Valentin Borisavljevic 2140173

Energy report – improvement of CIBSE

Introduction

The reduction of energy use is a highly actual subject. The goals of this report are to analyse the
current energy consumption of the CIBSE headquarters, and to propose an integration of
technologies using a renewable energy source (in other words, renewable energy technologies) into
the current energy system of the building in order to reduce its consumption. The discussion of that
project comprises three parts. The first part is an analysis of its feasibility, which leads to the
selection of renewable technology(ies). The second part is about the design rules so that the selected
technology(ies) operates optimally. The last part is the selection of a specific solution, which defines
a new energy consumption. Some economical aspects of the project are also considered.

The report uses an ensemble of data: a 2016 energy report from Target energy services Ltd, a series
of photos of the building, and a complete floor plan of the building with data for the most energy
consuming devices.

Energetic baseline

The current energy system consumes two forms of energy, delivered by an energy distribution
company: electricity and natural gas (primary energy). Electricity is used for lights, chillers and other
devices, while gas is converted into heat by boilers. The gas consumption is expressed in terms of the
resulting heat (in kWh). The current energetic situation of the building is an improvement from a
previous situation. The application of several measures leads to the improvement, as described in a
2016 energy report from Target energy services Ltd: there is a 34% decrease in cost and a 33%
decrease in CO2 emissions. Table 1 shows those savings, and also the savings in energy consumption.
The savings are split between the measures which causes them. It is important to note that measure
2 and 5 do not concern energy consumption. Measure 2 is a negotiation of the energy price, and
measure 5 is a reduction in water consumption. Both measures lead to a cost reduction. Table 2
shows the current energetic situation, which results from the mentioned savings.

Table 1: savings by a series of measures

Table 2: current energetic situation

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Feasibility of the integration of renewable technologies

The first question about the improvement of the energy system concerns its feasibility. A feasibility
study is a profitability assessment of the implementation of something. In the case of a renewable
technology integration to improve an energy system, four categories of aspects have to be
considered: technical, social, environmental, and economic factors (Zobaa & Bansal 2013, page 519).
The technical aspects are about how the renewable technology will be implemented: is there enough
space to install the components for energy generation, is the renewable source broadly available at a
certain location, etc. The social and environmental aspects are about the impact on society and
environment: will the generation components disturb the neighbourhood, will the wildlife be
affected, etc. Lastly, the economic aspects concern the economic viability of the project: its costs, the
required investment and the payback period. The execution of the feasibility study for all categories
of renewable technologies allows to select to most feasible one. Computer simulations usually
implement the feasibility studies, due to the high amount of aspects to be considered and possible
technologies (Zobaa & Bansal 2013, page 520). However, this report relies on a basic feasibility study,
for which a complete simulation is not required. The study looks at the different categories of
renewable technology, without further subdivision. Furthermore, only basic aspects are considered.

Three types of renewable energy technologies use a source that consists of water: the tidal, wave
and hydropower technologies. There is no significant water source within close range of the building,
so those three options are not feasible. Biomass forms a fourth possible renewable source. The use
of biomass for the boilers of the building seems interesting. Using it as a replacement for natural gas
would mean a division by up to two of the fuel cost per produced energy by the boiler (1.5
pence/kWh with wood chips instead of 3.1 with natural gas), and lower N2O emissions (Dehouche
2022, chapter 5, page 5). Also, the use of the biomass source produces no net CO2 emissions,
because the CO2 quantity from the biomass combustion equals the quantity taken out of the
atmosphere for its creation (Dehouche 2022, chapter 5, page 8). The cost reduction is a positive
economic aspect, and the reduction of emissions is a positive environmental aspect. Furthermore,
the broad availability and easy transportation of biomass are positive technical aspects. Also, it
doesn’t require any additional infrastructure, because the same boilers can be used to convert
biomass into heat. The technologies using wind and solar sources are the fifth and sixth possible
options. There are several negative aspects about their use. Unlike the integration of the biomass
technology, they require additional infrastructure (wind turbines and solar panels, with extra
components to transport the generated electricity or heat), which is a negative technical and
economical aspect. Also, the presence of relatively high trees around the building can alter the
energy production (lower wind speed at the turbine’s height or lower insulation of the solar panels),
which is a negative technical aspect. The noise arising from a rotating wind turbine is another
negative (social and environmental) aspect of the wind source, because it causes a disturbance on
the surrounding neighbourhood and wildlife. Lastly, the presence of wind turbine(s) on the roof of
the building or around it is not evident: the fixation of the turbine on the roof may present a
challenge (the mass of the turbine and the transmission of the wind force to the fixation point), and
the installation on the space around the building may be subject to legal restrictions. However, there
are positive aspects about the use of solar and wind energy sources. Firstly, there is plenty of space
on the building’s roof to install solar panels and wind turbines, which is a positive technical aspect.
Secondly, solar and wind sources lead to an emission-free energy production.

