace T8 36 W fluorescent lamps and control gear with LED technology. T8 Substitute externally resembles a fluorescent tube and can be installed without any changes to the luminaire — except replacing the starter — and achieve energy savings up to 50%.

Keeping energy consumption under control should be a continuous process. Mike Reilly shares his experiences of 20 years’ involvement with the London School of Economics.

Refurbishment projects present an ideal opportunity to address the energy performance of our existing building stock. Ant Wilson stresses that an holistic view is necessary to help meet Government targets for reducing carbon emissions.

Implementing the recommendations of an air-conditioning inspection carried out by Efficient Air last year has improved the energy performance of the Eland House headquarters of the CLG by 12.6%. The energy saving is 662 MWh a year, valued at £41 000. CO2 emissions are calculated to have been reduced by 250 t.

Not only will a new VRF air-conditioning system in the University of Sheffield’s S10health fitness centre achieve significant energy savings compared to the previous system but it will also meet increased cooling demands.

Chilled ceilings and beams can often provide effective comfort cooling when refurbishing existing buildings — as John Staunton explains.

Existing 27-year-old boilers at Ashville College in Harrogate have been replaced with Buderus condensing boilers to meet the heating requirements of the entire senior-school building. The two GB312 boilers have an output of 200 kW and replace two 300 kW cast-iron boilers.

A failing Victorian heating system in a church at Penwortham near Preston has been replaced with a modern boiler-based system using two Remeha Quinta 65 boilers.

By eliminating the cycling of boilers to compensate for standing heat losses, Sabien Technology’s M2G controller can reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by 10 to 25%, depending on site conditions and applications.

To meet the particular requirements of refurbishment projects, Advanced Ergonomic Technologies has launched an all-air VAV underfloor air-conditioning systems

When refurbishing, new boilers can provide a reliable means of reducing carbon emissions and savings on energy costs says Bob Walsh.