Energy Manager Magazine November 2017

NOVEMBER 2017

www.energymanagermagazine.co.uk

24 Resource savings by artificial intelligence INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

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How to engage your employees with energy saving

New exterior LED lighting options save Local Authority budgets

Boreholes are back in vogue!

IS TH M O TH

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EXCEL LONDON t 22 nd —23 rd NOVEMBER 2017

The Energy Management Exhibition

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FRONT COVER STORY:

RESOURCE SAVINGS BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Kempten University patents advanced thermal load prediction method See Page 24

www.hochschule-kempten.de/kwk-flex

NOVEMBER 2017 PUBLISHER: Ralph Scrivens ralph@energymanagermagazine.co.uk PRODUCTION TEAM: Lucy Drescher lucy@energymanagermagazine.co.uk Sarah Daviner sarah@energymanagermagazine.co.uk ACCOUNTS: accounts@pssmagazine.co.uk PRINT: Mixam Print

INSIDE:

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Convenience is key, says E.ON in new drive to promote the freedom of electric motoring

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Are Energy Managers ready for an upsurge in on-site energy demand?

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Hybrid heating systems that use smart controls could save up to £1.7 billion annually

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Stokvis reliability wins repeat work with social housing specialist

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Nedap presents the Luxon IoT Node

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Rethink water: reduce, recycle and recover resources

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Public sector is coming together at EMEX to tackle head on the energy efficiency challenge.

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ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

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NEWS

Convenience is key, says E.ON in new drive to promote the freedom of electric motoring

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ost and carbon savings from electric vehicles are well accepted by motorists but getting more EVs on the roads will depend on making the infrastructure more convenient and customer-friendly, said E.ON as it launched a new campaign to promote the ‘freedom’ of alternatives to petrol or diesel driving.

With electric vehicle targets in the UK set out until 2050, E.ON is working hard to promote the decarbonisation of transport by expanding its network of superfast charging stations across Europe and into the UK. By doing so E.ON hopes to remove barriers for widespread use of electric vehicles and continue to support a future with zero carbon emissions.

New research from E.ON1 reveals that two-thirds of Britons (61%) say electric vehicles will help them save money on fuel compared to petrol/diesel vehicles and 56% agree that electric vehicles are better for the environment.

Despite the positives, the survey found that in the UK, 70% of people would not consider buying an electric or plug-in hybrid for fears of running out of power (41%) with a further 34% noting a lack of electric vehicle charging outlets near where they live.

Electric vehicles have moved on quickly from being an innovation to the mainstream. But despite their growth in the market, they still need to overcome barriers such as flexibility, range and availability of charging points in public spaces and workplaces.

As part of E.ON’s commitment to expanding its charging network across Europe, the global energy brand is challenging outdated observations about electric vehicles with a new film, entitled ‘Freedom is Electric’ featuring a line-up of custom Hot Rods, 210mph superbikes, prototype hyper-cars, and a monster truck. These mean motors all have one thing in common – they’re electric.

Set against a barren desert landscape, the film features a range of cars and bikes - and the world’s only electric monster truck – all traditionally perceived to be gas-guzzling machines. In reality these are all converted or new-concept electric vehicles running on volts rather than fossil fuels and charged using E.ON’s fast-charging points, which are accessible

in thousands of locations across Europe and coming soon to the UK. Charged using E.ON’s fast-charging technology, which is available in thousands of locations across Europe and is soon coming to the UK, the entire shoot including all the filming equipment, camera rigs, tracking vehicles and drones were electrically powered to further promote the versatility and ability of electric vehicles.

Listen carefully, and you’ll also notice something unusual about the sound of the engines – they’re made by electric guitars, painstakingly imitating the sound of V8s to hoodwink the audience into believing they’re real combustion engines.

Anthony Ainsworth, Global Head of Marketing at E.ON, said: “By bringing together these amazing vehicles and their equally passionate and inspiring owners we wanted to get people to reconsider what they think they know about electric vehicles, how they view energy and what they think about E.ON and its moves to be a force for change in energy.

“Our aim is clear, to remove the perceived barriers of electric vehicles to really help improve the electric future for our customers. We are doing this by developing a growing network of charging points throughout Europe; whether at home, at work or on the go, from the city to the mountains.

We are investing in superfast charging technology including the first superfast charging station in Germany, being installed later this year, meaning EV becomes easy and drivers can get back on the road quicker than ever before.”

E.ON has extensive experience in e-mobility. In Denmark, for example,

1 Based on research for E.ON conducted by OnePoll in May 2017 among 2,000 British adults.

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ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

one of the most advanced e-mobility markets in Europe, the company operates around 2,500 charging points and is expected to see more than half a million charging transactions across its network by the end of this year.

In October, E.ON started setting up charging networks in Britain and Sweden and will begin offering local authorities as well as business customers a variety of e-mobility products such as integrated charging systems and pricing plans.

In the UK E.ON has already launched a new tariff for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners which uses energy purchased from 100% renewable electricity sources. The new tariff offers customers access to a competitive day rate, and a night rate priced 33% below the day rate for use when many electric and plug-in hybrid car owners will choose to charge their vehicle.

E.ON’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure is part of a range of innovative new solutions for customers including solar and battery storage technology, smart appliances and intelligent homes. As a business E.ON has invested over £2.4bn in renewable technologies in the UK over the last six years and has also begun to develop solutions to cover the provision and installation of charging points for UK businesses.

For behind the scenes footage around the creation of the ‘Freedom is Electric’ film, behind-the-scenes footage and interviews introducing the vehicle owners and their stories called ‘Meet the Voltheads’ and E.ON’s Europe-wide charging network visit eon.com/freedomiselectric.

NEWS

Finn Geotherm scoops national award for flagship heating project

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district heating project installed

by Attleborough-based Finn Geotherm has won a prestigious industry trophy at the national Heating & Ventilating Review (HVR) Awards 2017.

The installation undertaken for housing association Flagship Group has been crowned Sustainable Project of the Year.

The HVR Awards 2017 celebrate innovation in the building services sector. The awards recognise and reward companies across the country that demonstrate excellence in their field, outstanding technology or exceptional customer service and true innovation in the way they operate or in what they produce.

The Sustainable Project of the Year Award was presented to Finn Geotherm for its ground source heat pump system, which is delivering domestic heating and hot water for 30 flats at Orchard Close in Watton, Norfolk. The first domestic heating scheme for communal use in the East of England, it will cut Flagship customers’ heating bills by two thirds, creating annual savings of hundreds of pounds. In addition, it enables Flagship to dramatically reduce its maintenance costs and CO2 emissions. The project is expected to be the first of many for the

housing association, with Flagship hoping to roll out other ground source heat pump systems to other customers as part of its plan to create more affordable and environmentally friendly homes.

Guy Ransom, commercial director of Finn Geotherm, said: “We are absolutely delighted to win this award for our project From left – right, Matt Smith, compliance manager – Flagship at Flagship. District Group, and Megan Gonsalves, repairs coordinator - Flagship Group, heating offers housing Guy Ransom, commercial director - Finn Geotherm; Lynn Sencicle, associations such as managing editor of ACR News who sponsored the Sustainable Project Flagship a fantastic of the Year award and David Alston, technical director - Finn Geotherm. opportunity not only to at Flagship, said: “To win this award is dramatically reduce the cost of heating fantastic news. We have worked hard for their customers but also to have a to get the scheme up and running, so significant impact on the organisation’s to be recognised in this way is a great carbon emissions and green credentials. achievement for everyone involved.

Using heat pumps in this way should be We are continually trying to improve the future of heating for every housing the service we offer our customers association and we’re very pleased to while at the same time reduce our be recognised for enabling Flagship to carbon footprint, and the system in become one of the first to really harness Watton has allowed us to do both.” the potential of district heating.” www.finn-geotherm.co.uk.

Matt Smith, Compliance Manager

Wind and biomass power rise of renewables in third quarter

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ind and biomass power contributed to a second successive quarter in which the market in Britain saw over half of all power generation come from clean sources.

In the three months to the end of September (Q3 2017), 77.3% of renewables generation came from wind farms and biomass plants, according to a new report by energy market monitoring firm EnAppSys. The summer months of the year typically see reduced levels of wind generation, but with several offshore wind farms coming online and with windy conditions in the quarter, wind farms contributed 8.9TWh of electricity – 47.3% of the renewables total.

Since the third quarter of 2010, on only occasion has another renewable source provided more power than wind farms over a single quarter, biomass plants generating marginally more

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power than wind farms in Q2 2016.

Meanwhile biomass plants contributed 5.6TWh in Q3 2017, which amounted to 30% of the total. Just over 17% came from solar farms, while hydro plants contributed 5.7% of the renewables total.

The strong performance of wind and biomass helped to push up renewables’ share of total generation to 27.3% in the quarter. This, combined with strong levels of nuclear output, meant that for the second quarter running 52% of power generation came from clean sources.

The 18.8TWh generated by renewables was lower than the previous quarter but more than the 16.9TWh generated by nuclear plants in the market.

The EnAppSys report also highlighted the decline of coal, which continued in the third quarter of 2017 to see gas remain the primary fuel type – in contrast to many countries in Europe where coal remains the main source of power.

In the three months to the end of

ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

September, gas-fired power stations generated 25TWh of power (down from 27.7TWh in the previous quarter), with this amounting to 37.3% of the total generation in the market. This came as the overall share of generation from fossil fuel sources totalled 40.1% in the quarter.

As gas is a cleaner fuel than coal, the decline in activity at coal-fired power stations in recent years has reduced carbon emissions significantly, with the market having seen around 10GW of plant closures at coal stations in recent years. However, gas prices have been climbing in recent months and this means that while coal-fired plants only accounted for 2.8% of total generation in the quarter, it would not take a major shift for levels of coal output to start climbing once again.

For the full report, please visit: https:// www.enappsys.com/summary-reports

adjust temperature

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monitor lux levels

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detect open windows

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The new Prefectirus CU3 is packed with features that distinguish it from a simple thermostat AND a complex building energy management system (BEMS).

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Accommodation managers can be alerted to issues that require maintenance, provide compliance with regulations to support the wellbeing of students and be confident of optimum energy efficiency as heat is only used when needed - without ever setting foot in a room.

Students are able to control the comfort of their environment, safe in the knowledge that they cannot waste energy by leaving the heat on high when they go out or if windows are opened.

Prefectirus – just what student accommodation needs from a BEMS. To find out more about Prefectirus visit

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NEWS

A SOLAR POWERED HOUSE IN THE NORTH OF SWEDEN

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detached house, completely disconnected from the grid which can produce its own energy all year around by the use of solar energy – what’s so special about that? Well consider this, is exists in a place where there can be as little as zero hours of sunlight during parts of the year. Skellefteå Kraft is initiating the ’Zero Sun project’, a realtime experiment open to the public, challenging our perceptions of how we relate to energy by building the world’s first solar powered house adapted for the North Swedish climate.

The house itself is a regular detached house of 150 square meters, the difference being that it’s not connected to the electricity or district heating grid.

The house is completely self-sufficient in terms of energy. It is turned on and off by the flick of a switch and the garage becomes its very own energy hub.

The system is produced in close collaboration with Hans Olof Nilsson, who has built his own self-sufficient house in Gothenburg that has gotten a lot of attention. Thanks to a self-sufficient energy system consisting of solar panels,

batteries, hydrogen and fuel cells, the house in Skellefteå will have the ability to run whilst being completely disconnected from the electricity grid. The house will collect solar energy during the summer months and the excess will be stored for use during the winter and the months where there is limited sun activity.

“When the conditions are the worst in Skellefteå, it can be as little as zero hours of sunshine, dark and very cold.

Building a fossil free, self-sufficient house fit for the North Swedish climate is a much bigger challenge than doing it further South”, explains Christoffer Svanberg, Business Innovation Chief at Skellefteå Kraft.

“The house in Skellefteå, which will be built in collaboration with A-hus, will be finished by June 2018.