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As a result, two types of technologies using renewable energy sources are qualified as feasible: the
one using the biomass source, and the one using solar source. Their output respectively is thermal
energy (heat) and electrical energy. The system using the solar source functions with photovoltaic
panels (PV), because the only goal is to produce electricity, as the boilers produce all needed heat.

Design rules for the integration of renewable technologies

The feasibility study led to the selection of renewable energy technologies for integration within the
current energy system. Several design rules for the project require attention.

The first series of design rules is about the coupling of the renewable energy systems with the
current energy system. The most important rule is about how the output of the current energy
system (heat from combustion of natural gas in the boiler and electricity from the energy distribution
company) necessitates adjustments more frequently to cope with fluctuations in renewable energy
output. The management of the heat output from natural gas is non-existent, because the plan is to
use biomass as the only fuel for the boilers. The management of the electricity output must react
rapidly from the fluctuations in output from the solar energy system, in order to minimize losses in
electrical energy. However, the fluctuations can be predicted with a good accuracy from weather
forecasts, as the electrical output varies on the insolation levels on the solar panels. In the case of the
integration of a power storage system (a battery), the management is less important: electricity
output exceeding the demand of the building at that moment can simply be stored in the battery,
and the stored electricity can be then be used instead of the grid electricity at other moments.

Other design rules concern the implementation of the renewable technologies by themselves. A first
rule concerns the orientation of the solar panels. The orientation must ensure a maximal insolation in
order to maximize the electricity production. The orientation is characterised by the facing direction
and the tilting angle (β), as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: orientation of a solar panel

For the northern hemisphere of the Earth (where the building is located), a general rule is a facing
direction towards the South and a tilting angle of 𝛽 = 90° − 𝛾𝑠,𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑛 , with 𝛾𝑠,𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑛 = 90° − Φ + 𝛿 (Φ
= latitude of the location, and 𝛿 = function of the day of the year) (Dehouche 2022, chapter 2, pages
40 76 84). A second rule is about the cooling of the solar panels. Their efficiency to convert solar
energy into electrical energy can decrease from certain temperatures, so it can be useful to develop
an additional cooling system (via ventilators or even a water-cooling system).

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Selection of a specific solution and resulting energetic situation

After the selection of renewable technologies to integrate into the current energy system and the
discussion of several design rules, a specific solution can be selected. This fully defines a new
energetic situation.

There are two types of PV systems: grid-connected systems, and stand-alone systems. A grid-
connected system makes more sense at the building’s location, because the connection to the grid is
easy (it is an urban location). Furthermore, a high variety of models exist, each with specific
characteristics. The most important one is the capacity, in other words the maximal possible energy
output per time unit.

The integration of the selected renewable technologies leads to an new energetic situation. There is
less cost due to electricity consumption, because the electricity is not fully from the grid (energy
distribution company), but also from a renewable source (solar). Also, there is no natural gas
consumption anymore, because biomass is used instead. The cost of energy (heat in this case) with
biomass is lower than with natural gas.

References

Dehouche, Z 2022, ME5521 Renewable energy technologies. Brunel University, London.

Zobaa, A F & Bansal, R C 2013, Handbook of renewable energy technology, World Scientific Publishing
Company, Singapore.