2012 October

A-Gas has increased its R744 (refrigerant-grade CO2) offering to meet the growing demand from UK retailers for refrigerants with lower global-warming potential. R744 is available in gas or liquid form and has excellent thermodynamic properties. Refrigerant-grade R744 has a moisture level below 10 ppm, as water and R744 systems do not mix.

Panasonic has signed a distribution agreement for its Aquarea range of air-source heat pumps with Waxman renewables. Waxman’s showroom and training centre in Elland, West Yorkshire has an area of 3700 m2, and the company itself has over 50 years’ experience. Group chairman Richard Waxman says, ‘The partnership between Waxman and Panasonic is a monumental one. We have worked hard to build the renewables division over the past 12 months, and this agreement shows that we are developing a reputable name for ourselves.’

UVGI Systems introduce a comprehensive range of latest technology Ultra Violet Germicidal Irradiation Equipment providing measurable performance with guaranteed results for the removal of air borne pathogens that include bacteria and viruses from indoor environments.

Fläkt Woods’ partnership with Vision Ventilation LLP provides customers with a complete range of natural-ventilation products. The companies are working together strategically on the Free Flow collection of products, which ranges from simple, wall-mounted terminations to continuous louvre systems with individual volume-control dampers, all of which are individually designed and constructed to meet specific aesthetic and performance criteria.

A free ‘Quick guide to improving energy performance — at no cost’ has been prepared by Ener-G to help businesses save money on energy bills, improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions — without upfront expense. There are 10 tips for improving energy performance through improved energy efficiency, smarter energy buying and on-site power generation.

Replacing pumps in a 238-bed hospital in Germany has reduced energy consumption by 40 MWh a year following a pump audit carried out by Grundfos Pumps. Salem Hospital in Heidelberg was built in the 1970s, and the audit discovered that the existing pumps were tremendously oversized, which is often the case in older buildings. They were also far less efficient than today’s high-efficiency speed-controlled pumps.

Following good experience with solar thermal combined with Rinnai’s condensing water heaters in its own premises, Richard Percival of Jigsaw FM urges that anyone using hot water should look at solar-thermal water heating with a Rinnai continuous-flow condensing gas water heater as a booster.

London Data Exchange, which provides network-independent colocation solutions and data centres, has chosen Airedale International Air Conditioning as its cooling partner. Airedale has designed a low-energy, resilient solution for LEeX1, a purpose-built £5 million 2000 m2 carbon-neutral data centre opened earlier this year and close to the south end of the M1.

Water heaters installed in the 1980s to improve energy efficiency are due for replacement — and their successors are even more energy efficient, explains David Pepper of Lochinvar UK, who also believes that the new generation of water heaters are more effective at reducing energy use than more exotic engineering.

Rinnai fan-convection powered-flue heaters have earned a reputation for providing flexible, safe and controllable heat efficiently and reliably. An array of Rinnai heaters in a large church with central time control can cost less than £5 to provide heating during a Sunday service. The fully modulated fanned convection quickly circulates warm air to take the chill off large spaces quickly. These heaters have a small powered flue to allow flexible positioning; flue extensions are available.

A leisure centre in Sittingbourne is set to reduce the costs of air handling by nearly 25% for its swimming pool following a trial with an ABB low-voltage drive. The £4000 saving will give a payback period of well under a year.

Fitting variable speed drives to pumps and fans used in building services is one of the best and easiest ways of boosting energy efficiency, but it’s important to choose the right drives, says Stephen Takhar of Vacon.

What should be the first priorities in achieving buildings that are more sustainable and use less energy? Mike Malina of Energy Solutions Associates shares his experiences.

Two Sainsbury’s distribution centres are piloting a system to temporarily reduce the use of electricity during times of stress on the National Grid. In return, the National Grid pays for these demand reductions, giving Sainsbury’s a revenue stream for managing its energy consumption more intelligently.

The urgent need for organisations to achieve energy efficiency savings to combat spiralling energy costs and improve carbon performance can be achieved without any upfront investment, says Gary Dowsett of Ener-G Controls.

With pumps consuming 10% of the world’s electrical energy, optimising the energy they use has environmental and economic benefits. According to Grundfos, selecting the best pumps for a specific task such as circulating water in heating and air-conditioning systems can achieve energy savings of at least 80%.

Airedale has responded to market demand for a compact, efficient high-capacity scroll chiller with the 460 to 930 kW air-cooled DeltaChill and 450 to 1010 kW DeltaChill FreeCool. These chillers use R410A and are available in 182 models with two sound variants and three efficiency levels. For applications where space is limited, a more compact chiller can be selected with a standard efficiency level. An 820 kW unit from the high-capacity DeltaChill FreeCool range is illustrated.