After completion, the public will be able to book a stay in the house.

“This is an organic/live experiment and we want to involve as many people as possible. In the end, it is also about making solar technology accessible to

the masses”, says Christoffer Svanberg.

The government’s goal is that Sweden will have 100% renewable energy production by 2040. The combined effect of nearly 10,000 million kilowatts of nuclear power will be phased out. This requires increased efficiency in hydropower, and will live parallel to the expansion of sun and wind power.

“We dare to test unexplored paths and new smart technical solutions to be able to utilize renewable energy in an innovative way”, says Christoffer Svanberg. “The energy market of the future will not look anything like it does today and this is what we want to demonstrate with the house in our Zero Sun Project, he concluded.” Email: christoffer.svanberg@skekraft.se

Average UK businesses risking £2.8m of annual revenue through lack of energy resilience

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K businesses without an energy resilience strategy are risking 17 per cent of their revenue, equating to £2.8m each year in damages and lost opportunities. This is a key finding from Centrica Business Solutions’ research into the current state of energy resilience. The Resilience Report, which details the findings, is a result of a survey of more than 300 organisations across the UK and Ireland.

Responding to the survey, senior energy decision-makers who had not experienced a serious energy failure predicted the cost to their business would be seven per cent of their annual revenue. In reality, UK and Irish businesses impacted by blackouts or even very temporary ‘brown outs’ found the actual figure was much higher, estimated to be 17 per cent. For the typical UK mediumsized business, this equates to £2.8m.

Energy resilience, having a secure and reliable source of energy, helps companies reduce the risk of operational failures and reduce commercial risk. There are tangible benefits to having a resilience strategy in place, with organisations 13 percentage

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points more likely to have a good brand reputation and 34 percentage points more likely to have strong financial performance.

The importance businesses attach to energy resilience is clear. 88 per cent of UK businesses surveyed stated it was important – and 58 per cent said it is becoming critical for businesses to be energy resilient. At the same time, 52 per cent of respondents think they will experience energy related failure in the next year.

Despite this, only 16 per cent of companies are making energy resilience a top priority and only 18 per cent of businesses have a formal energy resilience strategy. A further 32 per cent of businesses have no form of energy resilience strategy in place at all.

Alan Barlow, UK Director of Centrica Business Solutions said: “It’s clear that businesses see the importance of energy resilience, both to ensure a reliable energy supply, and to prepare for changes in the energy landscape. How to create a strategy to do that, however, is less clear. What we know is that ignoring the risks can be very

ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

damaging. Without an energy resilience strategy, organisations can only be as successful as their energy supply allows.

“There are reputational and financial benefits to an energy resilience strategy so it’s important that organisations make the right investments and take steps towards implementing a strategy. Back-up power systems provide protection against power outages, and batteries can provide energy in less than a second, mitigating the risks of temporary brown outs.”

The report also revealed that eight out of ten organisations have experienced at least one energy-related failure in the past year, of which almost one in four experienced equipment damage as a result. Businesses aren’t ready for these failures, with one third of organisations unprepared for temporary grid failure.

Centrica Business Solutions has developed an energy resilience checker which allows organisations to assess their preparedness for energy disruption. The tool is free to use and can be found at: www.centricabusinesssolutions.com/ resilience.

Helping today’s Energy Manager to become tomorrow’s Utilities Manager

Join the conversation at www.inenco.com/innovation

To help today’s energy managers bridge the gaps and challenges identified in our recent Future Utilities Manager report, and inspire the next generation of energy professionals, Inenco has launched the Innovation Hub. You can get involved by sending us the challenges you face, using #InencoHub on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We’ll be inviting some of the best minds to come together to help debate and solve the biggest challenges through The Bright Spark Energy Hackathon.

Inenco’s Future Utilities Manager report looked at how the role of the energy manager will evolve in the future.

Download the report at www.inenco.com/future so that you and your business can prepare.

ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

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NEWS

GATESHEAD FUNDING MAJOR ENERGY SCHEME WITH EU GRANTS Gateshead Council has started construction on two more major energy schemes, thanks to securing £5.4m in European grants.

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he two schemes will see a further 600 homes, and several public buildings connected to district energy networks, to provide low-cost, low-carbon heat and power for residents and buildings alike.

The grant funding comes from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and is specifically for investing in low carbon projects.

The first scheme is called Gateshead HEIGHTs – which stands for High Rise Energy Infrastructure for Gateshead Housing Tenants (HEIGHTs). The project will install new district heating and/or power systems to seven high rise housing blocks in the town centre and in the Harlow Green and Allerdene areas of Gateshead.

Four of the blocks are to be heated from ground source heat pumps, which will extract the heat from over 200 boreholes and pipe this into homes.

Two of the blocks will be heated by waste heat from a small electricity generation plant, with the homes also receiving the electricity generated.

One block will be connected to the existing Gateshead town centre District Energy Scheme.

The HEIGHTs scheme forms part of a wider £20m investment programme that Gateshead Council is funding, which will also see the blocks receive major refurbishment, including window and roof replacement.

The council has appointed Wilmott Dixon Construction to deliver the scheme, which is due to be completed by December 2018.

The second scheme involves installing a new type of plastic district heating pipe, which is new to the UK, but is hoped to

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Councillor John McElroy with the plastic district heating pipes

make installation of heating pipes quicker, simpler and cheaper.

The plastic pipes are being used to extend the Gateshead District Energy scheme up to Gateshead Leisure Centre and surrounding public buildings, which includes Gateshead Central Library and Shipley Art Gallery.

Alongside this £2.5m heat extension, the council plans to also extend its private electricity network, to increase the number of buildings that can tap into this lower cost, lower carbon electricity as well.

While these represent significant investment, like the council’s other energy scheme, it aims to fully recover its costs, from reduced energy bills, or energy sales to customers.

Balfour Beatty, which has recently completed construction of the Gateshead Energy Centre, has been appointed to install the energy network extension.

Cllr John McElroy, Gateshead Council Cabinet member for Economy said: “The council sees the development of a low-carbon energy resource as key to meeting our climate change goals, but also in generating lower-cost energy for residents and organisations in Gateshead.

“These two new schemes - Gateshead HEIGHTs and the innovative new plastic pipe network - are among key developments in supporting these ambitions, that will both cut carbon

ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

emissions and energy use, as well as generating real savings per year for customers” Craig McGilvray, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty’s Gas and Water business, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed by Gateshead Council, through the Scape Procure framework, to install the innovative energy network extension.

“Working in collaboration with Gateshead Council, we look forward to using our proven capabilities to deliver cost effective heat networks across the UK, providing local communities with long term improved access to lower carbon, secure and affordable heating.”

Willmott Dixon’s operations director in North East, Nick Corrigan, says, “We are delighted to be back in Gateshead carrying out important work that will reduce the cost of energy for local residents. Being based in Gateshead, we are proud of our local track-record and look forward to starting on site to deliver the HEIGHTs and fabric project, which will have a lasting positive impact on the lives of so many people by helping to tackle fuel poverty and creating warmer, more sustainable places to live.”

This project is being supported by a grant from the England European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.

NEWS

CASTLE WATER SECURES £MULTI-MILLION CONTRACT THROUGH CROWN COMMERCIAL SERVICE

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astle Water has secured a major national contract through the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework for the provision of water and wastewater services to the public sector in England.

The first water retailer to successfully carry out the bulk transfer of English customers in Portsmouth, London and the Thames Valley, Castle has been at the forefront of innovation in the UK water market. The company will now extend its services to supply contracts for up to three years to select public sector customers nationally, including those located in Yorkshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester.

John Reynolds, Chief Executive of Castle Water, said: “As the UK’s leading independent water retailer, we supply hundreds of thousands of businesses, charities and public bodies throughout England and Scotland. We see this as a further opportunity to use our expertise in delivering best value and

significant cost savings for our growing number of public sector customers in the new competitive market.”

Sam Ulyatt, Strategic Category Commercial Director for Crown Commercial Service, said: “In April we brought the largest public sector water framework agreement to the UK market.

The agreement will eventually support the public sector to save £20 million on its water bill, leveraging the buying power of the public sector to support the delivery of efficient and effective public services.”

CCS supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services.

Castle Water supply hundreds of thousands of businesses, charities and public bodies throughout England and Scotland.

They are licensed to provide water services in both Scotland and England and are regulated by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland and Ofwat.

In 2016, the company acquired the business customers of Portsmouth Water and Thames Water in advance of deregulation of the English water market in 2017.

More information about Castle Water can be found here: www.castlewater.co.uk The Crown Commercial Service is an executive agency and trading fund of the Cabinet Office of the UK Government. The CCS is responsible for improving government commercial and procurement activity.

Learn more at www.gov.uk/ government/organisations/ crown-commercial-service

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ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

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NEWS OPINION

ARE ENERGY MANAGERS READY FOR AN UPSURGE IN ON-SITE ENERGY DEMAND?

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he recent commitment from the UK Government to phase out Internal Combustion Engine cars by 2040 was not as ambitious as many would have liked, and certainly not as ambitious as the 2032 date set by the Scottish Parliament, but it will encourage vehicle manufacturers to continue spending their R&D budgets on Electric Vehicle (EV) development, and new and better models will emerge from their production lines as uptake continues.

To comply with CSR and sustainability commitments and to attract and retain staff that have a desire for low cost and low carbon transport, deployment of EV charge-points must continue to gather pace. This is very good news for air quality and may be beneficial to any company’s expansion plans, with planning authorities carefully considering the impact of any increase in local traffic.

At one or two percent of staff or customer parking spaces provided with charge-points the implications for Energy Managers may be minimal but with ten, twenty percent or more there will be a substantial increase in energy consumption. Even if the existing supply can accommodate this increase, consider the implications if twenty percent of the vehicles in your carpark are plugged in and charging in the red-rate period, let alone during a triad event.

The transition to EV’s for company fleets is also to be welcomed and will offer cost reductions for Fleet Managers however charging those vehicles will require careful management to realise the potential bottom line

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savings for the whole company.

Early charge-point manufacturers largely ignored the obvious long-term problems, selling only the limited numbers of dumb terminals as an incoming supply could support. More forward-thinking suppliers have developed smart chargers, enabling wider deployment as loads can be managed, reduced and curtailed depending on supply, demand, time of day or even where the vehicle needs to get to next. These smart chargers can also be set with multiple tariffs to enable payment for electricity used. The next generation of charge-points will offer benefits through Vehicle to Grid capability which could mean plugged in vehicles supplying energy back into the building at peak periods. This Vehicle to Business concept is currently at the trial stage and not yet commercialised but holds great promise for the future.

Where does that leave companies considering current EV charge-point requirements? Future proofing is essential. Civil engineering works for charge-points can be expensive

ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

and should only be done once with infrastructure scoped for future requirements. Take a holistic approach that allows for future expansion and considers where the energy is coming from. Assess any on-site renewable generation options such as rooftop or carport solar, and look at how battery storage might solve peak demand problems and generate revenue from grid services.

There are multi-departmental benefits to an EV transition, especially for early adopters capitalising on the PR opportunities. With proper planning the risks can be mitigated, the costs can be kept to a minimum and the benefits can be fully realised with positive results felt across the business.

By: Guy Morrison Sales Director for FlexiSolar - the UK’s leading solar carport systems integrator. His background is in large-scale and commercial solar PV, storage and peak shaving solutions, and the EV infrastructure industry. FlexiSolar are delighted to be exhibiting again at EMEX-London 2017. www.flexi-solar.com

OPINION NEWS

THE CLEAN GROWTH STRATEGY (CGS)

Endeco Technologies’ Michael Phelan explains why the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Clean Growth Strategy means businesses can no longer rest on their laurels when it comes to carbon emissions, why behaviour change is as necessary as innovation, and how demand-side response will emerge from the sooty shadows of industry and into the mainstream spotlight.

T

he Clean Growth Strategy (CGS) means that more than ever, business energy efficiency is under scrutiny. For the early adopters, demandside response, embedded generation and energy storage are already working well, but the pressure is on for those not yet participating to catch up.

