Replacing aging boiler plant in existing heating systems is an extremely effective approach to reducing carbon emissions, as Richard Evans explains.

As its name implies, the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is designed to encourage organisations to cut carbon emissions and save energy. The heating industry has a significant role to play in this, says Mark Northcott, director of commercial products at Remeha

Premier Inn has reduced the energy used for air conditioning for its new city-centre site in Leicester by more than 50%. The savings were revealed by a 6-month trial following the installation of Mitsubishi Electric’s Melcotel controller. Before the controller was installed, the 135 bedrooms in this 19-storey building had an average electricity consumption of 17.2 kWh a day, which has been reduced to 7 to 8 kWh a day — a saving of 59 to 53%, respectively.

M&E Sustainability has published expert advice for clients and building-services-engineering contractors on achieving carbon reduction in large public and commercial organisations. Called ‘Getting the most from the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme’, the guide is designed to help organisations to understand the implications of and prepare for the introduction of the CRC scheme.

This introduction of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme throws down the gauntlet for organisations required to cut their carbon emissions. Simon Keel looks at how updating air-conditioning systems can have a huge benefit on an organisation’s energy consumption.

Halving an electrical load that is typically half the electrical load of many office buildings must be a good starting point for complying with the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme. John Forsyth explains how.

Combined heat and power using LPG is reducing the primary energy needs of a Caravan Club site in Devon by up to 30%. The Hillhead site in South Devon is using a Dachs CHP unit supplied by Baxi SenerTec to supply heat and power to communal areas and its outdoor swimming pool. Its electrical output of 5.5 kW is used for general electrical and communal lighting for areas such as the bar, restaurant, cafe, games rooms, shop and laundry facilities. The heat output of 12.5 to 15.5 kW is used for space heating and domestic hot water.

The gas consumption of an historic naval dockyard church in Chatham is expected to be reduced by more than 20% with the installation of a new heating system that includes two 120 kW condensing boilers supplied by MHS Boilers. The Ultramax PB boilers replaced aging cast-iron atmospheric boilers in what is now the St George’s Centre, while retaining the existing pipework by interfacing to it via a built-in plate heat exchanger.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme will inevitably produce both winners and losers. Which group a participant falls into could be decided by the effectiveness of its BEMS, says Chris Monson.

The second generation of Mitsubishi Electric’s R410A City Multi Replace models offer an 80% increase in COP, a halving of installation time and a reduction in installation costs of up to 40% when replacing an R22 air-conditioning system that is 10 years old. The City Multi YJM Replace units join the existing splits Replace line up.

To help those affected by the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme achieve significant reductions in energy use and, hence, carbon emissions, ABB has developed a 6-step plan aimed at identifying pumps and fans that could benefit from variable-speed control. Variable-speed drives are used to regulate the speed of the electric motor driving a fan or pumps. Reductions of up to 60% in electrical consumption are possible, with paybacks as short as six months.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme makes it vital to be able to track energy use — which will bring its own benefits, as Lisa Wilkinson explains.