How much you benefit from the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme depends on how you sell your products and services says John Nicholls.

Despite the inevitable confusion surrounding the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, Jim O’Neil believes it can still play a major role in delivering vital carbon and energy savings, but the money has to be right.

The most important question to ask when a pump needs to be replaced is if there an opportunity to replace with a variable-speed option that will work only as hard as its needs to — according to Grundfos, and giving the potential to save up to 80% of the energy that would be required by a fixed-speed counterpart.

T-mac technologies has teamed up with the Environmental Technology Centre ETC at the University of Nottingham to showcase energy-reducing technology via its interactive web site (URL below). ETC offers energy advice to businesses and now has a custom-made t-mac automatic-meter-reading dashboard to its web site. The device meters energy generated from its water-source heat pump in its demonstration centre and is available for everyone to see.

An energy-saving device that enables escalators to run 30% more efficiently can be fitted to existing escalators. The Ecolator is available from Pickerings Lifts and will also prolong the life of the escalator by reducing wear and tear. It can be fitted overnight, so there is no disruption to business.

Potterton Commercial has introduced a high-output steel pressure-jet oil-fired boiler with condensing capability. The LogoCondense boiler is teamed up with CarboCondense, a patented carbon heat exchanger that can safely and efficiently condense and clean the boiler’s flue gases. The company says that there is currently no other oil-fired boiler on the market with the carbon heat exchanger that is needed for this type of boiler to operate in condensing mode.

The savings that can be achieved by converting a direct-on-line motor to variable-speed control can be assessed using a free slide rule from ABB. The first stage is to select the power of the direct-on-line motor, and its typical running costs and energy consumption are revealed in a window. Turning the slide rule over shows the effect of applying a variable speed drive under a wide range of conditions.

Claridge’s in London has achieved a 30% reduction in the cost of kitchen ventilation following the installation of two 11 kW ABB variable-speed drives to control air supply and extraction, amounting to over £10 000 a year. The drives were installed by Food Industry Technical, which specialises in ventilation control systems, as part of the hotel’s total kitchen refit.

Stark has made its Day+1 degree-data freely available through its web site. The use of degree-day data in analysing weather-related energy consumption is an essential part of any energy-management programme. Stark’s degree-day date is based on half-hourly temperature readings and calculated from the previous day’s data. Until now, according to the company, most published degree-day data has been based on a single monthly value made available over a month later.

AMBIflo air-source heat pumps from Andrews Water Heaters are now available with two outputs, 16 and 20 kW, with COPs of 3.9 and 3.2, respectively, at an ambient air temperature of 2°C and a water temperature of 35°C. These COPs improve to 4.6 and 3.6 at an ambient temperature of 7°C. They are designed to support gas-fired water heaters in the production of domestic hot water and reduce carbon emissions and running costs. They can also be used as part of an underfloor space-heating system.

As part of its plan to deliver year-on-year reduction in CO2 emissions, the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) recently installed two Dachs Mini-CHP units from Baxi SenerTec to generate electricity and provide heat for its Victoria building. The units have been running for nearly a year and have proved so successful that the university is looking for other sites where it can use CHP.

While the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme puts a new focus on reducing carbon, John Durbin believes that it is time to turn around thinking on compliance with carbon reduction and energy legislation to achieve genuine energy cost savings and bottom line improvements — with a reduction in carbon emissions being simply a welcome side effect.

You’ve registered for CRC but now need to draw up a carbon-management plan and target those areas of the business where the carbon savings are going to come from. Graham Child discusses the priorities.

With the current focus on reducing carbon emissions, it is just as important, if not more so, not to lose sight of the need for efficiency. Kevin Stones explains how to tackle both issues.

Savings of about £16 000 were achieved by the National Gallery in the first year of operation of four Airedale TurboChill chillers installed to replace R22 chillers. Steve Vandyke, head of technical services at the National Gallery, explains, ‘The existing R22 chillers had to be discontinued by 2010. They were very costly and not performing. Airedale designed a bespoke TurboChill unit to the existing footprint in the restricted space of the plant area, and supplying chilled water to a primary circuit.’