The strategy outlines that the use of flexibilities to include sectors that were previously deemed unreachable has been key to reducing emissions so far.

This progress, although encouraging, hasn’t even scratched the surface of what could be done. Business and industrial consumers, along with transport, account for almost half of emissions. Industrial and business sectors have significant opportunities to change the way the UK consumes energy as a whole. Whilst the report claims that more investment in technological breakthroughs would be crucial, getting these companies to participate using the high-end technologies currently available, and putting their mind at rest that operational integrity can be maintained, also needs to be a focus. Driving innovation is a major component, but driving behavioural change goes hand in hand.

A large part of behavioural change is understanding, education and trust.

National Grid’s Power Responsive programme has helped a great deal with untangling many of the ambiguities surrounding demand-side response, but we still have a way to go. There is a huge amount of complexity in the marketplace.

Endeco doesn’t attempt to hide this from our clients, but looks to simplify that complexity into one programme containing multiple activities, all managed within a single technology platform, delivering savings and revenues.

“ The Government’s Clean Growth Strategy is encouraging but we haven’t even scratched the surface of what could be done to reduce carbon emissions.” “ Fully digitised demand-side response services will be imperative for finding flexibility in the grid.” “ A combination of technology, education and strong partnerships between aggregators, technology innovators, grid operators, suppliers and consumers will be key to developing a fully optimised smart grid.”

The biggest complaint we hear about demand-side response is that for every aggregator a potential customer speaks to, they hear a different story as to what demand-side response actually is. Around a decade ago, when the market was young, and the early adopters were looking to test just one element of DSR, this was acceptable to a degree. There were also only a handful of aggregators. However, the market has evolved and those fulfilling an energy management role now understand that there are more pieces to the puzzle of balancing energy demand.

Endeco brings together these pieces and explains how they fit together, providing the expertise and platform to enable whichever schemes work best for the assets on site. In what is already a complicated topic, specialists in particular areas of demand-side response really haven’t helped to provide a clean and comprehensive explanation of the market.

In addition to business and industry, the growing adoption of electric vehicles means demand-side response, storage and smart energy technologies will emerge from the industrial shadows and take the spotlight for enabling

lifestyles and behaviours outside of the workplace. Smart meters and the wider availability of lower-cost solar panels and small scale battery storage systems for homes are just the beginning of what promises to be a seismic change for the energy infrastructure.

The strategy mirrors the words of National Grid in its vision for a smarter, more flexible system using technologies such as interconnection, storage and demand-side response.

Fully digitised demand-side response services will be imperative for finding flexibility for the predicted 4.9GW required for demand-side response, and the 0.3GW of storage by 2032.

Implementing a cost-effective solution for balancing the variability of grid-scale clean energy with the demand of energy users is vital to taking full advantage of renewable energy and decarbonising our electricity system to hit our ambitious green targets.

A combination of technology, education and strong partnerships between aggregators, technology innovators, grid operators, suppliers and consumers will be key to developing a fully optimised smart grid. www.endeco-technologies.com

ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

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NEWS OPINION

HOW TO ENGAGE YOUR EMPLOYEES WITH ENERGY SAVING GREEN BUSINESS; GREEN EMPLOYEES

Getting a team of employees to take action on energy saving in the workplace can feel like herding cats.

Nonetheless, it’s a time investment worth making – and one that benefits your staff as much as it benefits you.

Keeping business energy use and bills under control, reducing carbon, and building a green brand are more important than ever. With new principles such as ‘corporate social responsibility’ here to stay, it’s important to put practical and visible measures in place for running an environmentally-friendly organisation.

THE ROLE OF ENERGY MANAGERS I’ve always worked in service and hospitality, but my career spans across several industries, including retail management, flight attending in the US, and a number of front-of-house roles. Keeping working environments comfortable for staff and guests is vital, but so is building a space and a workforce that functions in a truly environmentally friendly way.

I have been responsible for energy management at a number of

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Johann Van Dyke, House Manager, Smart Energy GB

organisations – introducing green policies and encouraging staff to take them on board, learning from employee feedback on energy systems, and making sure offices and other spaces are at the forefront of environmentally friendly practice.

Reducing energy use is a huge part of being a green business, so it’s great to be House Manager at Smart Energy GB, the voice of the smart meter rollout, where the whole team is as passionate about energy saving as I am.

We encourage our team to think about energy saving as much as possible, but we’ve also built an office that does some of the hard work for them – with energy efficient and motion sensing LED lights, monitors and printers with auto-sleep settings, and laptops that use far less energy than desktop computers. We also encourage our team to work flexibly so they can get smart meters installed in their homes.

Energy managers have a vital role to play when it comes to taking forward environmentally friendly measures in the workplace – and the smart meter rollout is creating opportunities

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to connect with employees on sustainability issues like never before.

SMART METERS AND THE NATIONAL ROLLOUT Smart meters are being installed in homes and small businesses across Britain. They send automatic meter readings to your energy supplier, meaning accurate bills and an end to meter readings and estimated bills.

They also show you exactly how much energy you’re using and what it’s costing you in pounds and pence.

Smart meters are supporting the development of a smarter, more flexible grid, and the more efficient use of energy at home and in the workplace.

Smart Energy GB, the voice of the smart meter rollout, is encouraging employers to support their staff to get smart meters installed in their homes and make the most of the benefits.

By sharing information about smart meters with your team, you can help employees save on their bills and reduce their carbon footprint. Encouraging employees to save energy at home can also relieve financial pressure, help build

OPINION NEWS a more motivated workforce and inspire people to save energy in the workplace.

A GUIDE FOR EMPLOYERS The Carbon Trust and Smart Energy GB, the voice of the smart meter rollout, have teamed up to produce an employers’ guide to smart meters and energy efficiency at home and at work.

The new, free-to-download guide for employers explains how to design and run an energy efficiency awareness campaign in the workplace, including giving practical advice to employees on how they can benefit from getting a smart meter and saving energy at home.

Whether it’s health, fitness, transport or childcare, leading employers recognise the benefits of supporting employees beyond their immediate job role. Receiving help and advice about energy saving at home can give employees the confidence that their employer cares about their well-being.

A campaign on energy saving and effective use of smart meters at home can also sit well within your company’s energy management activities. This is because higher awareness could lead to improved engagement with workplacebased energy saving campaigns.

From guidance on structuring, delivering and evaluating an internal campaign, to shareable fact sheets on smart meters and energy saving in the office, this new guide is an incredibly useful resource.

SMART ENERGY EMPLOYERS To give your business a boost when it comes to green credentials, you can also sign up to be a Smart Energy Employer.

Smart Energy GB is inviting businesses and organisations of all sizes to become Smart Energy Employers by sharing information with staff about smart meters. Those who take part will be awarded a ‘Smart Energy Employers’ badge – a great visual addition to your green brand.

Employers including the NHS, Hilton Hotels and Adnams are already working with staff, helping them to get smart meters as part of the Smart Energy Employers scheme.

WHAT NEXT? At Smart Energy GB, we’ve put lots of measures in place to keep our team engaged with smart meters and their energy use at home and at work.

To get your business started, you can download the free guide for employers and find out more about Smart Energy Employers at: smartenergyGB.org/employers

IN RESPONSE TO THE LAUNCH OF THE CLEAN GROWTH STRATEGY NIBE RELEASES A VISION FOR UK HOMES OFF THE GAS GRID

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nergy in the UK, and how we generate and conserve it, is high on the agenda with Government and business leaders debating as to where our energy will come from in the future and how we can use it in smarter ways.

This has been recognised in the launch of the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy which outlines the objectives for the UK to meet its carbon targets.

NIBE Energy Systems welcomes the publication and today shares its own policy paper which highlights what it believes is required to drive forward the installation of renewable energy systems and ensure that all homes can accommodate low carbon heating in the future.

The paper focuses on opportunities to deploy heat pumps, initially in the off gas grid market, which is dominated by carbon intensive fuels such as heating oil and coal that the Government aims to transition away from. NIBE welcomes the Government’s commitment to phase out these high carbon heating fuels during the 2020s.

“There has never been a better time for the UK to champion heat pumps in domestic applications and to encourage greater market penetration of such heating systems, learning from what our European counterparts have achieved,” said Phil Hurley Managing Director NIBE Energy Systems. “It is our aim to work with the Government to encourage homeowners to replace fossil fuels with renewable heating systems, thereby unlocking the potential for homeowners to make significant contributions in reducing UK carbon emissions.”

NIBE’s paper provides five policy recommendations which support the Clean Growth Strategy: 1. Ensure homes built today are constructed to modern standards which should enable low carbon heating systems to be easily and cost-effectively installed. This is particularly important in off-grid areas.

2.

Target off-grid properties with either regulation (mandating a carbon intensity value for the heating system) or by pricing the emission externality to facilitate a shift away from the most carbon intensive fossil fuels.

3. Help tackle the upfront cost barrier by providing some of the domestic RHI subsidy as an upfront payment, or by supporting an oil/ coal boiler scrappage scheme.

4. Engage the installer base.

Reduce the barriers they face and provide incentives to offer heat pumps as an alternative technology in off-grid areas.

5. Build policy which takes advantage of the flexibility and load shifting services that heat pumps can provide to the National Grid. Enable time of use tariffs so the smart heat pumps can adjust usage based on grid and market signals.

The implementation of a co-ordinated long-term strategy to decarbonise our buildings is needed and the release of the Clean Growth Strategy sets a clear direction of travel towards low carbon heating technologies.

“It is evident that the UK heat pump market is not achieving its full potential and this needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency,” said Phil. “It is imperative that the discrepancies on specific targets are challenged and that policy is written to support this. By targeting off grid areas to remove expensive, inefficient and unsustainable oil systems, the Government can make homes warmer and more comfortable whilst reducing our carbon footprint and reliance on polluting fuels.”

Phil concluded; “We remain committed to raising awareness for positive change and the implementation of policies to support the UK’s carbon targets and see no reason why this can’t be attained with cohesive thinking and strategy between manufacturers, installers and Government.” www.nibe.co.uk.

ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

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NEWS MANAGEMENT ENERGY

HYBRID HEATING SYSTEMS THAT USE SMART CONTROLS COULD SAVE UP TO £1.7 BILLION ANNUALLY SAYS PASSIVSYSTEMS

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ince 2014, PassivSystems has played a significant role in four out of five innovative UK smart heat pump projects highlighted by Delta Energy & Environment Limited (Delta-ee) by installing its PassivLiving home energy platform to measure, manage and aggregate heat energy.

Data published by Delta-ee shows the potential value domestic heat pumps could have in bringing more renewable heating into the home, while helping to balance the demands made on our electricity grid.

PassivSystems is identifying ways of increasing knowledge about heat pumps and the future role they will play in integrating with renewable energy production and increasing flexibility of the grid. Estimates indicate that up to

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Call made for a well-defined policy framework for deploying greater volumes of low-carbon heating in the UK 38% savings in heat pump running costs could be achieved using a differential tariff such as the Economy 10 electricity plan.

Colin Calder, chief executive of PassivSystems, commented: “Three of the four projects PassivSystems has been involved with have now concluded. The results from Delta-ee show us that the electrification of heat has a significant role to play in decarbonising domestic heat.

In one of our most recent projects, we have learned that hybrid heating systems actually lower carbon intensity compared with a heat pump only solution, and their flexibility could save between £1.2

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billion – 1.7 billion[1] annually by avoiding extra investment in generation and transmission infrastructure. These historic and ongoing smart heat pump projects prove that the technology to help achieve this goal works and is available today.”

Calder continued: “As we move towards a low-carbon economy, it’s clear that what the industry needs is a well-defined policy framework under which the UK can start deploying greater volumes of low-carbon heating, enabling a better understanding of how this market will evolve.”

