Low Carbon Chilterns Cooperative Ltd Samantha Free 2 December 2015 COMMUNITY BULDINGS & ENERGY EFFICIENCY

What is LCCC, and what does it do?  A cooperative; ‘membership’ organisation, run by volunteers; not for profit; but able to raise money from share issues  We work with community buildings, such as village halls, community centres and youth clubs, to assist them to save energy, install renewable energy, and save money. “ reduce carbon emissions in the Chilterns area, by helping the community to save energy and generate renewable energy”

Why bother with energy improvements? The 3 Cs: Cost, Comfort and Climate  Reduce running costs  Improve comfort  ‘Do your bit’ for the climate It’s worth doing what you can now to ‘future-proof’ your club - for more comfort and more cost control.

Energy Supply Energy Usage Reducing Energy Usage Generating Energy 4

5 Estimated Customer reading reading Two tariffs note different rates For their usage a single 12p/unit rate would be cheaper

6 Charities pay only 5% VAT unless they consume: more than 1000kWh/month electricity more than 2300 Litres of gas oil per month

7 Charities pay only 5% VAT unless they consume more than 1000kWh/month electricity more than 2300 Litres of gas oil per month Unless: “If a charity does not make a charge, its activities are generally non-business. Supplies of fuel and power for use in such non-business activities are taxed at the reduced rate.” HMRC

8 Fixed price tariff (but beware end of fix) Look at admin/standing/quarterly charges May get reduction for direct debit but keep under review Dual tariff may work for you but depends on usage Change Energy Supplier

9 Patterns of Energy Usage Gas kWh Elec kWh Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Total per m Use your quarterly bills:

Benchmarks – how do you compare to other similar buildings? 10 Fossil FuelElectricity #1. For community centres: 187kWh/m 2 33kWh/m 2 #2. Public building light usage: 105kWh/m 2 20kWh/m 2

Benchmarks – how do you compare to other similar buildings? 11 Fossil FuelElectricity #1. For community centres: 187kWh/m 2 33kWh/m 2 #2. Public building light usage: 105kWh/m 2 20kWh/m 2 For 12 buildings visited by LCCC Mean is: 147kWh/m 2 35kWh/m 2 Range is:

Benchmarks – how do you compare to other similar buildings? 12 Fossil FuelElectricity #1. For community centres: 187kWh/m 2 33kWh/m 2 #2. Public building light usage: 105kWh/m 2 20kWh/m 2 For 12 buildings visited by LCCC Mean is: 147kWh/m 2 35kWh/m 2 Range is: Range in unit price: 2.9p-6.4p9.8p-16.1p

13 Read your gas meter every Monday morning: Jan Dec

14 Elec kWh Week What’s going on here? Electricity reading every week:

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16 Background level 1 and 2 Hours Elec kWh

17 Smart Meter for Gas Hours of day

Energy wastage INAPPROPRIATE Use of inappropriate fuels Too expensive; Fossil fuels, not renewables Consider electricity generation and building heating POORLY CONTROLLED Timer and/or temperature controls wrongly set – too long, too high Manage users & control energy UNNECESSARY Equipment and lights that are redundant, no longer needed Check, and take them out INEFFICIENT Poorly maintained boilers Lack of insulation in building, draughts, Un-lagged HW pipes and tanks Use of standard lights instead LEL Reduce your energy waste

Unnecessary 19

Poorly controlled 20 ∙Need timers for both heating and hot water ∙Review regularly – does schedule fit with building usage? ∙Review user interaction – can your building users help or hinder? Turn heating down and wait for complaints!

Inefficient: draughts 21 People can tolerate lower temperatures if there are no draughts.

Inefficient: lighting 22 LED can use 90% less electricity than traditional light bulb Replace tungsten and halogens with LED lights – cost £100s – payback 2-3 years LEDs also have longer lifetime

Inefficient: heat loss 23

Reduce your energy waste  See the reduced heat loss [darker blue, compared with green, to the R of it] from the trial internal insulation panel. CSG Memorial Hall  See the greater heat loss along the un- insulated lower main roof.

Common recommendations For 20 buildings visited by LCCC we recommended: Lighting upgrades in 18 buildings Heating management in 13 buildings Draught excluding in 12 buildings Utility monitoring in 12 buildings These are low cost/no cost options More substantial changes recommended: Upgrading boilers (9) and/or heating controls (8) Installing loft insulation (4) or upgrading (9) Replacing doors (8) or windows (7) Checking for CWI (7) or installing (2) 25

Typical community building ‘Quick Wins’ list 1. Heating controls - turn it down 2. Heating and electrical controls - turn it off 3. Stop wasting heat - lag it and seal it 4. Change to low energy light bulbs, everywhere 5. Insulate flat 'loft' floors in accessible roof spaces 6. Insulate any un-insulated external cavity walls 7. Understand your energy use and costs, for further action Manage users & control energy Reduce your energy waste Consider generation and heating

Action Plan Find your meters and read them Look through your old energy bills – do they make sense? Measure your patterns of usage – does it match building usage? Change supplier – can you get a better rate elsewhere? Walk around the building – lightbulbs, electrical equipment and draughts! Identify insulation gaps 27 The only initial cost is your time and you may make significant savings

Renewable Energy Generation Electricity generation via solar PV panels – get payments for generation (via Feed in Tariff) and also reduce electricity bills Heat generation via biomass or heat pumps – get payments for generation (via Renewable Heat Incentive) and will be cheaper than oil heating 28

Tariff Changes Feed in Tariff for renewable electricity generation Current rate for solar PV is 11.3p per unit generated and 4.85p per unit exported (assumed 50% of generation) However current DECC consultation suggests it be reduced to 1.63p per unit generated from 1 st Jan 2016 Also pre-registration has ceased – allowed tariff to be fixed in advance of installation 29

Community building example 30 Current TariffsProposed Tariffs Generation£2065£298 Export£443 Total Annual Income£2508£741 Years to repay~8 years~26 ½ years A 20kWp Solar PV system costing £19600, should generate 18300kWh per annum