Heat Pump Minimum Temperature

Post occupancy: is your building really so green?

Nowadays buildings with natural ventilation, biomass boilers or ground source heat pumps are standard stuff. Understandably, most people assume that low-carbon build methods and tougher energy regulations mean buildings use far less energy than ones built a few years ago. But do these buildings use less energy? Does natural ventilation work when you are relying on people or complicated mechanical systems to open and close the windows? Are those anecdotal stories about biomass boilers continually breaking down true? Are ground source heat pump systems too complex for their own good? The reality is that only a handful of people know the answers, meaning most are designing low-energy buildings in a vacuum. Monitoring buildings for post-occupancy energy use is time-consuming and expensive. And if the money is found and the results aren’t flattering, then the results are unlikely to get past the building owner out into the public domain.

Now Building can shed some light onto this difficult issue. We have teamed up with the Carbon Trust and BSRIA to bring you the true story of how well low-energy buildings really perform. The Carbon Trust administered the government’s low carbon building programme, which funded a range of low-carbon technologies. It also advised on a range of energy efficiency measures. The buildings that benefited from this programme have been monitored for a minimum of a year after completion by consultants including Aecom and Arup. BSRIA’s Rod Bunn, who was behind the PROBE series of post-occupancy evaluations in the nineties, has waded through boxes of raw data and number-crunched it into shape. In the first of two features we look at two new build, low-energy office buildings to see what Bunn found.

This office in Aberystwyth is typical of many recent good practice low-carbon buildings. It is mixed mode, meaning it is naturally ventilated with backup mechanical ventilation and cooling for very hot days or when the building gets stuffy in winter. Elsewhere it utilises energy-efficient lighting with solar thermal panels for hot water and there is a wind turbine too. The aspiration for this building was carbon emissions of less than 50kgCO office is occupied by Ceredigion council and has a BREEAM “excellent” rating. It consists of a three-storey and a four-storey wing sitting on either side of a central, full height atrium. Most of the building is open plan offices with some cellular accommodation on the ground floor.

Raypak Heat Pump Review | Pool Heater Reviews

You can opt for digital or analog controls. Both allow you to set a separate pool and spa temperature and are compatible with remote controls. The analog control has 6 LEDs which tell you what is going on whilst the digital control has on board diagnostics which can provide detailed information to the owner or pool technician.  The Raypak documentation indicates that the digital version is superior but, strangely, the prices are the same.

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