Dr Andrew Turton, principal analyst for Delta-ee, said: “Hybrid heat pumps

ENERGY MANAGEMENT will be a key technology in the drive to deliver decarbonisation of heating in the UK at an affordable price. Innovation in controls and optimisation, developed by companies such as PassivSystems, provides an important building block in this transition. Such developments are enabling hybrids to deliver comfort and cost benefits to customers, whilst supporting the wider gas and electricity networks and facilitating cost effective national decarbonisation.”

OPEN STANDARDS One of the barriers to wider deployment of smart heat pump technology is the lack of a standardised control interface. Many heat pump manufacturers today have ambitions to provide smart heat pump controls, but these often end up as high-end accessories that are perceived as complicated and costly. The reality is that most new heat pumps are installed with low-cost and low-capability timers and thermostats originally designed for boilers. Unfortunately, these can have a negative impact on the system efficiency. PassivSystems is calling for an open-standard interface that allows heat pumps to be tuned to a home’s thermal properties and meet the individual requirements of homeowners.

According to Delta-ee, a country partner for the International Energy Agency (IEA), smart heat pump control technology will add significant value to the electricity market and to consumers as flexible energy tariffs are introduced and more distributed energy assets are deployed throughout the UK. The intermittent nature of renewable sources like wind and solar is challenging grid operators to maintain stable electricity networks that can manage both highly variable sources of supply and demand. PassivSystems’ vision is that every household can benefit from cheaper, cleaner energy by playing their part in balancing the grid. By developing and operating smart data services that manage equipment in homes, PassivSystems’ mission is to create sustainable value from energy systems. For more information, visit www.passivsystems.com Delta-ee was founded in 2003 and now employs 40 people operating from its head office in Edinburgh, Cambridge, Denmark, Netherlands, and Germany. For more information, visit www.delta-ee.com

Online estimator shows businesses potential impact of electricity charging shake-up Call made for a well-defined policy framework for deploying greater volumes of low-carbon heating in the UK

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nergy has launched a free online tool to help UK businesses evaluate how major changes to electricity distribution charging may impact their bills.

On 1 April 2018 energy regulator Ofgem is introducing DCP228, which will shake-up the way Distribution Use of System (DUoS) charges are calculated.

DUoS charges are made by the regional Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) for the transportation of electricity from the National Grid to customer meters and account for around 10% of an average electricity bill.

DCP228 will change the current triple-tiered (red, amber and green) banding used to calculate DUoS charges. Currently, electricity consumed in the red tier peak-time period can cost up to 20 times more than units used in the amber and green tiers.

DCP228 will balance the charges more evenly across the three tiers to better reflect average national demand and remove the large price differentials.

DCP228 will apply to every UK business, except the largest electricity connections using extra high voltage

distribution. Its impact will, however, vary from customer-to-customer, depending on factors such as consumption profile, voltage level and region.

Richard Smith, Director of Strategy for Energy, explained: “For many businesses, DCP228 will mean a rise in energy costs, but for those who consume a lot of power in the red period of the day, distribution costs may be lower.

It’s important to understand how the changes may affect bills, which is why we have launched our free estimation tool to give companies some indication of the cost impact and help them prepare.

“Those businesses that have invested in demand management measures, or made operational changes, to shift load away from red periods will see reduced benefits from peak-time avoidance. Going forward, energy efficiency measures, informed by accurate consumption monitoring, are likely to have more impact on costs than load management, so energy saving strategies must move to the top of the business agenda.”

The free online tool is available at www.inprovaenergy.com/dcp228

[1] Imperial College London – Methodology for whole-system assessment of the impact of hybrid heat pumps on power system (January 2017)

ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

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NEWS HVAC

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR FROM XPELAIR Effective ventilation can be key to an individual’s health and wellbeing and an efficient way to protect against indoor air pollutants. Poor indoor air quality is something that affects much of the UK population.

Here Lee Stones, product marketing manager for Xpelair, explains how solutions such as Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) can help.

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t is estimated the UK population spends 90% of its time indoors and while many understand the detrimental impact of poor pollution outdoors, few consider the effect of the quality of the air we breathe inside our homes. The biggest cause of poor indoor air quality is Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which can be emitted from a whole host of everyday items such as furniture, carpets, paints, cleaning products and even building fabrics and materials.

VOCs can be detrimental to a person’s health, especially when exposed to them for long periods of time. They can also aggravate pre-existing health conditions and cause fatigue, dizziness and headaches. The effects will be further increased as housebuilders create ever more insulated homes, leading to a decrease in natural ventilation and even more air tightness in properties. This is why mechanical ventilation is crucial.

One option is combining Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery, offering the opportunity to extract air from the building through a central heat exchanger and recover heat back into the air supply. The concept of MVHR is gaining traction as a method of enabling energy recovery while addressing health concerns through a costeffective, mechanical, balanced ventilation.

MVHR is fast becoming the only ventilation system that meets building requirements.

It offers the benefit of providing ventilation that both supplies and extracts air through a property, while constantly supplying fresh filtered air. Ideal for new builds, MVHR is suited to smaller homes, flats or apartments where insulation levels are often high.

An innovative solution to the MVHR

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sector is Xpelair’s Natural Air 180, which truly raises the bar in modern domestic ventilation. The system is Xpelair’s first whole-house MVHR unit and is completely new to the market providing an efficient and flexible approach to ventilation. With the use of ultra-fine G4 filters, the unit helps to significantly improved indoor air quality and eliminate condensation and odours.

The unit offers in-built flexibility for customisation to meet non-standard situations. From NOX filtration for optimised safety, a particularly relevant issue for inner-city dwellings, through to PIR sensor activity for enhanced efficiency and cold-climate pre-heating, each unit can be customised with an extensive range of Xpelair ancillaries.

Another advantage is the unit’s Intelligent Adaptiflow Sensing, through which the motor continually assesses the performance of the impeller and, when there is a consistent change in airflow, adjusts the fan speed fan to maintain a constant volume of extracted air. Its unique, active humidistat responds to rapid increases in humidity, important for kitchen and bathroom ventilation.

The Natural Air 180 is the ideal answer to changes in building regulations, especially with housebuilders striving to achieve the Passivhaus standard.

Natural Air 180 makes a contribution to the government’s pledge of a low carbon future as it is listed on the Passivhaus database, demonstrating the unit’s ability

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to facilitate the planning and performance of a building to the required standard of a reduced ecological footprint.

At 552mm x 609mm x 285mm, Natural Air 180 occupies less room than similar products on the market.

While its lightweight construction in two pieces, instead of the traditional one, make it easier to handle and fit.

With an increased focus towards Passivhaus and heating and ventilation requirements changing it is a key time to provide solutions that will increase ventilation and improve indoor air quality.

To find out more, visit www.xpelair.co.uk.

BOILERS & BURNERS

STOKVIS RELIABILITY WINS REPEAT WORK WITH SOCIAL HOUSING SPECIALIST

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developer specialising in the conversion of existing commercial properties into apartment buildings for social housing providers is placing repeat orders with Stokvis Energy Systems for a range of heating and hot water solutions having been impressed by the company’s quality, reliability and service.

SHF Property Investments has recently seen residents move into Unity House in Luton, Bedfordshire, after the five-storey office block was converted into 110 flats.

The one, two and three bedroom dwellings are served by a skid-mounted Modupak 330 boiler set as well as a pair of PHE 2 x C3Ai22+1T Plate Heat Exchangers, along with a 1000 litre buffer vessel. There is also a Micro-S Digital Pressurisation Unit and an EB-3MXH440 Cold Water Booster Set. Patryk Halczak, senior consultant and engineer from Topmen Services Ltd, who carried out the work on behalf of SHF Property Investments, comments: “Having worked in the field for many years I had noticed that whatever age of Stokvis plate heat exchangers I came across, they were still working well. So, when on our Wesley

Stokvis Energy Systems solution for heating and hot water at Unity House House project I needed to specify two new plate heat exchangers, I chose Stokvis Econoplate along with a booster set for the ten storey social housing building.

“That was four years ago, since when they have never given us any problems at all, and Stokvis Energy Systems’ sales engineer has educated me about all the other products available in the range. Now we have used Stokvis again for Unity House on Stuart Street in Luton, where I was so confident about the reliability of the systems we have installed that I went away on a long holiday the day after we commissioned all the equipment! Again, everything has been trouble-free and we have just taken delivery of the Stokvis equipment for another project in Leicester.”

Patryk Halczak specified the boilers for the five-storey Unity House to be provided by Stokvis on a skid arrangement to avoid the need to hire a crane to install them within the rooftop plant

room. However, Stokvis Modupak also offers clients ease of access for getting new boilers through existing narrow doorways and the enhanced performance characteristics of cascade firing.

Then the Stokvis Econoplate plate heat exchangers offer an ideal means of reducing boiler cycling and isolate the new units from any potential problems of being linked up to old pipework within refurbished or converted buildings. They are widely specified for hotels, leisure centres and other high demand situations as well as shared heat networks, such as the one within the Luton apartment block.

Whatever the application, Stokvis Energy Systems can provide a full design, manufacture, supply and commissioning service: able to deliver the highest possible standards of energy efficiency, along with peace of mind for consultants and contractors like Patryk Halczak of Topmen Services Limited. www.stokvisboilers.com

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HEAT PUMPS NEWS

THE GROUND AS AN ENERGY ASSET John Findlay, CEng, FGS, MCIWEM, Chairman of the Ground Source Heat Pump Association, Chris Davidson and Bean Beanland.

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he Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) sector is the Cinderella of low carbon aspiration in the UK; the clock of carbonemission-derived climate change has long since struck midnight, but ground-source is still waiting for the Prince Charming of government to come along with a policy that fits so that it can take its place at the top table.

With constrained budgets and pressures to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, carbon and costs, the challenges facing the modern Energy Manager are difficult to reconcile within a coherent strategy. Add to this ever-changing policy challenges such as F-Gas and policy opportunities such as the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and it is easy to get pulled around by consultants and suppliers peddling one-size-fitsall solutions in a blinkered way.

Despite making lots of the right noises, Westminster has persisted in treating all renewable heat technologies with equality, which has failed to recognise the many unique attributes that GSHPs bring to the party. “Heat is hard”, as Amber Rudd the former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change famously said while in post.

Much of government thinking is now on how to decarbonise and secure our heating and cooling infrastructure in an affordable way. District networks are one of the many hot topics in the policy world. The weaknesses of conventional high temperature district heat networks are both technical and financial. The high cost of heavily insulated pipework, the heat losses and the complex contracts required to own and operate them often seem insurmountable.

Also, the high temperatures required to feed the networks limit both the heating technologies and heat recovery opportunities available.

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One option which overcomes many of these problems is the adoption of ambient temperature district networks; ranging from the micro (2 homes) to the very large scale. In these systems, buildings share a network of uninsulated pipes with water circulated at ambient temperature. This approach greatly reduces the cost of pipework, compared to expensive insulated pipework in conventional district solutions. A high degree of independent control can be provided by feeding heat pumps in individual buildings for both heating and cooling.

At a simple level these networks can efficiently share energy between buildings however there is one further benefit which can be incorporated; inter-seasonal energy storage and heat recovery. By extending the ambient temperature network to include a larger ground collector, or ground loop, we enhance both heating and cooling efficiencies for all the connected buildings and importantly can qualify for the GSHP tariffs in the Non-Domestic RHI (the highest of all tariffs). These collectors

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come in many forms from closed loops within boreholes to water wells and even interactions with surface water bodies such as rivers, lakes, canals or the sea.

These long-term assets serve not only the current but also future generations of buildings, much like the gas, water and electricity networks do today.

From a geographic perspective, UK winters are typified by relatively benign temperatures, high rainfall and high humidity. These favour GSHPs over any of the other renewable heat technology. As successful UK generation policy has driven investment in on-shore and off-shore wind and in solar photovoltaics, the electricity grid is rapidly being decarbonised.

Taking data from DEFRA, the carbon factor (the amount of carbon emitted per unit of electricity) for grid electricity reduced by approximately 7% between

HEAT PUMPS NEWS 2014 and 2015, a further 10% between 2015 and 2016, and 15% between 2016 and 2017.

