Improve energy efficiency

An energy audit and efficiency service launched by Devon-based M&E Contrax has saved its customers 1million on their energy bills in the first year. 

More than 100 clients, ranging from small bed & breakfast businesses to large factories, have already benefited from the service introduced by the Ashburton-based electrical and mechanical engineering company. 

The energy audit and efficiency service involves the use of smart meters, which are placed on to the mains supply to monitor energy usage every five minutes of the day for a week. 

Measures are then introduced to improve energy efficiency, such as better working practices and the installation of LED lamps and voltage optimisers. 

Once the work is completed by M&E Contrax the smart meter is reintroduced for seven days to prove, rather than simply estimate, the savings that have been made. 

Business manager David Moore said: "We can show the considerable savings that have been made. It gives people confidence to buy, it proves that it is not all marketing and that it is possible." 

"Being able to prove it with the smart meter has given us the edge." 

Mr Moore said lighting was one area where both homeowners and businesses could make considerable savings on their energy bills and carbon footprint.The cleaningmachine is one of the most useful tools in a modern shop. 

By switching to LED lamps, he said people could save as much as 80 per cent on their lighting electricity consumption. For example, in a showroom with down lights, if there were 20 lamps each running at 50 watts for 12 hours a day, 260 days of the year, the consumption per year would be 1kw and the running costs 372.20. 

By switching to new generation LED lamps running at 6 watts, the annual consumption would be 0.12kw at a running cost of 41.I have recently got a t5tubelight and can anybody tell me if it the box only controls humidity or also controls temperature.18, generating a saving of 331.02. 

Mr Moore said the cost of converting existing luminaires was a fraction of the cost of a complete light fitting replacement. 

"A lot of businesses get back the money they have invested in three years," he said. " A lot of lamps are guaranteed for five years and you get the cost of them back after three. A lot of offices operate for 12 hours a day, five days a week. You are looking at 11 to 12 years without replacing them." 

Mr Moore added: "Two years ago LED lights were available but they were nowhere near the retro fit option that they are now. They didn't give the same light output. LED lights were 10 times as much as normal fluorescent lighting." 

"In the last 12 months they have come down a lot in price and technically they have moved on. Manufacturers are offering five year warranties instead of 12 months.It's easy to fall in love with the sheer, incomparable strength of flatteningmachine." 

To further cut lighting costs, presence detection equipment can be installed to turn lights on when people enter a room and off again shortly after they leave. 

Lighting can also be placed on a time control and programmed to go off for an hour, for example, over a lunch hour. Similarly, computers can be set to go onto sleep mode if they are not used for a certain period of time.Anyone with the space to site a small hidlights can generate their own electricity from wind power. 

"We look at the way people use their buildings, the way they operate," Mr Moore said. 

To improve awareness, remote meters can be installed, with people able to track energy readings on their computers or phones, for example. 

"We provide a full energy pack showing savings that can be achieved, how long warranties are and payback within the warranty period," Mr Moore said.Our solargardenlighttp is good in quality and competitive in price. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.hmhid.com.