Biomass specialist Rural Energy has gained MCS accreditation for its Herz boilers in the range 10 to 45 kW. Firestar, Pelletstar and Firematic boilers are said to be among the smallest non-domestic biomass systems on the market that qualify for payments under the Renewable Heat Incentive.

Standard Motor Interface (SMI) is now available on the KNX platform in ranges of roller and venetian blinds from Better Blind Company and controllers from Wago. Both companies are members of the KNX UK Association. SMI is a standardised system for electrical connections between solar-shading products and their drives. It allows complete compatibility between motors and actuators from different blind manufacturers, with the SMI logo indicating they have been tested and certified as compatible.

Thermoscreen’s HP DXE heat-pump air curtain has been developed with Mitsubishi Electric and uses heat provided by a heat pump. This range of air curtains has been developed to help property managers in the retail, hotel, commercial and industrial sectors to further reduce their energy use. The range comprises eight models linking to Mitsubishi’s Mr Slim range and six for City Multi models.

The Zirius electronic hot-restrike ignitor from b,a,g, Electronics for high-pressure-discharge lamps does not require a cooling-down phase, so lamps can be restarted immediately after a mains failure. This new generation of Zirius is error free to eliminate voltage flashover to the luminaire connection terminals in the device and has two wires for easy and rapid connection.

To help overcome the problems caused by the sludge and other deposits that build up in heating systems over time Grundfos offers the Watermill Freeflow Powerflush. Such accumulations result in higher fuel bills and inefficient systems. These compact units have been specifically designed to clean both pressurised and open-vented systems and return them to optimal operation through a combination of applying high water pressure and a cleansing chemical to the pipe network.

Passivent’s comprehensive facilities for environmental monitoring help the design team to ensure building services will deliver — before work starts on site. Working as part of the design team, Passivent can calculate the performance at early stages, enabling designers to produce a building that meets regulations. Passivent then produces a full dynamic thermal simulation and daylight modelling to prove compliance for Building Control sign-off.

Soler & Palau offers bespoke air-handling units on short lead times to match the precise requirements of design-and-build projects and ‘equal-or-approved specifications’. With options for almost every specification, units can be made from 0.8 to 20 m3/s with a wide range of control configurations, comprehensive filter selection and a choice of belt-drive, direct-drive or plug fans.

Trane has entered into an agreement with Thermax Europe to sell and service the Thermax standard hot-water and steam driven absorption chillers through Trane sales offices. The agreement gives Trane a comprehensive offering of absorption systems.

The Lowara Ecocirc high-efficiency domestic circulator from Xylem can reduce electricity costs by up to 90% compared to traditional fixed 3-speed pumps, providing a payback to two to three years. These pumps have an electronically commutated spherical motor with only one moving component — the impeller/rotor unit, avoiding the problem of shaft seizure if the pump has not been used for some time.

Carlo Gavazzi has extended the networking options for its smart power analysers with the introduction of a communications module providing BACnet MS/TP over RS485. This communication module is the latest option for the company’s WM30 and WM40 family of smart power analysers, providing interoperability with many small and inexpensive devices via this popular building-automation protocol.

Kamco has developed a range of larger tank-mounted pumps for descaling calorifiers, boilers, cooling circuits and heating systems. Descaling involves the use of powerful chemicals, and Scalebreaker pumps increase safety during the process by safely enclosing chemicals within the tank, hoses and equipment being descaled — minimising the exposure of operators to fumes, splashes and risks.

Advanced Air has its extended range of Epic fan-coil units, which all include ECM motor technology, with a smart card developed by the company to offer pressure-independent units at no extra cost. With a pressure-independent FCU, the air volume remains constant irrespective of pressure changes. Benefits include easy setting on site or in the factory of air volume against a voltage signal from the controller or BMS.

S&P has launched a range of energy-recovery wheels that can be supplied complete with frame and on-board controls or as a stand-alone rotor for OEMs. These thermal wheels have a honeycomb heat-exchange surface to maximise surface area. A special hygroscopic coating provides enhanced humidity control. Heat-recover rates often exceed 85%, depending on conditions.

Carlo Gavazzi has extended its Dupline range of bus offerings for building automation with the introduction of decentralised analogue-input modules. These new modules enable control systems to interface in a decentralised manner with environmental sensors in smart building systems. They can be used with any type of environmental sensor with a 0 to 10 V or 10K3 output.

Hamworthy Heating offers a range of maintenance services for commercial heating systems that range from pay as you go, without a contract, through to Enhanced, Premium and the complete Peace of Mind package. Customers looking to choose a level that suits them can decide whether to include discounted replacement parts, interim services visits based on plant usage and priority breakdown cover.

Ex-Or has expanded its Connect Digital range of lighting connection modules (LCMs) with the addition of hard-wired modules with four and eight channels of controls. With all the functionality of the CDW12U5 intelligent connection centre, these modules are designed for greater mounting flexibility. For example, if there is not a false ceiling, they can be installed in an equipment cabinet or mounted on a DIN rail.

