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Saving
energy and cutting costs - vital issues
for the UK's largest provider of higher
education for land-based industries.
Environment-conscious
Harper Adams Agricultural College in
Newport, Shropshire has more than 1,600
full-time students and a campus site
including a 200-hectare estate with
leisure areas, woodland and a commercial
farm.
Its
mission is to cut energy consumption
and spending. Improved working practices,
greater staff awareness and an on-going
quest for quality and technical improvement
are key aims of the forward-thinking
strategy.
According
to David Roscoe, Estates and Facilities
Manager, extensive use of intelligent
lighting controls from Ex-Or Limited
have helped to level out spiralling
campus-wide demand for electricity -
despite ever-increasing use of computers,
e-mail and IT systems.
David
- who is responsible for buying and
securing the best possible value from
energy sources - counts efficiency,
flexibility and reliability as the main
assets of the installed Ex-Or lighting
controls.
"For
98 per cent of the buildings surveyed
so far, Ex-Or has been able to come
up with a relatively cheap and reliable
way of controlling our lighting - whatever
the size and type of the room or building.
"Our
energy-saving philosophy is simple.
Cheaper energy bills mean we can invest
more in energy conservation measures.
So in the long run, we stand to save
even more money."
"”We have fitted Ex-Or controls
because of their quality and versatility.
Not only do we install them in all new
buildings, we have a rolling programme
to fit them in existing ones."
Lighting
controls have been fitted in engineering
workshops, science laboratories, libraries,
lecture theatres, computer rooms, all
teaching and lecture rooms, the sports
hall, multi-gym, common rooms, stairwells,
corridors and toilets.
David
is also impressed by the high level
of technical advice on offer from the
company: "Without fail, Ex-Or correctly
interprets what I want to achieve, carefully
analyses the needs and patterns of use
of each room or area, then comes up
with the ideal answer.
"We
put a lot of emphasis on cutting out
wasteful use of lighting, because it
represents a large slice of our electricity
bill. Yet we are an educational establishment
carrying out a lot of vital research,
so the correct level of lighting is
very important.
"The
very nature of our operations means
that buildings and rooms are used intermittently
between 8am and 10pm. So there are always
times when lights could potentially
be left on when no-one is there."
Added
David: "We are very aware that
people tend to forget to switch them
off, so we prefer to take the decision
out of their hands and replace human
nature with more reliable automatic
controls.
"Having
said that, when staff and students actually
see the benefits, they suggest other
areas where they could be fitted, so
the controls make people more energy-conscious
as well."
David
is in no doubt of the value of Ex-Or
intelligent lighting controls: "Wherever
they have been installed, savings have
been made. The payback varies according
to the building or area in which they
are used, but it can be rapid. For example,
results are quickly seen in a large
sports hall that is used on and off
for most of the day, where lights are
not switched off until a final security
check at 10pm. In an area like this
or a lecture theatre paybacks of around
one year are commonly achieved.”
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