This reflects the reduction in the amount of coal being burned, an increase in gas usage and a major increase of renewable electricity generation from wind and solar.

In the second quarter of this year, wind, solar and hydroelectric power were responsible for 30% of the total amount of electricity generated in the UK, beating the previous record of 27% set just 3 months earlier.

At current levels, GSHP systems operating with a typical Seasonal Performance Factor of 3.2, are already more carbon efficient than a gas-fired boiler, offering reductions in CO2 equivalent emissions of approximately 40%.

In terms of longevity, GSHP systems also have the upper hand. A typical gas power station might be expected to operate for 30 to 40 years, provided it has an economic source of gas to burn.

The renewable ‘fuel’ source for a GSHP is of course – the ground. In order to access this source of heat, boreholes are drilled to a depth and design suited to the geology and building in question.

The borehole infrastructure has a life expectancy of 100 years or more. The ultimate source of the renewable heat collected by a GSHP is the sun. This has a rather longer life expectancy!

To summarise some of the advantages of a GSHP system, from the point of view of government, GSHP infrastructure can: 1. Contribute significantly to the decarbonisation of heat and cooling.

2. Dramatically reduce the potential impact on the national grid and on generation resources when compared to resistive heat (SAP implications).

3. Help to control operational costs for those in fuel poverty, especially when displacing resistive heat or oil or LPG.

4.

Contribute to national fuel security by bringing the resources on shore (as opposed to importing natural gas).

5. Contribute to the national balance of payments by displacing imported fuels.

6. Provide high quality employment in a growing market with on-going maintenance requirements requiring high skill levels and so providing excellent job opportunities.

7. Displace investment in fossil-fuel generation capacity with longer term value given the accepted design life of installed groundsource infrastructure when compared to the equivalent for gas-fired power stations.

For large commercial entities, ground-source systems can contribute to satisfying CRC and ESOS reporting requirements.

For local authorities, social housing landlords, developers and the major house-builders, GSHP system open-up significant opportunities for genuine, low-low temperature heat networks.

Depending upon configuration, these can reduce transmission losses to negligible levels when compared to the traditional fossil-fuel and centralised plant schemes of the past.

In all cases, there is the added motivation offered by the renewable heat incentive. The RHI pays for each

unit of heat delivered to the building by a GSHP over twenty years and is CPI index linked. The simple payback periods for this type of investment are short and, even allowing for a loan at current commercial rates, projects can turn to profit well within a ten-year window and go on to more than double the initial investment at year twenty.

Welcome (and increasing) requirements to build highly insulated housing has created a new demand for modest levels of cooling, particularly in urban developments. Here, again, ground-source has a unique ability to deliver; offering passive cooling just for the cost of running a circulation pump.

The UK ground-source industry is packed with experience and expertise, much of it residing within the ranks of the Ground Source Heat Pump Association, GSHPA. Underpinning the design and installation of GSHP systems are landmark standards from CIBSE and the GSHPA which, for the first time allow clear procurement paths via either specialist contractors or specialist consultants.

While many mainstream consultants are new to this type of infrastructure, their thinking is often limited to the building rather than the source of the energy.

These standards provide a framework to ensure performance in the long term.

All that is now required to unlock this huge potential is a “slipper” of policy that fits…. www.gshp.org.uk

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ENERGY SUPPLY

ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS – A NEW MODEL FOR A NEW AGE Barrie Cressey, business development director – smart grids at Schneider Electric

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f you speak to any distribution network operator (DNO), they will tell you that customer service and satisfaction is their number one priority. If there is an outage or failure, they want to be seen to be responsive – giving timely updates and information on when the problem will be fixed. To do that, they are investing in new technologies to improve the design, operation, maintenance and improvement of distribution networks everywhere.

However, traditional electric distribution networks, like our own grid in the UK, weren’t built with today’s

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technologies in mind. The traditional DNO distribution model focused on one-way delivery of electricity, with clear and reliable definitions of upstream and downstream.

AN EVOLVED DISTRIBUTION MODEL With the evolution of the UK’s energy mix, moving to a more balanced blend of traditional energy sources with distributed generation – from the likes of renewable sources, energy storage and microgrids – the classic DNO model is changing. The upshot of this is a bottom up approach to the modern distribution network and a great deal of confusion. And this isn’t going away. The UK generated more electricity from renewables than traditional fuel sources for the first time at the start of the summer. If renewables are to continue to rise, this will be dependent on how network operators are able to balance the network.

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The recent findings from the government-sponsored Future Power System Architecture programme makes for some interesting reading. What’s at stake is the power sector drifting off course instead of focusing on a smooth transition that works for all stakeholders.

The fact is, DNOs don’t know where to position themselves as companies. In the future, they may be responsible for balancing the network, in the transition to a more complex, systemic model that accounts for and manages multiple points of variable supply and consumption – far removed from the traditional one-way street of electricity delivery. Employing these modern technologies and practices are what separate a DNO from being a Distribution System Operator (DSO).

THE ROLE OF THE DSO In order for DSOs to satisfy customers – especially during times of peak demand – they must account for an enormous variety of production and load scenarios, as contingencies rise in step

ENERGY SUPPLY NEWS with the number of Distributed Energy Resource (DER) mechanisms added to the network. Accommodating the addition of new part-time energy sources further swells network management complexity.

Distribution generation, demand response, and energy storage mechanisms introduce new variables to any system. These new variables require a more flexible network, not only with respect to its operation, but also investments in new network infrastructure – as well as ways to manage and develop that infrastructure at the lowest cost.

The DSO also faces challenges that the DNO does not. DSOs must deal with flexible demand, and operate networks that can accommodate resources like demand response. They control networks capable of intelligently aggregating many different geographically dispersed inputs and the complications that come with that. For example, demand generation sources can’t always control their own production levels. Increased feed-in can also exceed local load, causing grid congestion, or have voltage variation and other power quality problems.

What’s more, demand generation source locations are sometimes less than ideal.

For example, they’re not close to the highest loads, where they might most efficiently alleviate peak demand.

DNOs don’t become DSOs overnight, but over time. A long time. And the rate at which that transformation occurs varies. It varies by continent, country, and region. One of the more likely models for the UK to adopt can be found in Australia. Although a geographically larger island, the energy grid there is built in clusters, as opposed to the continent of Europe for example, which runs on an interconnected system.

A PERMANENT STEP FORWARD One of the more common concerns expressed by DNOs as they implement automation systems is quite simply the move away from manual controls. Once a system is running decisions led by highly intelligent, computerised tools, machine-based philosophies and models, this marks a clear break from the past.

The networks of the future cannot be managed by human intervention alone. It is these systems that will accelerate the evolution of network operation.

While this transition is taking place, the reality is the next decade is unclear.

It is going to depend on the stake the government and those running the system will take in modernising the grid. www.schneider-electric.co.uk

GAZPROM ENERGY TO OFFER ENERGY CONSUMERS AND CONSULTANTS FREE STRATEGIC ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM InSight is the first tool of its type to be provided by an energy retailer

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azprom Energy, a specialist business gas and electricity supplier, announces the launch of ‘InSight’, a free tool that will enable its major energy customers and energy consultant partners to actively manage their strategic energy buying through an in-depth real-time view of the market.

InSight streamlines the energy procurement process between Gazprom Energy and its customers and consultant partners, and enables organisations to be more agile in their energy purchasing, which can lead to financial savings.

Accessing live market prices and information, organisations can set alerts and buy or trade precisely when the market conditions are right for them, meaning more of their time can be spent strategically on trading and less on generating and analysing spreadsheet reports.

Gazprom Energy is the first UK energy retailer to provide its customers on flexible purchasing contracts with a free market insight and trading tool, which allows them to view their exact position in the energy market 24/7 from any internet connected location including mobile.

Energy managers can view reports that are updated in real time at the touch of a button to establish energy prices and identify the amount they can sell their energy for. Enhancing the personal support the organisation already receives from Gazprom Energy’s Energy Procurement team, buyers can receive information direct from InSight based on their individual energy buying needs. In future releases of InSight customers and their consultants will also be able to trade energy using the tool providing access whenever it’s needed.

InSight combines energy market trends with an organisation’s own energy needs and purchasing profile, removing the onus on energy managers and giving them more time to make the correct strategic buying decisions. The platform alerts the user when energy prices have reached a specific user-defined level, allowing businesses to react quickly and accurately to changes in the market, and buy or sell through the system when prices are within their approved threshold. Customers will be able to carry out ‘dummy runs’ to see hypothetically how their spending could be affected by different purchases and trades.

Thomas Meredith, customer relationship analyst at Gazprom Energy says: “Through InSight, our customers will have access to a one-stop shop for strategic energy buying, and benefit from a more streamlined and automated energy procurement process. This will allow energy managers to buy and sell energy much quicker, and view the position of the energy market all in one solution. We don’t want to merely give customers the data they need to make energy buying decisions; we want to give them something more interactive that provides the answers they need to map their own position against changes in the energy market.

“Our experience with customers finds that some businesses spend as long as a whole day a week pulling together reports to share with other departments such as finance. We wanted to give all of our flexible energy buying customers a transparent and cost effective service and the ability to retrieve the information they need instantly.”

For more information, please visit www.gazprom-energy.co.uk.

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NEWS DISTRICT HEATING

RESOURCE SAVINGS BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE KEMPTEN UNIVERSITY PATENTS ADVANCED THERMAL LOAD PREDICTION METHOD

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oad profiles in district heating grids depend on many parameters: If it is cold outside, higher heating loads are needed.

Weekends, weekdays or holidays exhibit their own typical load patterns.

The novel method does exploit these unique characteristics: “Artificial intelligence has proven to detect patterns with very high accuracy. An example is speech recognition in mobile phones, which has become very powerful in the last years, with error rates of only a few percent. We are using similar methods for predicting future load profiles in district heating or cooling networks. Our approach does not require information

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For district heating networks, overal pipeline lenghts of several 100 kilometers are typical. This makes their operation a significant challenge.

A more accurate prediction of future heating loads would allow operators to provide loads more efficiently and climatefriendly. A novel method developed by Kempten University of Applied Sciences in Germany is able to significantly increase the precision of thermal load predictions.

of individual consumers, but only aggregated data, for example regional weather forecasts “, explains Till Faber, a PhD student and one of the main developers of the novel approach.

“Improvements in prediction accuracy can lead to significant savings in CO2 emissions and costs, since heat and power generation plants can be operated more efficiently.”, adds Prof.

Matthias Finkenrath, who is leading the research project “KWK-Flex” funded by the German federal government, under which the technology has been developed. “The combination of domain knowledge from energy engineering with tools and competences from

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informatics, in particular by my colleague Prof. Brauer, turned out to be the key factor for success. By this we were able to develop a very effective and flexible machine learning tool – based on socalled ‘deep learning’ –, which can be used in many applications in energy and process engineering”, says Finkenrath.

A European patent application has been recently filed on the novel method for load prediction, which is currently further validated and optimized jointly with the two district heating operators, Fernwärme Ulm GmbH und ZAK Energie GmbH. For further information visit: www.hochschule-kempten.de/kwk-flex

LIGHTING

KINGSPAN KAPTURES DAYLIGHT FOR LONGER Kingspan Light + Air is helping buildings to achieve excellent daylighting levels for a greater number of hours in the day with the launch of Kingspan DayLite Kapture – a precision engineered rooflight with outstanding light diffusion.

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t the heart of Kingspan Day-Lite Kapture is an advanced, nano-prismatic layer which uses microscopic structures to efficiently scatter light. This innovative design helps to reduce light reflection when compared with conventional pigmented diffusion approaches – ensuring excellent levels of light transmission.

The product’s contoured form is comprised from three overlapping spherical domes. This unique shape allows light to be captured at low sun angles — illuminating internal spaces during early morning and late evening — and performs equally well in any orientation. It also helps to transfer loads, such as snow, to the side of the rooflights.

