sporting - Leisure Opportunities

ENERGY
CASE STUDY
COTSWOLD LEISURE CENTRE
C
otswold District Council in
Gloucestershire is committed
to reducing its carbon
footprint. The council’s carbon
management plan, which aims to
reduce carbon emissions by 25 per
cent before 2015, forms part of its
Cleaner and Greener campaign, an
initiative geared towards reducing
the council’s overall environmental
impact. In line with this campaign,
the council identifi ed the Cotswold
Leisure Centre as a facility where
several sustainability targets could
be met through a reduction in its
electricity consumption.
Recognising that voltage optimisation
– an electrical energy saving
technique in which a device is
installed in series with the mains
electricity supply to provide an optimum
supply voltage for the site's
equipment – can help lower carbon
emissions and reduce energy costs,
the council asked EMSc (UK) Ltd to
complete a site survey to assess
whether voltage optimisation could
help it realise savings at the centre.
“On the whole, the National Grid
supplies a higher voltage than is generally
required,” says EMSc (UK) Ltd
managing director Dr Alex Mardapittas.
“Although the nominal voltage in the
UK is 230V, the average delivered
is actually 242V. This ‘over-voltage’
means that energy consumption is
not only higher, but as a result, the
lifespan of equipment is shortened.”
Voltage optimisation has also been
shown to improve power quality by
balancing phase voltages and filtering
harmonics as well as transients
from the electricity supply, leading to
reduced maintenance costs as less
A Powerstar voltage optimisation
unit helped reduce CO2 emissions
demand is placed on equipment.
EMSc (UK) Ltd determined that
the centre could realise substantial
savings by implementing voltage optimisation
technology and a 286kVA
Powerstar unit was installed.
The Powerstar installation helped
reduce the leisure centre's direct
electricity consumption – an overall
energy saving of 8 per cent was
achieved – whilst CO2 emissions
were reduced by 54 tonnes. The
council also achieved an annual saving
of £7,800 on electricity costs.
A number of financial products are currently being developed by suppliers and
financial houses to bridge the gap when it comes to paying your energy deposit
your contract and mitigate the risk
to all parties. For example, a consultancy
can tender out to suppliers and
filter each one to find, not only the
best prices, but also to determine any
obstacles that you may face when it
comes to accommodating the deposit
requests of the utility companies.
ADDRESSING THE CREDIT CRISIS
A number of financial products are currently
being developed by suppliers
and financial houses to bridge the gap
when it comes to paying your energy
deposit. Currently proving popular in
the US is the utilisation of unsecured
loans through merchant
banks and if this solution
is rolled out
in the UK, it will
provide fi nance
to the trader to
pay the deposit
for the energy
contracts.
Utility deposit bonds are also currently
available for larger deposits of
between £50,000 and £1m, though
these often require extensive security
checks, including an insurance policy
and a bank guarantee. The advantage
of this option is that the customer will
benefi t from a cheaper financial tariff
on the back of the guarantee provided
to the utility company.
Though the health of your credit
rating is critical to your energy procurement,
there are ways and means
of ensuring that payment for utilities
won’t break the bank. Timing is everything.
If you purchase your energy at
the right time, you can tie yourself into
a more economical contract.
Poor credit coupled with UK government
pressure to reduce usage and
carbon emissions is leaving companies
with a diffi cult dilemma. With the
deposits taking up so much of a company’s
credit limit, little budget is left
to purchase energy saving technology
to meet UK government targets.
In some cases companies have no
budget at all to invest in consumption
reduction equipment and systems.
But there is a solution.
TAKE CONTROL
Companies should not be embarrassed
to discuss this with their utility
provider. It is important to take an
open book attitude with suppliers to
ensure that a bank of evidence is
available to support your accounts and
to explain any anomalies.
The are emerging ways for organisations
to seek funding for energy
management and technology, enabling
them to recoup savings to put
towards further energy-effi cient measures.
The ever changing market is
certainly one to watch. ●
The Energy Desk T: 0800 3777 889,
E: info@theenergydesk.co.uk
www.theenergydesk.co.uk
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ISSUE 2 2012 © cybertrek 2012