Thermal Technology has improved the performance and capabilities of low-height ceiling-ventilation/heat-recovery units by incorporating backward-cured fans with EC motors. The fans for the new range of Shallovent 3 units have been selected to exceed the requirements of ErP 2015. The fans can be controlled by a 0 to 10 V or 10 mA signal, so trimming duty points is simple. Air-quality sensors or PIR control are available.

Worcester Bosch Group has launched a range of instantaneous water heaters with compact dimensions and an output of up to 50 kW, making them suitable for homes with a high demand for hot water or guest houses. Greenspring CWi47 water heaters are also compatible with a preheated water supply, making them an ideal partner for solar thermal and heat pumps.

Ultima Solar has been given the sole distribution rights in the UK for Spanish-made thermodynamic panels that can be installed on a roof or wall as part of a heat-pump system to generate domestic hot water. A system comprises two components — an aluminium black-coated panel that is installed outdoors and a cylinder and compressor unit housed in an insulted case, along with the necessary electronics.

Elta Fans’ Komfovent range of heat-recovery ventilation units are quiet in operation and designed to change the air in a building every two hours, continually replacing stale damp air with fresh, warmed, clean and filtered air. They can be installed in hotels, schools, colleges, libraries, nurseries, offices, conference halls and other premises. They are easy to install and maintain, with compact casings enabling them to be easily fitted in confined spaces.

Marflow Hydronics reports growing interest in its pressure-independent characterised-control (PICC) valves as awareness of its Remote commissioning concept increases. The Remote commissioning system is a solution offering all that is required to balance and control water flow to hydronic terminal units in a flexible and environmentally friendly way. By coupling PICC valves with a BACnet controller running a customer strategy, the Remote concept takes commissioning out of the ceiling space and into the commissioning engineer’s laptop.

How good an investment is an energy-saving measure such as replacing T8 fluorescent tubes with T5? David Churcher of BSRIA takes a detailed look at the figures.

Airedale’s OptiChill FreeCool large-capacity chillers maximise the use of free cooling to save more than half of the energy used by a conventional chiller. For up to 30% of the year these chillers can operate purely in free-cooling mode with an EER of up to 75 (15°C return water, 20% ethylene glycol, 3°C ambient and based on total input power to the fans). Some free cooling is available for 95% of annual operating hours (in London).

The construction costs of a building are typically less than 10% of its total costs over its life, which motivates Ian Ellis of Siemens Building Technologies division to argue the importance of a specifying an adequate building-management system and making full use of its capabilities.

Given an adequate demand for heat, the ‘free’ electricity generated by a combined-heat-and-power installation makes a very powerful whole-life-cost argument. Marcus Dodsworth of Shenton Group explains.

John Durbin of Daikin UK looks suggests how today’s highly sophisticated energy-efficient climate-control systems can significantly reduce whole-life costs.

Building services are the single most adapted elements of a building during its lifetime. Glan Blake-Thomas of AET explains how solutions that deliver greater flexibility, adaptability and re-usability can help cut the lifetime costs of commercial buildings and enable existing office space to be effectively recycled without automatically increasing first cost.

Paul Davidson of Aurora shares his enthusiasm for LED lighting, using its many benefits to dispel concerns about initial costs.

Helping to reduce energy and carbon emissions at Thomas Rotherham College in South Yorkshire is a solar-thermal system supplied by Stokvis Energy Systems to provide hot water for staff and public toilet. The system for this college for 16- to 19-year olds is expected to achieve energy savings of 2.6 to 3 MWh a year.

With energy being the major contributor to a building’s whole-life cost, the one-third energy and carbon savings of the new flagship Marks & Spencer at Cheshire Oaks compared to the company’s traditionally built stores will have a big impact. Designed by Aukett Fitzroy Robinson and built by main contractor Simons Group, this store is one of the most high-profile sustainable retails projects ever undertaken in the UK.

The long-term running costs of providing heating and hot water for a new hospital in Yorkshire will be kept down by a combination of biomass and gas-fired boilers from Hoval. This combination gives East Riding Community Hospital in Beverley an efficient and responsive low-carbon heating system that also qualifies for income from the Renewable Heat Incentive over the next 20 years.

Hywel Davies of CIBSE sees a positive climate for whole-life costing emerging with the requirement for mandatory emissions reporting and the Carbon Reduction Commitment.

It can take a long time for practices in the UK market to change, and even longer for them to become commonplace and accepted as the norm. Heatrae Sadia’s Megaflo unvented hot-water system is one such product. Ken Sharpe traces the product’s development.

“How effective are phase-change materials at increasing thermal mass and delaying the need for cooling during the day? Jeremy Sumeray of Armstrong Ceilings has the answers.”