Kingspan Light + Air understand each building is different, and through its

advanced research and development facilities, the firm can adapt and tailor Kingspan Day-Lite Kapture units to each project’s unique requirements. Options include an enhanced outer UV resistant layer to include IR blocking particles, providing additional protection for properties at risk of significant solar gains, and dual nano-prismatic layers for even greater diffusion.

To maximise the energy and cost savings that can be achieved in each application, Kingspan Light + Air also manufacture and supply low energy lighting with optional daylight harvesting sensors which dynamically react to lighting demand. The firms expert design team generate detailed reports for each project, creating 3D models of the building and applying local climate

data to identify the optimal solution and layout. These comprehensive documents provide a clear indication of the expected performance and cost benefits from installing the Kingspan Light + Air solution including expected energy savings, carbon reduction, pay-back period and the total return on investment over a ten year period. www.kingspan.com

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LIGHTING

NEW EXTERIOR LED LIGHTING OPTIONS SAVE ENERGY AND LOCAL AUTHORITY BUDGETS

• LED alternatives available for traditional fluorescent tube fixtures, 2D luminaires, bulkheads, metal halide and SON lamps.

• Energy savings up to 80%, maintenance savings of 95%

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ED Eco Lights has introduced low-energy, low-maintenance alternatives to traditional lighting for outdoor applications such as car parks, leisure centres, libraries, public buildings, streets and other areas. New LED options for outdoor use comprise Goodlight™ G5 battens with SMART Sensor technology, 2D anti-corrosive bulkhead luminaires and G360 SON retrofit replacement lamps. Delivering up to 80% energy savings, with a lifespan of three to five times that of traditional lighting, they provide Local Authorities further savings on relatively costly maintenance of exterior lighting. Upgrading old lighting to LED lighting in public outside spaces also provides higher visibility, excellent illumination and a safer environment.

G5 LED BATTENS WITH SMART SENSOR TECHNOLOGY Goodlight G5 LED battens now offer SMART Sensor technology, allowing luminaires to be grouped and respond intelligently to exterior lighting needs. By switching to LED, Local Authorities can reduce their lighting energy bill by up to 80%. The new G5 LED battens are direct drop-in replacements for standard 2ft, 4ft and 5ft length single and twin tube fluorescent fittings. The G5 delivers very high levels of light output, offering an incredible 110Lm/W with a 120-degree beam angle for optimum spread.

Housed in a sleek body, the Goodlight G5 is shielded by a high-density rubber seal, giving it fivefold protection against the environment. The seal offers IP65

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protection against water, dust and corrosion, plus the fitting can withstand exposure to frost, snow and ice. It can operate in extreme temperatures from -20 to +50°C, and is highly robust, thanks to an impact protection rating of IK08.

2D LED BULKHEAD New 2D LED bulkhead luminaires feature a rugged, yet stylish housing with an opal PC diffuser. For external use, they are rated IP65 to prevent dust and water ingress, together with anti-corrosive protection to protect against pollutants and salt spray, for

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example in coastal authorities. As well as rugged performance, they come with black trim to match most fascias, guttering and facades. The 2Ds can be either wall or ceiling-mounted to enhance exterior communal spaces, or as the main security/comfort lighting in exterior applications. Versions include standard, integral microwave sensor and emergency battery (3-hour) back-up.

G360 LED SON REPLACEMENT LAMPS G360 LED SON replacement lamps can be retrofitted in place of traditional

LIGHTING metal halide or SON lamps in external installations including bollards, globes, street lighting lamp heads and canopies. Delivering a high lumen output of 140Lm/W, they provide a 30% increase in brightness levels along with 360-degree beam angle.

In high powered models, heat is well-managed with a unique on-board MagLev fan cooling system, which ensures silent operation (less than 0.5dB) and allows use in extreme temperature conditions outdoors. This radical design incorporates new vent ducts which create maximum airflow around the lamp ensuring that the heat is drawn away from the LED, therefore significantly improving reliability, consistency and performance of the lamp. G360™ LED lamps retrofit into existing fittings, replacing traditional sodium, metal halide and HID lamps up to 250W. They are ideally suited to council depots, social housing exteriors, street and pathway lighting, bollards and Belisha beacons.

Commenting, Saima Shafi, sales and marketing director at LED Eco Lights said, “Our LED lighting technology offers Local Authorities more efficient light at lower cost, without the drawbacks of other low energy lighting technologies. Our LED lamps and luminaires reach full brightness instantly, and are virtually maintenance free with no ballasts or starters needed.

This is especially beneficial in external

fittings where the environment is harsher and light fittings may be hard to access. LEDs are also free of the migraine-inducing flicker of traditional tube lights, and contain no heavy metals making them easy to dispose of safely and are much less hazardous in the unlikely event of a breakage.”

“Our products are already proven in exterior installations like Frosts Garden Centres, London Underground and nationally across a major supermarket chain,” adds Saima Shafi. “We are confident that Local Authorities will experience the same technical and financial benefits.”

Local Authorities can fund lighting replacement programmes from their operating budgets by taking advantage of the company’s BrightPlan LED leasing scheme. This allows the replacement lights to be paid for directly by the energy savings and the customer will own the lights outright at the end of the lease. LED Eco Lights is offering a free site survey which will provide a detailed breakdown of suitable replacement light fittings, the installed cost and the return on investment from savings on energy and maintenance costs. The five-year, 50,000 hours guarantee from LED Eco Lights makes exterior installation risk-free.

ABOUT LED ECO LIGHTS LED Eco Lights was founded in 2006 and celebrates 11 years as an award-winning LED lighting manufacturer. Its Goodlight™ LED lamps and luminaires provides a comprehensive range of LED solutions for commercial, industrial, amenity, leisure and hospitality environments.

LED Eco Lights offers a team of technical experts, to guide customers through every stage of the upgrade process, including lighting design services, funding solutions and installation. LED Eco Lights also offers its Bright Goods range of vintage-style decorative LED filament bulbs. For more information please visit www.goodlight.co.uk

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NEWS LIGHTING

NEDAP PRESENTS THE LUXON IOT NODE – MAKING IT EASY FOR LIGHTING VENDORS TO BENEFIT FROM CONNECTED LIGHTING

Nedap is introducing the Luxon IoT Node to the UK-market during LuxLive in London.

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he Node features a tiny electronic device that connects luminaires, regardless of brand, to the Luxon light management system in a costeffective manner. This technology has been developed in line with Nedap’s ambitions to make connected lighting widely available and to unlock and sustain the full potential of LED lighting.

The Luxon IoT Node connects LED luminaires to a mesh network. Lights are driven by demand using multiple control strategies and only switched on where and when needed.

in the ‘Connected Lighting Innovation of the Year’ category. The winner will be announced at LuxLive 2017.

GROWING SUSTAINABILITY AMBITIONS Jeroen Somsen, Managing Director at Nedap Light Controls, states: “We see the sustainability ambitions of companies grow and therefore the demand for connected lighting. Where LEDs previously only cut energy bills in half, connectivity now unlocks LED’s true

potential by saving up to 90 per cent.”

TAKING SERVICE TO THE NEXT LEVEL Accurate real-time data empowers users to make highly informed decisions for further improvements over time.

Connected lighting is the true enabler for Lighting as a Service initiatives, leading the way to more sustainable economies.

This puts lighting vendors in a position to perform at a higher level and at lower cost. www.nedap.com

LUX AWARD NOMINEE FOR INNOVATIVE DESIGN The Luxon IoT Node differs from other connected lighting products on the market due to its ease of integration and extended functionality, such as performance monitoring and remote diagnostics. The Node complies with all major LED driver interfaces including Philips Xitanium SR. Due to its innovative and smart design, the Luxon IoT Node has been nominated at the Lux Awards

Improved illumination and energy savings for school

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he desire to improve overall standards of illumination and reduce energy consumption has long underpinned the growing number of lighting system upgrades taking place at UK schools, colleges and universities. Increasingly, given the advent of highly sophisticated and user-friendly control systems, enhanced adjustment of lighting conditions and output can be added to the mix.

All of these elements came into play when Frampton Cotterell Church of England Primary School in South Gloucestershire decided to undertake a site-wide lighting upgrade earlier this year. The project covered multiple areas, from classrooms to general meeting spaces, and reflected the overwhelming feeling that “the lighting in the premises was in a very poor condition,” recalls school business manager Mandy Turner. Having established that South

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Gloucestershire Council would be able to part-fund the upgrade, Ms Turner and her team initiated a tender process.

The contract went to Connected Light.

Not surprisingly, the emphasis throughout the project was on ensuring minimum disruption to the normal running of the school, so all work was carried out in just seven days over the summer 2017 holidays. Drawing on LED lighting from across the current Connected Light portfolio, the new fixtures and fittings replaced ageing fluorescent lighting which had been the subject of failures and which was also yielding a very poor standard of illumination.

To ensure easy access to staff and support personnel to the control of the systems, simple controllers were integrated into a number of key areas, including the toilets, storerooms and cupboard areas. Personnel were given

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an overview of the new lighting and its capabilities, as and when requested.

As well as delivering all the expected advantages of transitioning from traditional fluorescents to the latest LED lighting – notably, reduced energy consumption and costs, improved illumination, less call for maintenance, and so on – there was one very immediate benefit in terms of peace of mind. “We once had an incident with one of the old units overheating and burning, which was obviously very concerning, so the new system has brought us a great deal of reassurance with regard to health and safety,” says Mandy Turner. http://connectedlight.co.uk/

WATER MANAGEMENT NEWS

RETHINK WATER: REDUCE, RECYCLE AND RECOVER RESOURCES

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he bottom line is important for any company. Efficient use of resources is essential in any sector, but the increasing costs of water and wastewater management mean that an inadequate water strategy can lead to businesses effectively pouring money down the drain.

When it comes to water, there is a perception that sewer discharge costs nothing and there is little you can do with wastewater once it has been treated and cleaned in line with industry regulations.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. Delivery of mains water costs £1 per cubic metre, and typically twice as much to discharge the equivalent volume1.

Companies looking to increase profit while generating positive publicity can start by analysing the total cost and environmental impact of their water usage, and implement solutions to reduce consumption.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND REGULATIONS There are considerable costs associated with water processing – whether it’s before or after use – and making the best use of this paid for resource can make a significant difference to profit margins. All industries have a responsibility to ensure that their trade effluent meets regulatory requirements, and companies should be encouraged to look beyond these statutory requirements to see how, once they’ve paid for it and treated it, water can be used and reused to best effect before disposal. This can not only reduce overall consumption and waste costs, it can also potentially provide valuable byproducts for use in other areas of the business.

RESTRICTIONS There are currently no restrictions for most customers on the amount of water that can be drawn from the network or returned to the drain; you simply pay for the amount you use or discharge. However, we are now beginning to see the emergence of limits for industrial water use to try and manage demand. Although there are currently only financial penalties for excess use, if demand continues to exceed supply, we may see a situation in the future where water supplies are simply cut off once water limits are reached. This would

have a far more significant impact, leading to temporary shutdown of manufacturing processes and significantly harming profitability.

REDUCE Reducing water consumption is the most direct way to save money, and regular water monitoring can help highlight leaks or unexplained water usage in your facility. If your trade activities primarily occur during the day time, for example, you should expect to see your water consumption almost zero overnight. Real-time monitoring and automated control offers a more robust approach, and companies can work with a water technology supplier, such as Veolia, to implement data-driven, water saving solutions. Immediate access to up-to-date figures drives efficient operating conditions, maximising equipment lifecycles, reducing maintenance and demonstrating regulatory compliance.

REUSE AND RECYCLE Reusing and recycling wastewater can offer even more significant savings, due to the high cost of discharging wastewater. In many cases, specific wastewater treatment technology is needed before it can be reused in industrial processes. Water recovery systems involving filtration, reverse osmosis (RO) and clarification steps prevent thousands of cubic metres of wastewater entering the sewage system, reducing initial water consumption and offering significant financial savings. Recycling is vital in water intensive processes, such as renal dialysis, which typically uses around 22,000 litres of ultrapure water annually per patient.

