Case Studies
Multi-tasking is a phrase that most teachers are well acquainted with and this has certainly been the case for Sue Davies of the Astley Cooper School in Hertfordshire. With a background in cancer research, she moved into teaching via the science department at Astley Cooper School. Today she is their premises manager and thanks to her hard work was recognised by the energy industry with the presentation of a Special Commendation at the recent Energy Manager of the Year 2004 Awards.
Although not planned, the move to premises manager is a logical one as Sue Davies explains, “Managing a school requires a flair for problem solving supported by lateral thinking and the tenacity to succeed, just the skills required in science”. Once appointed, Sue set about networking with the right people within the public and private sectors. “General energy management advice was freely available at County level and I found these experts very helpful, but seeking specific solutions meant talking with private industry specialists and I my contact with Chalmor Limited proved useful on two levels: identifying the right products to resolve the school’s energy wasteful practices and putting me in touch with organisations that could help with funding”.
Tackling rising utilities:
During the year 2000 - 2001, the school’s electricity consumption was 301,295kWh, gas reached 1,439,355kWh and water 3,717m3, leading Astley Cooper School to take the decision to reduce all three utilities starting with an initial 10% in electricity, rising to 15% as various energy efficiency initiatives took effect. Chalmor installed lighting controls throughout the building part funded by LightSwitch. The company has had considerable experience in locating the right scheme for educational establishments and once LightSwitch had been identified assisted the school with its bid.
The success of the lighting control scheme encouraged the school to instigate further energy-saving schemes and Chalmor was commissioned to undertake a detailed survey. Their Energy Governor scheme commenced with an independent survey and energy audit that accurately highlighted areas of energy waste. Using the data collected, the company presented a number of solutions that would dramatically reduce energy consumption, starting with practical good housekeeping techniques through to the installation of a building management system and maintenance-free lighting. In fact, they even went so far as to negotiate a reduced water tariff.
“It proved to be a no risk strategy for us as they would install the hardware, complete with funding that covered much of the capital expenditure with the remaining costs funded through later savings,” said Sue Davies. “Most of the prescribed energy saving schemes were supported by outside funding, but even those not eligible offered such impressive savings compared to their investment cost that either Hertfordshire County Council or the school itself funded the projects.” These included such simple actions as installing a powered swimming pool cover to reduce heat loss when not in use.
Typical case study:
The school hall suffered from low light levels; 130 lux in an area regularly used for examinations. The window blinds were broken and as a result were permanently closed. The school had budgeted £9,000 for blind replacements until the Energy Governor audit offered a far better solution. Replace the existing lighting system consisting of 16 twin, six-foot fluorescents, 12 spotlights and four further lights with maintenance-free Endurance light fittings. “The impact of this scheme was to reduce the electrical load from 5kW to 1.9kW, giving an immediate 60 per cent saving, plus increase the level of light in the hall from 130 lux to more than 400 lux; all for less than the anticipated budget for replacing the blinds,” said Sue Davies.
The hall installation was completed in time for the examination season and long-term savings are guaranteed through reduced electrical consumption plus the maintenance-free aspect of the Endurance fitting. The unit provides 60,000 hours of operational life, which in real terms means that an Endurance light left continuously switched on could operate at the same high standard for seven years. The school has even longer expectations as PIR sensors (passive infra-red or ‘movement’ detectors) have been fitted that only switch on the lights when someone enters the hall and then automatically switches them off again when they leave.
Final word from Sue Davies: “The commercial sector has a word for constantly changing internal building layouts, it is ‘churn’. Churning in schools is particularly prevalent, but checking that the newly created areas are being maintained at correct temperatures and light levels is not. Managing your building’s energy will certainly result in lower operating costs, but equal to that is the much improved environment for pupils and staff by accurately controlling the internal temperatures. In the meantime, the money saved on reigning-in rising energy costs can be better employed in improving teaching facilities.”
Chalmor’s Endurance slashes lighting costs at Fire Service College
Maintenance-free Endurance light fittings from energy services specialist Chalmor are helping the Fire Service College save around 33% on the energy and maintenance costs of lighting its vehicle workshop.
The Fire Service College provides unique facilities for both practical and theoretical fire fighting, fire safety and accident emergency training and is the premier fire related training establishment in the world. High energy and maintenance costs in the vehicle workshop led the College to re-evaluate its lighting, in consultation with Chalmor. Following a thorough analysis and energy audit, Chalmor recommended replacing the existing lighting with zero-maintenance Endurance fittings.
The workshop was originally lit with 179 fluorescent fittings, each using a single 70W lamp with a need for re-lamping approximately every two years. These were replaced with 49 Endurance fittings to achieve the same light levels and distribution. With a 60,000 hour life, the Endurance fittings will not need re-lamping for about 19 years, saving over £20,000 on maintenance costs alone.
In addition, the energy-efficient Endurance luminaires are expected to reduce electricity consumption by 460 MWh during their life, equating to over £22,000 saving in electrical costs, based on current prices and including the Climate Change Levy. These savings on electrical costs are likely to be even greater as electricity prices increase.
In environmental terms, these energy savings will lead to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 276 tonnes over 19 years.
