Renovating an old school building poses many challenges, and in terms of energy several additional challenges must be overcome. There are solutions however, take a look at the pictures below of how Brynberian hall is reducing its energy demand and its carbon emissions.
When planning the refurbishment of the centre, we consulted with a number of organisations about the most appropriate technologies to use and the best energy tariffs for our needs. In order to obtain the grants to help with the costs, we had to focus on reducing our carbon footprint, and showcasing how green technologies can ensure the new centre is warm, comfortable and cheap to run on renewable resources The advice was to use a combination of technologies to maximise the efficiencies available to us.
Photovoltaics
Because we are in receipt of a grant for the installation of the photvoltaic panels and the inverter, we are not entitled to any of the traditional sources of Feed In Tariffs for the surplus energy they produce. However our electricty supplier, Octopus, is introducing a new export tariff to help them maintain their ability to generate 100% green electricity and we are hoping to take advantage of this to generate some income from our surplus electricity.
Ground Source Heatpump
With the photovoltaics supplying a portion of our electricity to help reduce the running costs, it made sense to look at the use of a heat pump to produce energy required to heat the building. Bith air source and ground source heat pumps were considered. We chose to install a ground source heat pump, despite the extra cost to buy, because they are considered to be a more consistent source of energy, producing a fairly constant temperature irrespective of the weather. An air source heat pump has to work harder as the air temperature drops so the cost of generating the heat increases.
Underfloor heating
The ground source heatpump runs the water for the central heating at a temperature of around 40 C and this is not considered hot enough to run traditional radiators efficiently. The underfloor heating system is ideally suited to work with the heat pump as it requires a heta supply at that lower temperature. So this replaced the expensive and inefficient storage heaters. With the extra insulation applied to the floor and walls, the centre is now run at a comfortable temperature all year round and at a minimal cost
Dr Rhys Morgan has contributed a more detailed explantion of the impact of climate change and what we can all do to combat it. Refer to the article here Energy and Climate Change
Octopus – A Green Energy Supplier
To complement our use of renewable energy technologies, we decided to choose an energy supplier that guarantees us access to energy that is n planning the refurbishment of the centre, we consulted with a number of organisations about the most appropriate technologies to use. In order to obtain the grants to help with the costs, we had t focus on reducing our carbon footprint, provide a showcase for the use of green technologies and ensure the new centre would be warm, comfortable and cheap to runroduced from 100% renewable resources.
Octopus Energy are a leading energy technology provider and have introduced a number of innovations to the market, including flexible and cost effective tariffs and community generation schemes. They were the perfect supplier to choose for this project. You can find out more here.
https://octopus.energy/blog/what-makes-us-green/
If you’re convinced, we encourage you to switch to Octopus Energy. If you use this link to start the switch https://octopus.energy/friend-referral/ you benefit the community and yourself as £50 is credited to our Octopus account and £50 is credited on your new electricity account!
