The major refurbishment of the heating and hot-water system at a language college in Worcester includes three Ecoflam 500 kW gas burners fitted to new cast-iron condensing boilers to upgrade the aging system. The burners were specified by Worcestershire County Council’s principal mechanical engineer Jeff Widdett for Christopher Whitehead Language College.

The goalposts for the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme may have shifted, but organisations still stand to benefit from reducing their energy consumption. Phil Chilton looks at how energy-saving and renewable heating technology can help trim running costs as well as reducing the financial impact of the scheme.

The masses of data that can be made available by a building-management system can make it easy to prepare CRC reports, with the help of additional specialist software — as Jennifer Eastman explains.

The UK is facing an energy crisis and, with the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) and other initiatives piling the pressure on building managers to reduce energy consumption, Yasar Butt and Sean Brook of Trend Controls explain why a building energy management system (BEMS) can help.

Nick Wellington believes that the capabilities of smart meters currently fall short of what is needed to identify where energy is being wasted.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment league tables mean large organisations now have an even greater incentive to reduce their emissions. But energy-services companies need to start delivering comprehensive carbon strategies if they are to provide clients with the best results and help stave off a national energy crisis, argues Mike Sewell.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme has been met with uncertainty since its introduction in April last year, with many believing that the scheme is overly complex. As the Department of Energy & Climate Chance looks at ways to simplify the scheme, Mike Southall explains why it is still a positive incentive for large public and private-sector organisations.

The Energy Consortium (TEC) believes that changes made to the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme following the Comprehensive Spending Review mean that proactive carbon managers are penalised twice — first because revenue recycling has been scrapped and secondly because allowances now have to be purchased for automated meter readings (AMR).

The refurbishment of the catering suite in a school in Pinvin, Worcestershire, includes recovering waste heat from the ventilation system. The work was project managed by Weatherite Building Services and included supplying and installing energy-efficient kitchen canopies, together with supply and exhaust ductwork, air-handling unit and controls, new boiler, water heater and pipework for gas and water.

Far from the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme being in limbo, there is much to be done before the first CO2 allowances are purchased — explain Andy Dewis and Scott Cunliffe.

To enable them to connect into building automation system, Wilo offers BACnet capability for its Stratos range of high-efficiency pumps. These pumps are claimed to achieve up to 80% lower electricity consumption than uncontrolled standard pumps.

12 large air-handling units with total enthalpy control energy-recovery wheels are part of a substantial contract awarded to Flakt Woods to provide the ventilation services for the new £200 million headquarters of the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Each unit will deliver 18.5 m3/s of air.

Facilities engineers should be the ideal people to respond to the Carbon Reduction Commitment — so why are so many of them baffled and disillusioned. John Nicholls gives his off-the-wall perspective.

If you are not convinced of the energy-saving benefits of variable-seed drives, or if you just enjoy reading about them, then look at these examples from Steve Ruddell.

Martin Fahey explains why now is the time for clients to be encouraged to think about upgrading to more energy-efficient air-conditioning systems.

Even if landlords can do little to influence the energy-consuming behaviour of tenants to share CRC responsibility they can still act to reduce the energy used by air-conditioning systems — as Hywel Davies explains.

With the scrapping of the performance incentives from the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, many commentators have complained that it is now just a stealth tax — but Paul Lewis explains how companies can still benefit from the scheme.

Andrews Water Heaters has supplied a solar water-heating system for the new award-winning Van Hage garden and leisure retail store at Peterborough Garden Park. Selected by consulting engineers Patrick Mills Associates, The Solarflow system preheats water supplied to two Ecoflo water heaters that supply domestic hot water for the entire building. Solar energy is expected to meet about half of the annual demand for hot water.

United Biscuits has reduced CO2 emissions by over 27 t at its headquarters in Middlesex as part of a wide-ranging sustainability programme with Cofely. Gas consumption has been reduced by 27% and electricity consumption by 5.2% by a range of works forming the first phase of an ongoing energy-conservation programme as part of Cofely’s contract for energy and facilities management.

The most important question to ask when a pump needs to be replaced is is 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.

Esporta, the UK gym and health-club chain, has completed an intensive 6-month upgrade of its heating system based on Remeha gas-fired floor-standing condensing boilers. They were installed in 55 clubs to replace 7000 kW of old atmospheric and pressure-jet boilers. The project has reduced NOx emissions by at least 90% and CO2 by 26% compared with the previous pressure-jet boilers. Gas consumption is expected to be reduced by at least 20%, and by 25% more where atmospheric boilers have been replaced.

The shift in financial emphasis of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme makes it imperative that organisations take substantial steps to measure their energy consumption and invest in solutions to lower it to avoid penalties when the scheme comes into effect. Rachel Cooper highlights some of measures that can be taken.

As we pass the first major deadline for the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme the focus for many organisations is continued energy-performance improvement. Ant Wilson explains how the building-services engineer can get involved.

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.’