This study has examined levels of nitrogen dioxide & particulate pollution in the city. This calculates that an eight-year-old child could die up to seven months early if exposed over their lifetime to toxic air. The loss of life expectancy is worse in Birmingham than some other major cities in the UK including Manchester and Leeds.

Birmingham is one of five major cities required by the government to set up a clean air zone (toll charges). This is to reduce air pollution. As part of plans to tackle the illegal levels of pollution in 38 out of 43 areas of England.

But in Birmingham and Leeds the start date of January next year has been postponed because of the software not being ready.

Why is Air Pollution so bad?

More than half of children in Birmingham live in the top 10% of the most deprived areas of the country, and about 8,000 children in the city are growing up in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the UK, according to a report by the Children’s Society.

Air pollution has been identified by Public Health England as the largest environmental risk to public health. In the UK evidence shows that it can cause or worsen a range of lung and heart conditions including asthma, chronic bronchitis, chronic heart disease and stroke. Research suggests air pollution caused by NO2 and PM2.5 could cause 36,000 deaths per year.

Polly Billington the director of UK100, said the report should be a wake-up call to policy makers.

“We need to tackle this invisible killer which is cutting the lives of children & causing health misery for thousands of adults. By working together, local councils & central government can put in place ambitious and inclusive clean air zones to tackle the most polluting sources of dirty air and let us breathe freely.”

How Can I reduce my Air Pollution?

Follow these Tips Every Day to Reduce Pollution:

• Conserve energy – at home, at work, everywhere.
• Look for the ENERGY STAR label when buying home or office equipment.
• Carpool, use public transportation, bike, or walk whenever possible.
• Follow gasoline refueling instructions for efficient vapor recovery, being careful not to spill fuel and always tightening your gas cap securely.
• Consider purchasing portable gasoline containers labeled “spill-proof,” where available.
• Keep car, boat, and other engines properly tuned.
• Be sure your tyres are properly inflated.
• Use environmentally safe paints and cleaning products whenever possible.
• Mulch or compost leaves and garden waste.
• Consider using gas logs instead of wood.

On Days when High Ozone Levels are Expected, Take these Extra Steps to Reduce Pollution:

• Choose a cleaner commute – share a ride to work or use public transportation.
• Combine errands and reduce trips. Walk to errands when possible.
• Avoid excessive idling of your car.
• Refuel your car in the evening when its cooler.
• Conserve electricity and set air conditioners no lower than 78 degrees.
• Defer gardening chores that use gasoline-powered equipment, or wait until evening.

On Days when High Particle Levels are Expected, Take these Extra Steps to Reduce Pollution:

• Reduce the number of trips you take in your car.
• Reduce or eliminate fireplace and wood stove use.
• Avoid burning leaves, rubbish, and other materials.
• Avoid using gas-powered lawn and garden equipment.

The post Air pollution in Birmingham, consequences for Kids appeared first on BEST Compliance.

Many believe Thomas Edison Invented the first light bulb, this is debatable Sir Joseph Wilson Swan from Sunderland invented the first low Voltage High current Light Bulb in 1850 whilst Thomas Alva Edison didn’t invent his Incandescent light bulb until 1879, however both these were predated by Sir Humphry Davy of Penzance, England. He created the first incandescent light by passing current through a platinum strip. It caused a glow and did not last long, but marked the beginning of incandescent light development, He also is the discoverer of the first electric lamp type: the carbon arc lamp. 

The Incandescent light bulb of Edison’s hasn’t really changed that much up until recently as the design was simple and the light produced was bright, however massively inefficient as it uses electricity to burn a filament to produce light. 

Lighting has a major impact on the electrical drain on the world as nearly 19% of all electricity in the world goes on lighting and almost 66% of all lighting currently used in the world is based on older and less energy efficient technology which were developed before 1970. 

Pendant Bulb Types 

Lighting Technology 

This Diagram shows the development of lighting technology for pendant type fittings. These are the easiest and cheapest lighting to change as they are a direct swap and not fixture is needed to be changed. 

Traditional Incandescent is now banned in many countries due to its 10% efficiency whilst LED is finally at a point where it is a cheap highly efficient bulb, you can now purchase these bulbs from as little as a £1. 

LED is now Dimmable contrary to popular belief however these cost a little more due to the process involved. 

Fluorescent Lighting (Tubes) 

Benefits of Fluorescent Lamps 

• Good efficacy (60 – 100 lm/W) 

• A broad range of colour rendering characteristics 

• Long lamp life (8000 – 16 000 h) 

• A broad range of colour temperatures is available. 

Limitations of Fluorescent Lights 

• Requires control gear 

• Light output reduces under cold or hot conditions

Myth Solved. 