“We are delighted with the Endurance luminaires, which have greatly eased our maintenance workload”, commented facilities engineer Trevor Arthurs. “With a fleet of 30 fire appliances, plus additional vehicles, the workshop is vital to our operation.
“In addition, because of the machinery being used, we had to change each fluorescent tube as soon as it failed in order to maintain safe light levels. With Endurance, there is no re-lamping so we can plan our other maintenance activities more effectively. The combination of energy and maintenance savings has made this a very sensible investment for the College,” he added.
Guaranteed for five years, each Endurance luminaire is supplied with high frequency control gear as standard, to optimise lamp performance, as well as providing instant strike and re-strike capabilities. The luminaires are available with symmetrical or asymmetrical optics to optimise light distribution for each project. Lamps have a colour temperature of 4000K as standard, with other options available on request.
Lighting Management Scheme Delivers More
Upgrading of lighting, following an energy assessment by Chalmor Limited, has enabled Holmer Green Senior School in Buckinghamshire to reduce electricity and maintenance costs by over £4000 per annum, and to bring the school’s electrical load back to within its maximum demand limit.
Holmer Green Senior School caters for approximately 900 students and 70 staff – as well as providing sports and meeting facilities for the local community. Initially, Chalmor was asked by the Local Authority to assess the energy performance of the sports hall, and carried out an analysis of the previous year’s costs; comprising electricity, lamps and spares and the hire of access equipment by the maintenance contractors. This showed that immediate savings of nearly £2000 per annum could be made by the installation of Chalmor’s maintenance-free Endurance light fittings in the sports hall alone.
Subsequently, the company carried out a full assessment of the school’s lighting and identified the potential for savings in the main hall, dining area and corridors as well. The total projected savings amounted to over £4000 per annum.
The energy audit also showed that, unknown to the school, it was already exceeding its maximum electrical demand limits – making remedial measures essential. The savings projected for the new lighting systems could reduce demand by as much as 20 per cent at peak load, providing a comfortable margin between peak load and maximum demand limits.
The high energy efficiency of Chalmor’s Endurance fittings enabled the school to cuts its installed electrical load in these four areas alone by nearly 75%, from 41kW to 12.75kW, while also improving the quality of the lighting. This is providing savings of nearly £2200 a year in electricity costs.
In addition, by using the latest induction lamp technology, Endurance gives a lamp life of 60,000 hours, equivalent to 20 years life when used for 10 hours a day. As a result, they require no maintenance for the expected life of the fittings, enabling the school to reduce maintenance costs by over £2000 a year, while also improving health and safety by reducing work carried out at high level.
At the beginning of this project the head teacher had hoped to improve lighting levels in one area only. By working closely with the Local Authority and Chalmor, however, Holmer Green has achieved improved and more flexible lighting, raised health and safety standards, reduced energy and maintenance costs, and created a wider cushion between actual consumption and its maximum demand limit.
Following the successful application of Chalmor’s TouchStat heating controllers, the University of Manchester has implemented an additional phase of heating control to optimise energy consumption in residential accommodation.
The TouchStat controllers are being used to fine tune the heating control at the University’s conference centre hotel and student accommodation. The Manchester Conference Centre comprises three centres offering facilities for delegates from five to 1,500, with accommodation being provided throughout the year via purpose built hotel rooms.
The university already takes advantage of the control capabilities of a building management system (BMS), but was looking to further improve heating control in the intermittently used hotel bedrooms without compromising comfort.
On most days, the hotel rooms are unoccupied for most of the day, when the delegates are in conference, but there is also a need to ensure they are comfortable whenever they are in their rooms. Prior to introducing the TouchStat controllers, this was achieved by leaving the heating on in case any delegates returned to their rooms unexpectedly.
In order to enhance the levels of control, many of the rooms have now been fitted with a TouchStat controller, interfaced between the BMS and the 500W electric room heaters in each room. The BMS maintains control over the heating’s on/off periods but with the TouchStat fine-tuning the heat supply via a two stage-heating programme.
Delegate Accommodation
With many of the conferences scheduled for an early start, the BMS has been programmed to switch on the electric heating in time to provide full heat (around 210C) to the rooms between 6:00 - 7:00 a.m., after which heating is available throughout the day at a setback temperature of around 130C. At 4:00 pm the room temperature is once again boosted to full heat for one hour during which delegates can be expected to return to their rooms, reverting to setback until the heating is switched off in the early hours.
It is during the ‘setback’ periods that the room occupier takes control of the heat output via the TouchStat. With a single touch of the thermostat the room receives a boost of heat for one hour that can be repeated as often as needed. The system has proved to be easy to use and full guidance is provided in the guest literature in each room. Just as importantly, it provides guests with control of their own room temperature while providing efficient control of energy.
Automatic & Manual Control
With the Manchester installation, Chalmor is proving the benefits of blending manual and automatic control in intermittently used rooms. “The standard approach in such areas is to install an occupancy sensor that raises the heating level from setback to full heat when it detects that the room is occupied,” said Steven Henry, Managing Director of Chalmor Limited. “At the University of Manchester we have applied a valuable lesson learned from our lighting controls and incorporated it within their heating programme”.
Following the success of the first phase of the TouchStat programme, the University is now rolling the same principle out to other accommodation in the conference complex and for student accommodation.