Reject water from the RO system can be recovered in a separate process, with the permeate quality often significantly better than mains water. In the pharmaceutical industry, Veolia installed a recovery RO system adjacent to a client’s two production RO units, enabling over 50 % of the RO concentrate to be recycled and reused, with annual cost savings of £32,000.

RECOVER RESOURCES Wastewater can be a very valuable resource, particularly in the food and beverage industry. For example, wastewater

from dairies and distilleries could be passed through an anaerobic bioreactor to produce biogas, which could be returned to the grid or back to the facility to supply energy – up to 80 % of the electrical needs of some distilleries. A second by-product, biomass, could also be repurposed as fuel, or used as land fertiliser on farms.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT This type of innovative water use can have a significant impact on production costs, but requires a new way of thinking and an investment in new technologies and equipment to gain the benefits. For many sectors, the perceived ‘slow’ return on investment (ROI) can be a stumbling block, as many boards of directors and shareholders demand an ROI within the same financial cycle. However, by looking at water treatment and recycling as a slightly longer term investment – generally achieving an ROI over two years – companies can help to safeguard their future water supplies and reduce their environmental impact for many years to come.

RETHINKING THE APPROACH TO WATER MANAGEMENT It is hard to deny the strong business and environmental arguments for changing our approach to water management.

Ignoring our water consumption is no longer a viable option, and industries can benefit from implementing technology to deliver water and energy savings, as well as reaping financial benefits.

The time has come to rethink water.

Contact us and speak to an expert to find out how can transform wastewater costs into savings. www.affinityforbusiness.co.uk

1 https://affinityforbusiness.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Thames-1617.pdf

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WATER MANAGEMENT

ALTERNATIVE WATER SUPPLY OPTIONS; BOREHOLES ARE BACK IN VOGUE! John Findlay, Director, Carbon Zero Consulting Ltd

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ntil recently, only non-domestic customers in Scotland and very high-level consumers in England and Wales could switch their water supplier to save money or to hope to improve the level of service they receive.

This situation changed in April this year when the water market was deregulated to allow for greater competition in England.

About 1.2 million customers are now able to choose their water provider, in the same way as they do for electricity and gas, based on cost and customer service.

An objective of deregulation is for (new) suppliers to buy water in bulk from existing major suppliers, and then to sell it on. In such a market, companies might go a step further to offer other utilities, to include gas, electricity, and perhaps telecoms.

Experience from deregulation of the electricity and gas market shows us that there is a lot of inertia involved and that many will take their time to evaluate options before making a significant move.

Scotland deregulated its water in 2008, with customers benefiting from discounted water charges in addition to higher levels of service to help with monitoring and efficiency of water consumption. The latter points are possibly the most important; resulting in greater attention being paid to the value of water, its’ efficient use and consideration of alternative sources of supply - including heightened interest in the very significant cost and other benefits of a borehole water supply.

For consideration of a (borehole) groundwater supply, the main points for consideration include: • How much water do you use or need?

• Would the underlying geology at your site support a borehole water supply?

• Would the Regulator* of groundwater allow you to consume that amount of water?

• For your particular process, is groundwater quality directly usable or economically treatable?

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•

What maintenance, monitoring and ongoing requirements might there be?

• How much will this cost, and is there a pay-back? (*The Regulators are Environment Agency in England, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Environment Northern Ireland).

The first is the easier to answer. A borehole supply should be sized by taking account of average daily and peak-rate consumption (this governs borehole and pump diameters). This information can be ascertained from your existing water supply bills and by monitoring and logging your consumption, ideally

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at a frequency of 15-minute intervals for at least a week – preferably longer. It goes without saying that in all cases, the primary step is to minimise consumption by implementing widely available efficiency and water-saving devices and processes.

An assessment of underlying geology should be obtained from a professional hydrogeologist with proven experience of providing borehole ‘prognosis’ reports for commercial applications. Their report should include the potential for providing all, or a percentage of, your average daily consumption, the quality of that water and its applicability to your process. For example, not all processes require a

WATER MANAGEMENT quality as high as mains water.

The prognosis report should also review the potential drilling risks at your particular location.

These might include obvious hazards such as tunnels or old mines – or more complex issues such as the presence of historical contaminants, saline water or artesian flow. With all this information in place, the report should conclude with an outline borehole design, an initial indication of capital cost, predicted running costs and a simple evaluation of pay-back when compared to continued mains water supply.

The cost of a prognosis report will commonly depend on the amount of water to be produced by the borehole – and the worth of that water. For instance a bottled water source would place a far higher value on water compared to, say, water for a farmyard. Should the prognosis prove to be positive and the project proceeds, then further elements of design, specification and tender for a suitable contractor would be required.

For any borehole intended to produce more than 20m3 per day (in England); meeting the requirements of the regulatory process is a significant undertaking requiring the specialist input of a professional hydrogeologist. The objective is to obtain a licence to operate your borehole. This is a valuable document giving you protected, time-limited, legal rights to abstract water. The entire regulatory process from obtaining initial drilling consent to final licensing of your borehole would typically be 9 – 12 months, including the drilling works.

A licence to abstract will be granted on a time-limited basis. The first period will be perhaps 6 - 10 years, depending on the particular catchment the borehole is within.

At the end of this period the licence will be renewed for a further 12 years provided there is a proven continued need for water, and the water is used efficiently. Not all areas (catchments) within the UK have ‘new’ water available for consumption due to existing users abstracting the available annual resource. However, in these areas it is sometimes possible to arrange a trade of water rights from an existing licence holder to a new borehole owner.

The quality of water produced by a borehole depends entirely on the underlying geology and characteristics of the aquifer (an aquifer being the porous, permeable rocks that contain the groundwater).

Groundwater chemistry and microbiology varies widely as a result of groundwater slowly flowing through the aquifer rocks

and ‘absorbing’ minerals specific to that aquifer.

The minerals impart a unique character to that water. Most groundwaters also contain a low level of naturally occurring, harmless bacteria. A ‘Natural Mineral Water’ comes from a registered borehole or spring source and has a chemical (mineral) signature that cannot be changed or treated prior to bottling. Such a water can be highly valuable as a bottled water brand.

Groundwater commonly contains a high concentration of dissolved metals such as iron and/or manganese derived from the rock matrix. Although rarely harmful to health; treatment to reduce the level of iron and manganese is often required prior to using the water for most industrial processes or potable consumption.

Industrial and agricultural activity over the last century has added other components to groundwater chemistry that can add to the need for treatment. For example, nitrate is widespread as a result of agriculture, as are a wide range of herbicides, pesticides and industrial chemicals.

Modern water treatment technologies are capable of changing the chemistry or microbiology of a groundwater from its natural state to any desired end point, although the larger number of treatments, or the greater the treatment complexity adds to capital and running costs.

Once your borehole is constructed, tested, licensed and commissioned it will become a vital part of the infrastructure of your business. A borehole is indeed ‘a hole on the ground’ but it is cannot be ignored or put out of mind. In common with all items of infrastructure it requires a level of ongoing planned maintenance and monitoring.

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Your abstraction licence will require a certain level of monitoring such as water flow rate, totalised volume and depth of water in the borehole.

• Consistency of water chemistry and microbiology by sampling and laboratory analysis.

• Monitoring of pump characteristics to forecast potential failure • Inspection of the borehole wellhead, chamber, pipeline, valves, sensors for operability and leaks • Occasional inspection of the borehole by CCTV (perhaps every 3 – 5 years) Capital and running costs of boreholes are heavily dependent on required flow rate and the nature of the underlying geology. A borehole located on a good aquifer, and within a catchment with available water, can be shown to pay-back in as little as 2 years when compared to ongoing mains water costs. Extensive treatment plant and/or complex drilling requirements might increase this figure.

Boreholes are now just as often used for access to renewable heating and cooling at all scales – but more detail on this aspect is for another article. A well-designed and constructed borehole might provide continuous service for 50 – 100 years. As a long term, cost saving alternative supply of water; a borehole is certainly worthy of serious consideration. www.carbonzeroco.com Tel: 01572 729510

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EXHIBITION NEWS NEWS

PUBLIC SECTOR IS COMING TOGETHER AT EMEX TO TACKLE HEAD ON THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY CHALLENGE.

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he public sector has an enormous opportunity to pollute less and save more by making quite straightforward bread-and-butter changes. Dynamic leaders within the sector are showing others the way, while public urgency over environmental causes has provided some impetus. With the continuous rise of energy price combine with a tougher competitive environment ahead after Brexit and growing legislative pressure to reduce carbon emissions, requirements to reduce energy consumption have never been so high.

So why don’t just we do it? It may sound simple enough, but barriers still exist. The procurement process can be complex, but deciding what to procure can be a challenge in its own right. The issue being it is an investment for any organisation, and you must demonstrate very robustly that projects will deliver measurable savings that can increase companies’ bottom-line. Another barrier is the vast array of new technologies that are out there which create a knowledge gap that is hard to close for any professionals in the field.

We have picked out a few sessions that will address these issues during EMEX, the Energy Management Exhibition, on 22nd and 23rd November at ExCeL in London.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE THEATRE Practicing Energy Management in the Public Sector (11:50 12:30 on 22nd November) Energy management in the public sector has its unique issues around funding, procurement and engagement around energy efficiency. The panel will share their views

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on the most common obstacles they face and approaches of overcoming these in implementing energy efficiency in the public sector. With Wendi Wheeler MEI, Energy & Carbon Strategy Manager at Network Rail; Rachel Toresen-Owuor, Project Director - Re:fit at Local Partnerships; Rodrigo Matabuena, Energy Manager at London Borough of Sutton; Mohammad Rafique, Energy and Environment Officer at Surrey Police

Lessons from Universities on Energy Management (12:40 - 13:20, 23rd November) Universities are large complex organisations and their governance is often less then logical. However, some of the best energy efficiency strategies have come out of this sector. In this seminar will concentrate on how these can be achieved. With Rachel Ward, Sustainability Manager – London Metropolitan University; Tristan Wolfe, Energy Manager at University of Aberdeen; Ian Lane, Head of Sustainability at University of the Arts London

WATER & ENERGY STRATEGY THEATRE The Retail Water Market: End Users Wade in and Share their Experience (11:25 - 12:10 on 22nd November) In April 2017, the water retail market went through its biggest transformation since privatisation when it opened to nonhousehold competition between water and wastewater retail service providers in England. Our panel of business customers will explore how they approached this opportunity, what barriers they faced as they switched their service and whether the deregulated market is meeting their expectations. With Evan Joanette, Policy Manager at Consumer Council for Water; Ian Gregory, Head of Utilities at University of Birmingham; Adam Yarnall, Network Utilities Manager at Camping & Caravanning Club; James Tiernan, Group Energy & Environment Manager at Unite Students

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A Meter of Life and Death (14:00 - 14:30 on 23rd November) Metering is the bread and butter of energy management, without it, we cannot even begin to understand what, when and how much we use; to manage energy, you need to understand your usage, and to do this, you must have sight of consumption. With Roger Low, Chartered Energy Manager at Defence Infrastructure Organisation (Ministry of Defence)

RENEWABLES, SUPPLY AND STORAGE THEATRE The Basics of Battery Storage Technology (14:30 - 15:00 on 22nd November) Much has been said about the battery storage technology, however what are the main factors that should be taken into consideration to ensure a successfully implementation? This seminar will give the basic understanding of how the technology works and the opportunities and limitations it represents. Which Robert Williams, General Manager - Procurement at BT; John Robb, Segment Director, Commercial Buildings EMEA at Eaton Electric Ltd, Dr Alex Mardapittas, Managing Director at Powerstar; Michael Clark, Chief Technology Officer at Become Energy

Heat Networks Outside Major Cities – The Challenges and Opportunities (11:50 - 12:20 on 23rd November) Heat networks are typically associated with major urban centres, where the high density of buildings strongly supports the business case. However, if the UK is to meet its carbon budgets, then heat networks also have a role in smaller urban areas and new developments. The challenges and opportunities of developing heat networks in these settings will be covered in this session, reflecting on the experience of two heat network studies in smaller urban areas. With Edward Barlow, Energy Manager at Buckinghamshire County Council.

