SELECTED KCE ENERGY REPORTS (Return to previous page)
1 ENERGY REPORT: DEPARTMENTAL BUILDING, GENERAL HOSPITAL
The subject of the report is a laboratory housing technical equipment, operated 24 hours per day.
This report finds opportunities and recommends actions for reducing energy costs and water consumption.
Existing Performance Indicator 1372 kWh/m2/year
Target Performance Indicator after recommended action
510 kWh/m2/year
For comparison the good practice figure published by DETR is 480 kWh/m²/year for a large acute hospital.
Savings estimated to be achievable with no or low capital cost: £20 000 pa
Other savings requiring capital expenditure of about £7000 £ 4000 pa
Main recommendations:
The most significant item is to remedy a loss of steam condense water which is currently going to drain because of equipment failure.
Other main items producing savings would be:
Reducing air volume per hour from air handling units
Fine tuning of heating time and temperature
Thermal insulation of valves and pipework
Reduction of steam losses
Improvements in the method of monitoring and targeting energy consumption are recommended in order to achieve and sustain these savings.
2 AUTOMATIC PARCELS SORTING OFFICE
ENERGY SURVEY
The subject of the report is an automatic handling operation incorporating about 20 conveyors, with lorry docking stations for goods in and out. The facility is operated in shifts.
This report finds significant opportunities
and recommends actions for reducing energy costs.
Existing performance indicator: 389 kWh/m²/year.
Target performance indicator after recommended action: 155 kWh/m²/year
For comparison the good practice
figure published by DETR is 153 kWh/m²/year for storage and distribution
(building energy only).
Cost savings would be £26091 per annum or 21% of present energy cost, at an overall payback of 0.91 years.
The main recommendations include:
Adjustment of controls to reduce heated fresh air volume
Adjustment of plant running times
Good housekeeping measures
The site has a rather poor building services control system which appears to be compounded by lack of knowledge of how the controls operate . The heating system is inherently inefficient as it heats a large volume for a relatively small number of personnel - the method of heating tends to bypass the operator locations (which are already prone to draughts because of the nature of the operation).
We recommend further investigation in depth to consider the feasibility of significant improvements to the air handling design. Design improvements would assist the realisation of the identified savings over the longer term.