The need to assess current energy usage properly was stressed by specialists this month, as industry experts revealed the substantial cost savings that can be achieved through analysing buildings and their existing cooling systems
At a seminar hosted by leading fan manufacturer ebm-papst, top energy saving professionals discussed how more recording of existing data has enabled effective energy savings plans to be developed. A working example demonstrated how one company now sees savings of up to £350,000 a year.
The seminar took place at ebm-papst’s Chelmsford headquarters on 17th November and bought together a host of expert industry speakers: including David Jarvis and James Cooper from ebm-papst, Robert Yeowart from MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team, Keith Bertie from Emerson Retail, Mike Creamer from Business Edge Ltd, and Adrian Trevelyan from Airedale International Air Conditioning Ltd.
The first external speaker was Keith Bertie, Director of Engineering at Emerson Retail Solutions UK. Keith gave an insight into the assessment of the energy consumption of the 360+ Emerson buildings across Europe as part of the Energy Efficiency Directive: Article 8 (EED A8).
Keith said: “Everywhere we have been, there is something to do. In some of the biggest factories there is a substantial saving to be made in the future. It’s not just about recommissioning as there is a considerable amount of value to be recovered. This is a real eye-opener for Emerson.”
Speaking further about how to maximise a system’s efficiency through performance knowledge was Mike Creamer, founder of Business Edge Ltd. Mike, who is an award winning expert in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector, recommended using the leading monitoring system – ClimaCheck. He said: “The cost of optimising systems is actually relatively small but the opportunity for savings is considerable. Unfortunately it is impossible to take manual readings in an effective way. The ClimaCheck takes all the pain out of the math.”
Finally, Adrian Trevelyan, UK Service Manager from Airedale International Air Conditioning Ltd, discussed how they achieved energy savings of up to £350,000 a year with BAE Systems Military and Air Information, after successfully analysing the existing systems and where the heat load needed to be tackled.
Adrian said: “A lot of the heat load in the room was generated by the fans themselves, so simply replacing the fans reduced the heat load we were having to deal with. We are generally quite optimistic but in this case we exceeded our own expectations beating them by 27%. BAE’s annual savings are now £350,000 and we actually increased the resilience at the same time.”
ebm-papst holds regular free seminars throughout the year discussing energy and carbon reduction in the built environment. To find out more about future seminars visit www.ebmpapst.co.uk.