EMEX is over 130 exhibitors and 80 free-to-attend CPD-accredited seminars spread across 4 theatres - Knowledge, Skills and Experience - Water & Energy Strategy - Facilities, Technology & Innovation - Renewables, Supply and Storage.

The full seminar programme is available online. Register for free at www.emexlondon.com

EXHIBITION NEWS

AM&T & BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE

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ncreasing the awareness of energy consumption at all levels within an organisation is certainly nothing new.

Labels applied to light switches and heating controls imploring us to consider the impact of our actions come in and out of fashion.

The last few years have seen much debate on the subject. To some, ‘behavioural change’ is the holy grail of energy management, hard to achieve but a fight worth winning. Does an increased level of awareness amongst stakeholders and employees cut consumption by a useful amount, or is it tinkering around the edges when what you really need is a new boiler and some LED lighting? If it is worth the carrot – how best to achieve it?

Well the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so the delivery mechanism is the starting point and the monitoring and targeting software has been the method of choice for the practitioners so far. Gone are the days when the Energy Manager is the only individual who wanted to log in to the M&T system. Nowadays anyone can do so, and we hope everyone wants to.

There have been changes of course! If you’re thinking bar charts, regression analysis and CUSUM, you’d be dead right, but of more relevance to the subject of this article are

interactive dashboards, realtime building energy displays, multi-platform compatibility and unlimited user profiles. All of these features have appeared relatively recently as customers demand –and get - more from their M&T software. M&T – from the right provider – is now a ‘big data’ operation.

Today’s dashboards are both attractive and informative. The web pages can be tailored for the required ‘corporate’ appearance or combined with interactive building or site diagrams to simplify navigation. The first challenge is to get the invited audience to turn up at all. The second is to get them to come back, and good design is critical. But that’s not delivering behavioural change!

As always, the software is just the tool, and in this instance it’s an effective one but it is how it is used that is key to success. At Elcomponent we’ve seen a great deal of imagination applied to this by our customers but in most cases the software is used to foster competition, best practice and lowering consumption. This often takes the form of a league table, which sounds simple, but nevertheless requires a degree of sophistication to deliver. Apples must be compared with apples, so information such as floor area, occupancy and degree data must form part of the equation. If this is not the case,

the data will lack credibility and interest will wane quickly.

If all the key ingredients are present, the results tend to back the enthusiasts view of behavioural change.

What are those ingredients again?

• An Attractive presentation (it’s an invited audience) • Cross-platform compatibility (that audience uses smartphones!)

• Accurate data (you still need your AMR must work properly!)

• Correct use of driver data (traditional M&T functionality) • The right provider!

So come and see us at EMEX to find out more. www.elcomponent.co.uk

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• Automatic data collection and alarm signalling

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Supplied complete with the latest windows software.

• All kits supplied ‘ready-to-go’ • Tough waterproof cases (3 phase analysers) • Simple Windows software • Available to hire

• All electrical parameters • THD, Harmonics, Flicker etc • On-board power for flex CT’s

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• Plug-in Memory

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• Tenant Billing

www.elcomponent.co.uk e sales@elcomponent.co.uk t 01279 503 173 f 01279 654 441

UnitENERGY 5, Southmill Trading Centre, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017CM23 3DY 33

NEWS EXHIBITION NEWS

ABB showcases ways to make HVAC applications more efficient

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t EMEX 2017, ABB is featuring eBooks, interactive demonstrations, expertise, variable speed drives and motors, targeting ways to improve the energy efficiency and climate control of buildings.

An eBook written by ABB to help users of variable speed drives (VSD) improve the energy efficiency HVAC applications will be launched at The Energy Management Exhibition (EMEX), stand E20, 22-23 November, ExCel, London. It is the latest in a series of eBooks created by ABB to tackle the technical challenges facing users of VSDs in the HVAC industry.

Today’s VSDs offer a wealth of features and smart functions that enable users to optimise the efficiency of pumps, fans and other motor-driven applications. For example, onboard counters show exactly how much energy is used compared to direct-on-line (DOL) control methods and can play a key role in securing management funding for future efficiency projects.

the cube law principles behind the VSD, that is reducing motor speed by only 20 percent decreases energy consumption by up to 50 percent.

The superior efficiency of the ABB HVAC drive, the ACH580, will be showcased with an onstand demonstration of the drive and a synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM) package.

The ABB HVAC drive has the highest efficiency class for a drive and provides superior efficiency with all motor types, including induction, permanent magnet and SynRM. When partnered with ABB’s IE4 SynRM motor the ABB HVAC drive achieves energy savings of up to 60 percent.

Another exhibit will demonstrate the ACH580’s intelligence and BACnet interoperability by simulating the functions of an air handling unit.

ENERGY SAVING IN ACTION

HEAR FROM THE EXPERTS

A series of on-stand demonstrations will enable visitors to see, first hand, the savings that are achievable using VSDs. This includes an energy efficiency demo, which uses a balloon to show

Experts from ABB’s energy team will be on stand offering advice on how to optimise the energy efficiency and reliability of HVAC applications with the latest VSDs, electric motors

Energy efficiency is the latest topic to be examined in a series of eBooks aimed at tackling technical issues facing VSD users in the HVAC industry

and life cycle services, including an ABB energy assessment.

In addition, ABB’s John Guthrie will outline the important issues that must be considered when undertaking an energy assessment of motor-driven applications in order to avoid getting hit with unexpected costs. His presentation will take place on Thursday 23 November 2017, 10:30-11:00 in the Facilities, Technology & Innovation Theatre.

Sign up to receive ABB’s eBook series at: http://web.abb-update. com/HVAC_30Challenges_Signup

Cloud-based building management solutions and heritage conservation insights

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isitors to Priva’s stand B67 at this year’s EMEX Show will be able to discuss building management, key building analytics, Priva alarms and energy management with the expert team on hand.

In addition, visitors with responsibility in the heritage and conservation sector will be able to discover more about Priva’s latest projects at some of the UK’s most important heritage buildings,

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from Westminster Abbey and Aberdeen Council’s HQ, to Marlborough College and St Bueno’s Spirituality Centre.

Devised to increase installation efficiency, lower energy consumption and enhance comfort levels, BI Metrics represents a step change in building management. Powered by Microsoft Azure, the technology gives staff secure, remote access to multiple building systems from anywhere.

Importantly, BI Metrics provides accurate building performance analysis; as well as ensuring the climate is fully optimised for the comfort of staff and customers. This improved insight is shown to save organisations up to 20% on their energy bill.

Directly complementing its BI Metrics building management system, is Priva’s online energy management package, TC Energy, which helps organisations understand

ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

and optimise their energy usage.

TC Energy collects all the energy data from the building management system and converts it into graphicallyillustrated easy-to-use reports. Web based and easy to use, TC Energy provides interactive graphs with a zoom function for detailed insight and analysis in various time periods.

Real-time data on gas, electricity, water, external heat and CO2 emissions is readily available.

Gavin Holvey, UK and Ireland Sales Manager comments: “Organisations are under significant pressure to meet energy saving targets without compromising on staff and customer comfort. This is especially so within the conservation and heritage sphere, where visitor comfort plays such a big part in enhancing the overall atmosphere and in ensuring a memorable visit – for all the right reasons.” www.priva.com/uk

PRODUCT SHOWCASE NEWS

RINNAI: SPACE HEATER RANGE, EASY TO INSTALL, TROUBLE FREE LONG LIFE WARMTH – NEW ADDITIONS

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innai have added to its range of Energysaver gas fired space heaters which are designed specifically for use in schools, community centres, libraries, conservatories, churches and other large indoor spaces. The range has seen many thousands of installations over the past several years - troublefree, easy to install and cost effective and efficient operation and performance.

The recent additions to the range are the Rinnai Energysaver 559FT and a new streamlined look to the popular Energysaver 309FT. Sporting very sleek casing, the heaters simply blend into the background in line with the need of modern interior aesthetics while offering exceptionally high efficiencies in operation and subsequently reduced running costs.

Changes to the Energysaver 559T have been made to the operation board which is now an easy to use touch-control pad sited conveniently and discreetly on top of the appliance, (rather than on the front with a flip up cover). The unit is also supplied with a child lock to eliminate any problem of small hands tampering with the controls.

Add to these advantages are the timer function and eco mode combined with the new unit’s ability to heat big spaces very fast.

The 559FT has an input of 6.4kW and

output of 5.2kW. The streamlined unit measures 554mm x 750mm x 250mm.

The Rinnai Energysaver 309FT, like the 559FT, sports a similar sleek casing and turns in net efficiencies of 88%.

It has an input of 3.4kW and output of 2.92kW. The unit measures 695mm x 465mm x 257mm. Natural Gas usage has been pegged at 0.31m3 while LPG consumption is 0.26kg/hr.

Also available is the Energysaver 1004T with its impressive input of 11.6kW and outputs 10.23kW. Its measurements are 670mm x 930mm x 315mm and it has energy efficiencies of 96% under the guidance of Part L 2014. This puts it in the top rank of space heaters in its class.

Like the Energy Saver 559FT and 309FT, the 1004T heater is also suitable for central timer control. This feature allows the building manager to run any number of Rinnai space heaters off a central time clock providing heat to the largest of spaces. The Energysaver Multi controller is not limited to single Energysavers as the flexibility of the system guarantees units can be mixed and matched to satisfy even the most unique of buildings.

Rinnai Energysaver units are very easy to install as they do not need expensive and extensive ductwork, nor do they

involve the necessity to run domestic heating circuits for radiators or pipework to boilers. This drastically cuts down on cost and time at the point of installation.

Rinnai’s Energysaver range delivers energy-efficient and consistent warm air powered by Natural Gas and LPG options.

The units feature fully modulating burners so heat output and energy input is reduced as the space warms up.

The Rinnai Energysaver range comprises fanned convectionpowered flue models that exceed seasonal thermal heating guidance under Building Regs Part L. For more information on the RINNAI product range visit www.rinnaiuk.com

RINNAI – COMBINED HEATING AND HOT WATER SYSTEMS

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innai is now offering a complete package in a combined heating and hot water system for all commercial and domestic applications.

Rinnai is offering three sizes of boiler –50kW, 75kW and 100kW –to its range of HE continuous flow gas water heaters, thus giving a one-stop shop to installers.

The package, for all a site’s heating and hot water needs – are delivered direct to site or wherever needed. Rinnai can also offer compete flexibility when it comes to designing combined systems.

Lots of installations utilise Rinnai’s proven, energy efficient continuous flow water heaters use multiple units for example, schools, hotels and gyms and spas.

Now installers can very easily manifold two or three Rinnai Infinity continuous flow water heaters with, for example, two boilers via a common flue and on the same cascade rig.

Rinnai UK Associate Director Chris Goggin says, “System thinking is what is

going to give us the edge as we head into a future where fuel prices are going to need to be managed with pin-point precision.”

This ‘system thinking’ approach has led Rinnai to offer a service to design and deliver a complete heating and hot water system in one easy to install, fully specified and energy efficient ‘pack’ delivered direct to site meeting all the demands of the client in one seamless operation.

“Why would busy installers and end users want waste their time planning

and then assembling all the parts of a jigsaw when Rinnai can specify, design and deliver the total solution?”, says Goggin.

“System thinking is so much more effective from design to delivery, through installation and throughout the system’s life time,” concludes Goggin.

A total solution including water heaters, flues, scale protection, unvented cylinders, valves, prefabrication racks, advanced BMS controls – even water sampling equipment – can be specified, designed and delivered by Rinnai.

For more information on the RINNAI product range visit www.rinnaiuk.com

ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017

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Energy Savings Through Intelligent Water Circulation

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info@circosense.com

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