Commtech Group UK - Perfecting the indoor Climate, Air Humidity, Air Movement, Temperature, Lighting Levels, Air Quality, Sound Level, Electric Environment

Most of the solutions proposed by engineers to address energy waste are little more than tinkering at the margins. First we have to get the basics right, says Mike Malina*.

At the recent NEMEX show in Birmingham, it was clear that this industry has something of an obsession with measuring things. Metering companies far outnumbered other kinds of product suppliers and there was a positive battalion of energy advisers keen to show end users how they could reduce their energy bills by switching tariffs.

These things are very important and much of our efforts should be focused on measuring and monitoring to find where all this expensive energy is going and then finding ways to manage down the waste and cost. The trouble is that should be Stage Two, and we haven’t cracked Stage One yet.

Before we start ‘tweaking’, there are some pretty fundamental design issues that need to be faced first and which could make an enormous difference in almost every building.

Commissioning specialists like Commtech are regularly called in to analyse what is happening in buildings all over the country. In most cases, we find that energy consumption is far above design levels and even further above where it could be.

The reason is that most building services are either never properly (or at all) commissioned or have long fallen out of their best operating parameters due to poor maintenance or neglect.

A basic examination of the air and water systems will show, in most cases, that they are catastrophically out of balance. This is fundamental and relatively easy to put right if you call in the right people.

Having your main services unbalanced means your heating system, for example, will only operate in patches with hot water failing to reach all areas of the occupied zones. This will encourage individual users to turn up room thermostats and radiator valves in a doomed attempt to improve their conditions. All they will do is drive up energy costs.

Again if the air services are out of kilter, ventilation fans will be overworking to try and redress the balance and air conditioning systems will be consuming enormous amounts of electricity without delivering the controlled conditions expected by users. How many times have we seen the indiscriminate use of supplementary fan heaters. This certainly gives you more electricity to measure!

In short, your building will overheat in some areas, be subject to drafts and freezing conditions in others and the occupier will have a less than healthy and happy staff, so consequently you pay more to cool and heat and productivity suffers.

Not delivering
Commissioning engineers can almost sense where the problems are simply by walking into an unbalanced building. They can feel where the airflows are not as they should be, but putting that right takes a bit of technical expertise and a lot of patience. End users could also do with a bit of basic building services education. Why do people behave so irrationally at work compared to their own homes when it comes to controlling temperature and ventilation?

Many commissioning firms find that building managers and FMs are simply at a loss to understand why their highly specified heating and air conditioning systems are not delivering the required comfort conditions. Do many of them even understand the concept of balancing and would they be able to point out a services riser to you, for example?

By applying their engineering skills and adjusting valves and dampers, commissioning companies can relatively quickly put a building back on a balanced footing. As a result the building will be more energy efficient with the desired indoor climate conditions being achieved, and importantly a more productive happier workforce.

Proper balancing also avoids the extra costs incurred when individual users try to intervene to correct a system that is beyond correction due to poor air and water flows.

Financial directors would squirm with embarrassment if they could get their heads round this subject. Every pound saved on energy goes directly to the bottom line at a time when businesses are complaining that they will have to increase their turnover to keep up with rising gas and electricity prices.

Commtech has seen an increase of up to 40% efficiency in some of the buildings we have rebalanced. Imagine the impact across all sectors in the UK if a comprehensive assessment is made of checking the entire building stock. This is a fundamental approach that industry and government seem to have missed in our battle to combat global warming. We accept that our car has to have an MOT, and be tuned for optimal performance, so why not our buildings?

Oil prices are expected to remain above $60 according to suppliers like Shell and BP. So, taking action now makes sound business sense not to mention the PR benefit firms gain by improving their ‘Green Credentials’.
Investing in energy management is basic economics with a potential rate of return in the region of 25 – 30% over a period of three to five years. Try getting that kind of money back from the stock market! Companies should forget about investing in shares for a while and pump that money into reducing their energy costs.

FTSE 100 companies are already obliged to produce energy reports and that will soon be extended to the top 350. This factor, allied to rising fuel costs, the impact of the Climate Change Levy (likely to rise from 11% to a 16% surcharge on energy bills in the future) and growing pressure from environmental groups means big business is rapidly running out of options.

Investment decisions
The EU Energy Performance of Buildings directive will pile further pressure on building owners and managers when it comes into force next year (although there will probably be a three year moratorium while we get our act together). They will not be able to ignore the requirements of this legislation, which includes the need for all buildings over 1,000 m2 to display an energy label. This will have an impact on investment decisions because you will not be able to let or sell your building without one.
The UK is using the revised Part L of the Building Regulations to move towards many of the targets set by the directive. Air tightness and ventilation leakage testing as well as full and comprehensive commissioning will be major improvements brought about by the directive and it is through this process that systems can be brought back into balance.

Once that is sorted out, building services consultants can look at improving the overall performance of a building on a much sounder footing. The use of the ‘whole building approach’ outlined under Part L will allow designers to ‘mix and match’ fabric measures, lighting and hvac controls as well as being encouraged to design in renewable energy systems such as CHP because they are aiming at an overall goal of reduced carbon emissions for their building.

Heated and naturally ventilated buildings will have to improve their carbon emissions performance by 25% and mechanically ventilated buildings by 30% under the new regulations. Building owners will also be required to spend a further 10% on top of their planned refurbishments to upgrade energy systems with the aim of delivering a payback in less than seven years.

The solutions are there for both the short and long-term, but none of this makes any sense if the fundamentals of how a building runs are not examined first. Get the basics right, which means checking your building is well balanced and everything else can follow. Then it makes sense to start tweaking at the margins.

*Mike Malina is Manager of the Energy Division of The Commtech Group

For more information contact:

Commtech Group,
Breakfield
The Ullswater Business Park
Coulsdon
Surrey
CR5 2HS

Tel: 020 8668 0312
Fax. 020 8668 0975