Leaving fluorescent lights on saves money rather than turning them off… FALSE it takes 2-8 seconds of energy to turn on a tubed light. 

Why Use Fluorescent Lighting  

The tubular fluorescent lamp is the most common type of discharge 

lamp, accounting for around 80% of the world’s electric lighting. 

The discharge within the lamp emits ultraviolet radiation which is 

converted to visible light by a phosphor coating on the inside of the 

tube. Over the years, the types of phosphor coating used have been 

improved, and enhanced alternatives are available to the original 

halophosphate coating which is still used today. However, halophosphate 

versions no longer meet the minimum colour rendering requirements for 

normal workplace interior lighting and so only triphosphor lamps should 

be used. These modern alternatives provide better lamp efficacy and 

improved colour rendering. 

Modern control gear operates at a high frequency and eliminates the 

discomfort of lamp flicker associated with older, less complex control 

gear. A further benefit of contemporary control gear is the ability to dim 

the light. 

Tubular fluorescent lamps are available in a range of lengths and three 

tube diameters. 

38 mm diameter (T12 lamp) 1938 – 1980 

This was the first lamp size to be manufactured and remains popular 

today. T12s are typically filled with argon gas, which is not as efficient as 

the combination of argon and krypton used in the more modern T8 

lamp. 

25 mm diameter (T8 lamp) 1980 – TODAY 

The T8 lamp was introduced in the 1970s and provides a more efficient 

alternative to the T12 (see above). A range of phosphor coatings are 

available enabling good efficacy and colour rendering. 

15 mm diameter (T5 lamp) 2000 – TODAY 

The most recent T5 lamps are more efficient than the T8 lamp, and are flicker-free as they only operate from high frequency electronic control gear. The T5 lamps are shorter than T8 and T12 lamps, and are designed to fit within 300 mm modules. 

Common Tube Ratings 

Compact Fluorescent lamps (Energy saving Bulbs)  

The compact fluorescent lamp has undergone considerable improvement in recent years and its increasing popularity looks set to make it one of the most widely used lamps on the market. 

In many lighting applications, compact fluorescent lamps provide an energy efficient alternative to standard incandescent lamps which, in the past, would have been the primary option. Compact fluorescent lamps have an average life of between 8000 – 10 000 h. Standard incandescent lamps generally have a life of about 1000 h. 

Benefits of CFL’s 

• Long lamp life – typically 8000 – 10 000 h. 

• Consequently, minimal maintenance is required

• Good energy efficiency, providing up to 80% 

• energy saving in comparison to standard 

• incandescent lamps 

• Life-cycle costing is very favourable in 

• comparison to standard incandescent lamps 

• Can be used as a direct replacement for a 
• standard incandescent lamp 

• Available with standard screw/bayonet fittings 

• with the control gear an integral part of the lamp.

• Good colour rendering characteristics 

• Broad range of applications. 

Limitations of CFL’s 

• Initial cost is high in comparison to standard incandescent lamp but as incandescent have been phased out CFL’s have dropped in price to fill the void 

• Less efficient than standard tubular fluorescent lamps 

• Light output diminishes with age, this is always a draw back with the bulb as they normally become poor before the end of life. 

• Compact fluorescent lamps require electronic control gear which, with the exception of some small lamps, is a separate item. 

• Now being superseded by LED equivalents, especially now LED bulbs have dropped down to the pound range. 

• Been known to be aesthetically unpleasing, it cant be argued that CFL’s have a unpleasing unnatrual appearence. 

• Contain more mercury than older incandescent about 5mg in total in each bulb

Light Emitting Diodes (LED) 

As your incandescents burn out, it’s a good time to consider switching to LED bulbs. By now, you probably know that LEDs have an impressive lifespan (20-something years!) and are very cost-effective. You probably also know that while they’ve come down in price quite a bit, some options are up to five times more expensive than traditional bulbs. 

Despite the cost, now’s the right time to switch to LEDs. These bulbs have made significant advances over the last few years, finally delivering the warm light incandescents have comforted us with for decades. 

More than ever, there is also an overwhelming number of LED varieties, and choosing an LED is entirely different from picking up an incandescent. Before you head to the store, find out what you need to know about choosing the right LED bulbs. 

Learn the lingo 

Forget what you know about incandescents — your watts are no good here. 

When shopping for bulbs, you’re probably accustomed to looking for watts, an indication of how bright the bulb will be. The brightness of LEDs, however, is determined a little differently. 

Contrary to common belief, wattage isn’t an indication of brightness, but a measurement of how much energy the bulb draws. For incandescents, there is an accepted correlation between the watts drawn and the brightness, but for LEDs, watts aren’t a great predictor of how bright the bulb will be. 

