Jon Killick, Manager, Edgware Library
Leave a Comment“[HeatingSave’s building energy management system is] a practical way of managing your heating in the 21st century.”
“[HeatingSave’s building energy management system is] a practical way of managing your heating in the 21st century.”
Edgware Library, based in the London borough of Barnet, provides books, information and online services for the local community. Not only this, but the Library also acts as a meeting place and information centre for local people, providing them with a safe, quiet and well-equipped place to read and learn.
The London-based Library has 6 full-time members of staff as well as 4 weekend/evening assistants who help run and maintain the library, ensuring books and equipment is well-looked after.
Staff members at Edgware Library decided that a building energy management system (BEMS) was required to help better-run the building, making it more energy efficient, while simultaneously reducing their heating and energy bills and reducing their carbon footprint.
The Edgware Library Manager, Mr. Jon Killick, recently told the HeatingSave reporter that their main aims and objectives of installing a building energy management system was “to make the use of the heating within the library more efficient and more controllable with the hope of saving on fuels.”
The hardware and software installations at the library in September 2021 were described by Mr. Killick as “absolutely fine”. He added, “I’ve had no problems with them, they’ve worked very, very well.”
The Library Manager received a training session to get him up to speed with the building energy management system. He told the HeatingSave reporter that the quality of training was “good.” He then followed up by saying “I now feel confident using the system.”
HeatingSave’s BEMS is very user friendly and easy-to-use. Mr. Killick reiterated this point to the HeatingSave reporter when asked how easy he finds the system to use: “Very! As long as training is provided then it’s absolutely fine”. He added, “It is a standalone system that works very well.”
When asked whether he would recommend HeatingSave to other libraries and businesses looking to reduce heating and energy bills as well as reaching net-zero-carbon, he said, “Yes!” Mr. Killick concluded that HeatingSave’s building energy management system is “a practical way of managing your heating in the 21st century.”
Edgware Library
Hale Lane
Edgware
London
HA8 8NN
Phone: 0208 359 2626
Email: edgware.library@barnet.gov.uk
The council contracted the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to create a specification for the two properties and this was completed by November 2009. As part of their research, the BRE visited HeatingSave to understand the way in which HeatingSave’s revolutionary Building Energy Management System (BEMS) can reduce fuel bills by 20%+. BRE must have been impressed as they specified BEMS to be installed at both houses and also to use HeatingSave’s glass evacuated solar tube hot water heating system at the house in St Neots.
The Green House project is due for completion in the summer of 2010 and once complete the houses will be open for public viewing. This project supports the Environment theme in the Huntingdonshire Strategic Partnership strategy, which the partnership is working towards.
Whitefriars’ heating requirements are served by two gas fired Vaillant Ecotec Plus boilers. Cambridge City Council’s Home Energy Officer, Sam Griggs said: “Housing schemes are expensive to heat, particularly with gas prices being at an all-time high”.
Cambridge City Council wanted the most efficient method possible of heating Whitefriars and also the ability to regulate the temperature for all the communal areas. Sam explained, “Heating areas with older people can be very costly. The temperature of the communal areas and corridors was running at between 22°c and 23°c, and the idea was to reduce this and have much better control”.
After speaking to a HeatingSave representative, the staff of Cambridge City Council began to appreciate how HeatingSave could significantly improve the efficiency and energy savings of their central heating system, which was recommended by the Building Research Establishment for the Greenhouse Project run by Huntingdonshire District Council. A HeatingSave Energy Management System was subsequently installed at the Whitefriars sheltered housing scheme in the early autumn of 2010. No problems were encountered during the installation of either the hardware or software.
Particularly suitable for multiple-room dwellings, HeatingSave’s mathematical heat loss algorithm constantly learns the heat loss profile of the Whitefriars building, and then fires up the boilers at the very last moment, to ensure the complex is making gas bill savings of up to one-third. “It means the rooms are warm for when you want them” commented Sam to the HeatingSave reporter. The set-up is so versatile that they can change a room temperature requirement continuously over a day, giving Whitefriars’ management 100% control of the heating it requires.
“Our maintenance manager can now control communal areas and corridors from his desk” said Sam, “Our HeatingSave system also has an occupancy sensor in the main lounge area that will boost the temperature when more than two occupants are present.” added Sam. He also described how Cambridgeshire City Council were initially attracted to HeatingSave because it had been approved by Government agencies like the Carbon Trust and the Department for Energy and Climate Change to save on heating bills and reduce the carbon footprint of local authorities.
When asked what he liked most about the HeatingSave system, Sam replied “Saving the council money on its heating and the additional control are the main points. Also the fact that we can now identify maintenance issues without having to attend site whilst contributing towards our carbon reduction targets.”
Sam said that he was looking forward to making savings in winter, which is just around the corner. With gas prices already shooting up for the cold season he feels that the Whitefriars sheltered housing scheme is well placed to make savings whilst still keeping residents comfortable. Summing up his experience of HeatingSave Sam concluded: “assuming HeatingSave carries on performing as well as it has done so far, and because of the very reasonable price, we will be looking to roll HeatingSave out to our other sheltered housing schemes”
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Whitefriars sheltered housing scheme
C/o Cambridge City Council
Cambridge
Cambridgeshire
CB4 1NN
Tel: 01223 314800
Web: www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/portal/