By Greentech Lead Europe: Red Rose Forest, the Community
Forest for Greater Manchester, has partnered with ENER-G, a designer and
developer of energy efficient, sustainable and renewable solutions, and
Salford City Council to reduce energy costs and carbon footprint of its small
industrial unit. ENER-G has implemented a number of energy efficiency
improvements at Red Rose Forest’s facility.
These installations enable Red Rose Forest to achieve
annual cost savings of 3,900 pounds and reduce the carbon dioxide emissions
from its building by almost 19 tonnes
per year, equivalent to the annual carbon saved by approximately four acres of
pine forest.
“The energy saving and efficiency measures which
ENER-G has implemented have lowered our carbon footprint, reducing our impact
on climate change. They have also enabled us to make great savings on our
energy bills. This is a great example of how existing buildings can be
retrofitted to improve their energy efficiency,” said Tony Hothersall,
forest director, Red Rose Forest
ENER-G has installed high frequency T5 fluorescent lights
and its new E-MAGINE building energy
management system at the facility. The T5 fluorescent
lights reduce Red Rose’s electricity consumption by almost 14,000kWh per year
and save 7.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, while increasing
lighting levels.
E-MAGINE building
energy management system controls heat from the
building’s existing combi-boiler. By dividing the building into three heating
zones and installing the small control system, the environment in each
zone can now be controlled according to occupancy and temperature – cutting gas
consumption by almost half.
The building fabric has also been improved through the
replacement of single-glazed windows with double-glazing which has eliminated
draughts and increased security and Rockwool are increasing the thickness
of the thermal insulation in the roof space.
The improvements also helped the building raise its
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings from a poor F to a credible C.
Salford City Council and ENER-G are anticipating that
other organizations will follow Red Rose Forest’s lead to see what a ‘green
makeover’ could do for their energy bills and environmental performance.
“ENER-G can provide energy improvements under guaranteed
savings contracts so that organizations don’t need to make any upfront
investment and can refund the cost of work from their savings. There has never
been a better time for businesses to consider a ‘green makeover’. Increasing
energy efficiency is an important way of reducing fuel costs for
businesses, making them more competitive and releasing savings for
reinvestment,” said Peter Law, operations director for ENER-G.
editor@greentechlead.com