Organisations could cut their energy bills by 30% if they reduce the amount of heat they waste, according to the latest advice from the Carbon Trust.
In a new guide on heat recovery, the trust outlines a series of actions and technology that businesses and public sector bodies could adopt to improve the heat efficiency of their buildings.
The Carbon Trust argues that many organisations are missing out on substantial energy savings and an opportunity to cut carbon dioxide emissions by not capturing and reusing the heat lost from boilers, server rooms and refrigeration units, for example.
According to the guidance, a new-build 250-person office could save £1,000 on gas by installing a de-superheater to capture heat from cooling equipment and recover 75% of heat lost from ventilation systems with through thermal wheel technology.
“Waste heat and you are wasting money,” warns Richard Rugg, director of Carbon Trust programmes. “From office-based businesses to retailers and manufacturers, there are significant opportunities to recover and reuse heat, save money and boost your bottom line.”
The guidance includes quick reference tables giving examples of technology that could work best for specific types of buildings, including schools, manufacturing plants and warehouses, case studies of successful applications and estimates for payback for such projects.
It calculates, for example, that an office spending £15,000 a year on gas could achieve payback on a £8,000 boiler flue economiser in five years and that a manufacturing plant running continuously could recover the costs of installing a heating, ventilation and air conditioning heat recover system in two years.
The guide is available for free from the Carbon Trust website and the trust is also running a free webinar on 8 September offering advice for smaller scale manufacturing and warehousing businesses.
The new guidance forms part of the trust’s “Expert in Energy” series which includes guides on employee awareness, lighting and refrigeration.
In March, the trust also launched a £550 million scheme to help businesses access finance to install energy efficiency equipment.
