Fire station retrofit Case study
>
There is no
pressure on the industry to bring down the embodied energy in its
products – Lloyd Bentley
fuel than previously, so there will be significant savings overall. Shaw will be comparing fuel consumption data from before and after the refurbishment.
Night cooling
Fire stations are in operation 24 hours a day, and so have considerable energy needs. The old station had three non-condensing gas boilers and a gas-fired hot water heater. A previous programme of asbestos removal meant that by the time of the refurbishment, there was virtually no insulation. Old cast-iron radiators had poor controls and were left running almost year-round, with the result that, even in the middle of winter, staff kept the windows open to prevent overheating. The refurbished station relies entirely on natural
ventilation, assisted by a new night cooling system. A new building management system automatically opens a large vent in the roof of the office floor during the evening. Two fans suck cool night air inside, while the increased air pressure pushes the warm air out of the vent. Lloyd Bentley, the brigade’s coordinator for the
Croydon refurbishment, says he hopes the system will bring the internal temperature down to about 16C by the time the office staff arrive at work in the morning, with temperatures peaking sometime in the afternoon at around 24C, although this has yet to be tested during a summer period. Staff working at the office have been briefed to close
Solar PV and biomass heating are two key renewable resources used by the station.
the windows when they go home at night, to help maintain the air pressure needed to make the cooling system work properly.
Controls
The building management system also controls the heating outputs from the biomass boilers. Bentley explains that although the radiators boast thermostatic controls, allowing staff to make their own adjustments, the real control remains with the building management system, which is set to maintain internal temperatures at 21C. A fire station has a very transient population of firefighters and staff working shifts around the clock, says Shaw: ‘They don’t take ownership of the building, so we’ve got to take as much control away from them as possible, because they won’t turn things off or turn them down.’ Shaw and Bentley will continue to tweak the building
management system for several months before they hand it over to the local facilities management team. Because of the building’s vastly improved insulation, the pair believe it should be possible to lower the settings on the heating system while still maintaining an average temperature of 21C, with office equipment and body heat generating enough heat to make up the difference. While the system currently switches off at 21C, residual heat in the office can push the air temperature to 23 or 24C. ‘We’re trying to get the balance right,’ says Shaw. Lighting accounts for 70 per cent of the electricity used in a typical fire station. New lighting controls at Croydon are expected to save 30 per cent on electricity, thanks to the installation of occupancy and daylight switches throughout the building. Bentley says that before the Croydon refurbishment, the lights in the fire engine bays were never switched off.
>
36
CIBSE Journal April 2010
www.cibsejournal.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84