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 | | CALOR FUELS NATIONAL TRUST’S FIRST CHP UNIT | | | Calor | | 14/08/2008 | | | Calor gas is being used to power the National Trust’s first LPG Combined Heat and Power (CHP) unit at Trelissick Garden, Cornwall.
Rurally located near Feock, Trelissick Garden is a beautiful and popular natural attraction with a wide selection of exotic plants, which is surrounded by parkland, woodland and riverside walks. The decision to introduce a low-carbon heating solution to the National Trust property was made when a project was commissioned to extend and refit catering facilities at the site.
During the refurbishment, the National Trust was keen to integrate green building technologies where possible. Already used to provide a real, controllable flame for cooking, clean burning Calor LPG was chosen to power the CHP unit – oil, which was previously used for heating, would no longer be used in the new system.
Trelissick Garden estate manager Chris Curtis said: “At the National Trust we are always looking for ways to minimise our environmental impact and we try to include greener options whenever possible. So when deciding on a solution for Trelissick’s expanding heating and electrical demands, it was important that we chose something which could offer both environmental and economic savings.”
The National Trust’s brief was to achieve the site’s heating and electrical demands with a minimal carbon footprint. It was established that there would be a base electrical load 24 hours a day and seven days a week and, for most of the year, a base heat load requirement. This made the choice of a CHP unit a natural one.
SJH Design Services, specifier on the project, recommended a Baxi DACHS mini CHP unit, which had sufficient capacity to meet the needs of the new catering facilities at Trelissick Garden. The DACHS CHP unit was installed to act as a lead boiler with the additional benefit of providing onsite electrical generation. The CHP heat output is supported, as required, by standby LPG fired condensing boilers controlled by the building management system.
By generating heat and electricity from a single source, CHP can deliver overall fuel efficiencies well in excess of 75 - 90 per cent. When compared with electricity generated from a centralised power station, and the use of heat only boilers, CHP can reduce primary energy needs by up to 30 per cent, considerably reducing energy costs and delivering significant reductions in CO2.
Calor’s bulk market manager Laura Luty said: “The National Trust has demonstrated that heat and electrical demands can be achieved in an environmentally friendly manner. More and more commercial and public sector organisations are considering their energy costs and their environmental impact, so we believe that many other rurally located organisations across the UK can really benefit from this technology.”
As the UK’s leading LPG supplier to rural homes and businesses, Calor is working alongside leading manufacturers to ensure that LPG is compatible with innovative low-carbon and renewable technologies. | |
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