Heating
Heating and hot water can account for 60% of your total energy
use. By ensuring that efficient heating systems are specified,
operated and maintained the potential savings can be substantial.
There are three key ways of cutting your heating costs:
1. Turn it down
Lowering set points by just 1°C can potentially reduce your
annual heating bill by up to 8%, so reduce the temperature on the
thermostat down to the minimum comfortable level.
Our Heating employee
awareness poster can be used to help communicate
this message to staff.
2. Replace inefficient boilers
Be aware when replacing inefficient boilers that the latest
Building Regulations set minimum efficiency standards for new and
replacement boiler installations. In many cases even higher
efficiency boilers can be specified and you can gain better savings
from a more energy efficient heating system.
3. Install de-stratification fans
In commercial or industrial buildings with warm air heaters and
high ceilings, de-stratification fans can reduce energy use by 20%
by blowing warm air down to ground level where it's needed.
Ventilation
Good ventilation is essential - it gives you fresh air and also
helps protect a building against damp and condensation. Unnecessary
ventilation can waste energy and cost you a lot of money. For
example, ventilation accounts for around 30% of heat loss in most
commercial buildings (an estimated 25% in industrial
buildings).
1. Motors
When buying new motors, always specify higher efficiency motors
as they will save you up to 5% on energy costs, for little or no
extra capital cost.
2. Fans
Variable speed fans can slow down when ventilation demands
decrease. This will save money on electricity as well as reducing
heating/cooling costs. See Motors and Drives for more
3. Time settings
Make sure fans aren't running when they're not required. This
not only wastes energy, but also removes heat from the
building.
Air conditioning
Air conditioning can use a huge amount of energy. In fact, air
conditioning can increase a building's energy consumption and
associated carbon emissions by up to 100%.
Even though air conditioning can use lots of energy, lots of
organisations choose to use it - not least because of the extra
heat generated by increasing use of IT equipment.
Luckily, there are some simple, low-cost ways to save energy and
make your air conditioning system more efficient.
1. Temperature control
Make sure your air conditioning doesn't operate below 24°C.
Also, make sure that you don't have the heating and cooling
systems competing with each other - it's a waste of money. The best
way to do this is to keep a temperature gap (known as a 'deadband')
between your heating and air conditioning control temperatures.
2. Variable speed drives
Don't produce more cooling than you need - this wastes money and
energy. Variable speed drives can vary the output of your air
conditioning system to meet your needs throughout the day. This
will help you save money on energy costs.
3. Free cooling coils
Free cooling coils use the outside air as a source of cooling
for air conditioning systems (when it's cool enough). This saves
money because you won't need to use as much energy to produce
cooling for the air conditioning system.
With the UK's temperate climate, free cooling coils can produce
big savings.
Energy efficiency guides
'How to' guides
Energy efficiency support
If you'd like to improve energy efficiency of your organisation,
see our
services to find out how we can help. This includes
financing and implementation support for organisations seeking to
invest in energy efficient equipment, for more details visit
our Implementation &
finance page.
Visit our regional web pages for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to get details
of our government-funded support.