RegionFastigheter has closed an EPC deal with ESCO TAC Energy Solution that guarantee energy savings worth 1.1 M€ per year.

Objectives and target audience

The main target for the project is to carry out energy savings in three hospital buildings, managed by RegionFastigheter.

1. Firstly, the ESCO will perform an energy analysis to determine the estimation energy saving of the building.

2. The analysis led to that of the ESCO could guarantee energy savings worth 1,1 M€ per year.

3. Within the project RegionFastigheter, that an investment of  8 M€ in measures and 4 M€ in maintenance is viable.

4. The agreement between RegionFastigheter and TAC continues for 7 years.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

All of the investments were produced by RegionFastigheter.  The project cost was approximately  12 M€ in total.  One possibility when using an EPC model to calculate the  energy savings was for it also calculate the investments needed.  Unfortunately, this was not the case.

Process

Undertaken actions were:-

Ventilation:-
-    The recycling of the ventilation;
-    The merging of the ventilation systems;
-    The installation of direct driven fans;
-    The installation of frequency control system for fans;
-    The adjustment of air flows;
-    The adjustment of air recycling flows.

Heat:-
-    New dimensioning and exchange of heat exchangers;
-    New dimensioning and exchange of primary valves;
-    Tuning of heat system;
-    The adjustment of radiators.

Building and automation control systems:-
-    The installation of attendance and CO2 sensors;
-    Frequency control of fans and pumps;
-    The change of valves.

Lighting:-
-    The installation of control systems.

Results

The results are as follows:-

-    19 964 MWh save of heat energy;
-    4 099 MWh save of electricity;
-    55 974 m3 save of water.

The amount of energy saved equated to approximately 1.1 M€ per year.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

Success factors which are important for the operation of a good ESCO are:-

-    To fulfil the work commitment and ensure that all the deliverables outlined within the contract are met;
-    Can function with colleagues and external related clients professionally and can work in a supportive and confident manner;
-    To have the ability to react quickly if any problems occur during the installation phase.

Important requirements for the buyer are that:-
-    The buyer has good set of energy statistics which relate to their buildings;
-    The buyer has suitable information in relation to their energy tariffs;
-    Has relevant information about the buildings;
-    Has relevant information about technical installations.

The study involved an assessment of the viability of the use of energy service companies (ESCO’s) and other third party financing mechanisms to reduce CO2 emissions from public buildings.

Objectives and target audience

In the UK the operation of buildings accounts for approximately 50% of CO2 emissions.  In the public estates there is a significant opportunity to improve the energy performance of buildings and reduce CO2 emissions.  The project aimed to identify the opportunities for using innovative third party financing mechanisms and ESCO type approaches to improve the energy performance of buildings in the public sector estates in Greater Manchester and elsewhere in the NW of England.  It involved the identification of opportunities, the evaluation of the viability of ESCO models, the identification of specific projects that could be taken forward as pilots, and the identification of barriers and enablers.
The results were disseminated through a roll out report and dissemination workshop held by the NW development agency.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The project was managed by Manchester: Knowledge Capital and received funding from the NW regional development agency.  The work was carried out by the technical consultancy TNEI.
Process
The following tasks were undertaken:-

• Identification of opportunities;
• Stakeholder Workshop;
• Evaluation of interest in ESCO models;
• Identification of specific pilot projects and stakeholders;
• Assessment of existing entities;
• Identification of barriers and enablers;
• Recommendations for establishing ESCO’s;
• Roll out report and dissemination workshop.

Results

The project helped to raise awareness and increase understanding of the opportunities provided by third party financial models and ESCO’s.  Pilot projects in Greater Manchester were identified and the stakeholders encouraged to evaluate the opportunities for the use of ESCO’s.  Further work is being taken forward by the local authorities in Manchester to evaluate the use of ESCO’s as a means of enabling low and zero carbon targets to be met in the context of new developments in order to meet the requirements of the Code for Sustainable Homes.  Work is ongoing investigating the feasibility on specific pilot initiatives at Bickershaw in Wigan and at Maine Road in Manchester.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

Whilst local authorities were receptive to the ESCO concept, it became clear that capacity for further developing this model of financing relied on the finding of additional resources, typically consultancy support.  This has limited the uptake of the ESCO model.

This project involved a consortium of consultancy organisations working closely with 14 organisations, co-located on a business park, to identify CO2 reduction opportunities.
Objectives and target audience
The primary aim for the project was to demonstrate how a range of organisations within a business park could be engaged and supported in reducing their CO2 emissions.

Fourteen businesses, both large and small, covering retail, leisure, manufacturing and the food sector, were engaged at the flagship Trafford Park business park.  Engagement focused on top-level buy-in with more involved work with facilities managers.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

Funding for the project was provided via sponsorship from npower business (£25k), from contributions from the participants themselves (£13k total), Carbon Trust for energy audits and Groundwork via a separate environmental support project.

Process

The initial workshop, held at the end on November 2006, provided the participants with an opportunity to meet each other and describe their activities.  The participants were then given details of the Carbon Footprint Tool, Carbon Trust audits and the assistance available from npower and Groundwork.  An outline of the project programme and what was expected of the participants was provided.

At the subsequent three workshops, equipment suppliers were invited to attend to present and demonstrate their systems to the participants.  The technologies covered were selected to be of interest to most, if not all, of the participants.  Wherever possible, the equipment suppliers were NW companies in order to support the local sustainable energy supply chain.

Presentations were also given on the Trafford Centre Car Sharing Scheme and Staff Awareness.  The final workshop was held at Kellogg’s, who gave a presentation on their carbon reduction activities.  It was interesting for the smaller companies to see from this what could be achieved by ‘doing the simple things well’ rather than simply relying on high-tech solutions.

Results

In order to start to tackle the internal energy usage, energy efficiency audits were organised for the companies which were eligible for Carbon Trust support.  On average these showed potential savings in energy costs and CO2 emissions of 16% with a payback of only 9 months.  These figures included estimates of savings resulting from improved monitoring of energy use and staff awareness.

Areas for saving which were common to most of the sites included:-

• Improved Energy Monitoring & Targeting
• Staff Awareness
• Lighting  – new technologies; controls
• Variable Speed Drives – e.g.  on pumps & fans
• Commuting
• Waste Issues – segregation & collection

Six of the fourteen companies engaged took full advantage of the opportunities of the project and went on to implement CO2 reduction initiatives and work to embed energy saving as an integral part of their business planning processes.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

Key lessons learned:-

• It is difficult to engage small companies in energy saving and carbon reduction initiatives (though there are signs that this may be changing with all the publicity about climate change and supply chain pressures to do more to reduce carbon emissions).
• Once engaged, a committed project champion is essential.  It is very clear from the project that progress stalled or ceased altogether where a project champion left the company or was moved to other duties.  This also highlights the importance of senior management commitment to ensure that progress is maintained even when personnel move on.
• Small companies can make significant energy (and CO2) savings from projects with very short paybacks – 20% savings with a payback of one year is not unusual.  This message has been around for at least 30 years but it remains extraordinarily difficult to realise these savings on a large scale – a challenge which is still being faced at a national level.
• The savings come from a number of relatively small projects, including better monitoring of energy use and improved staff awareness.  This is one of the main factors hindering achievement of the potential savings (because it needs time, which is a commodity that small companies are always short of).  It also makes it very difficult for companies such as npower to provide a cost-effective, ‘packaged’ solution to identify and implement the savings opportunities.