Continuous commissioning is innovation of the year

Continuous commissioning by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust won the innovation of the year award. The national NHS target for reducing the use of primary energy is 15% from 2000 to 2010. To help achieve this saving, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICNHT) embarked on a continuous-commissioning project, working with the Carbon Trust and ABS Consulting. This approach, devised by ABS Consulting, develops a strategic approach to the operation of buildings that delivers the optimum cost and value to the occupier. It enables energy consumption to be limited to meet business needs and provide a safe and comfortable environment for occupants. A key part of the strategy was to identify pilot schemes with the potential for replication. Pilot schemes were monitored, improved, monitored again and savings calculated before full-scale implementation. Investment in repeating the improvement was seen by the financial officers as an obvious next step. Improvement in the operation of building-management systems and air-handling units achieved energy savings of 9600 MWh, worth £256 000 a year and representing a reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions of 2424 t a year. Low-cost and continuous-commissioning initiatives achieved energy savings of 2500 MWh a year, representing 750 t of carbon dioxide. Lighting and controls delivered savings of 3960 MWh a year, representing 1750 t of carbon dioxide. The installation of variable-speed drives and EFF1 motors is reducing energy use by 2420 MWh a year, representing 1040 t of carbon dioxide. The total reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions is 5964 t a year. The use of continuous commissioning by ICHNT has demonstrated its worth in delivering cost-effective reduction in carbon emissions.