For example, an LED bulb with comparable brightness to a 60W incandescent is only 8 to 12 watts. 

But don’t bother doing the math — there isn’t a uniform way to covert incandescent watts to LED watts. Instead, a different form of measurement should be used: lumens. 

The lumen (lm) is the real measurement of brightness provided by a light bulb, and is the number you should look for when shopping for LEDs. For reference, here’s a chart that shows the watt-lumen conversion for incandescents and LEDs. 

MYTH SOLVED  

LEDs aren’t bright enough and have poor light quality.  

FALSE This was true at one time, but no more It can be refuted with some technical specs. LEDs have colour temperatures ranging from 2,500K (warm white) to 6,500K (daylight), and Colour Rendering Indexes between 75 and 85, with some high-end LEDs topping 90. 

The post Lighting History appeared first on BEST Compliance.

• Age of buildings, for example older single skin solid walls have much higher heat leakage levels than a newly constructed one. 

• Orientation of the building, can it maximise the natural daylight. 

• If its got a neighbouring property, adiabatics always help the heat loss. 

• Air permeability of the property (doors, chimneys etc) if there is a lot of air coming into the property 

• Glazing, has the building made use of double glazing to lower its U values. 

• Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems. How’s the building heated/cooled and how is it controlled 

• Lighting and Controls, what bulb and light fittings are used and how are they controlled. 

The list goes on but these are just a few conditions that affect the rating. 

As the person responsible what can I do to maximise the EPC rating for a low cost ?

Lighting 

BEST Compliance will always recommend a cheap and mostly advantageous improvement, this would be to swap all the pendant light fittings in the property to LED equivalents

It should be noted in most cases this can dramatically improve the rating by at least a whole grade, but there are some instances that improvement isn’t as great. Some of the older incandescent lights are that inefficient at producing light , 70 of the 100 Watts go on heating, the programme that produces the EPC takes this into account in the heating element of the building. So when you swap these to LED the programme instantly has to get heat from elsewhere in the building, normally an electric heater, as there both very similar efficiency no real improvement has been gained, but cost savings will show in the lighting.

HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning)

EPC’s really don’t like Electric heating in poorly insulated properties (pre 1995), the programme has rules to which you must know in producing commercial EPC’s one of these many many rules states: if no heating is present in a room, except for a few exceptions the HVAC must be set to Electric heating, it states this as the default setting, or even easier to understand the worst case scenario. There are occasions when you have very little alternative but if you can remove them, for instance if you have a radiator in the room, please do so.

Building log book documents 

Its imperative these days to keep a building log book, in here you will keep all your building documents, plans, fire risks, fire alarm, Insulation, Boiler Installation certificate, Gas safety checks etc. 

When our assessors come to site we will always ask you for any documents on the property. We are mainly looking for scaled plans if there are any, so we can speed up the survey especially if its a confidential visit also if any extensions have been built, and more importantly model numbers for the HVAC, the date roof and wall insulation was installed and the U value it adheres to and if any glazing has been installed again what year it was installed. 

If these documents are not available, the assessor will use their experience and visual surveys to determine this, although were very good at finding this information out sometimes its not possible and it has to go into the programme as a default year or our best estimate. 

Any Special Installations 

If any renewable energy or underfloor heating is installed its best to ensure all documentation is present or sent via email to BEST Compliance so we can get accurate results.  

The post What Affects an EPC? appeared first on BEST Compliance.

Energy Performance Certificate were introduced 1^St August 2007 along side the ill prepared Home information Packs (HIPS). EPCs continued to be a required piece of legislation when HIPS were dropped from legislation in May 2010.

They are a direct result of European Union Directive 2002/91/EC relating to the Energy performance of buildings, as transposed into British law by the Housing Act of 2004 and The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/991). 00100000fef

What are they?

An Energy Performance Certificate basically looks like a Graph. From A to G, with A being the most efficient and G being most inefficient. EPCs are lodged on the government central database called Landmark and are registered and accessible to the public for a period of 10 years.

When Do I need an EPC?

An EPC is a legally binding certificate and are triggered at Legal points such as when the property is to be built or marketed for sale or to be rented or whilst not legal however is now a requirement from Financial institutes when a property is to be refinanced.

What are the penalties for not having a valid EPC?

Under the new regulations Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) are under local authority in particular weights and measures. The fine for not having a Valid EPC at the legal trigger points vary from £5000 – £150,000 or 12.5% of the ratable value, whichever is highest.

Recent Changes for EPCs

Energy Performance Certificates have had new legislation attached called The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards, these in principal add a minimum grade to the EPC for you to be able to lease / rent out your property. This Minimum grade is an E grade at the moment.

It is estimated 18% of all property fall in the F or G bands with a further 20% in the E band. With the impending update of the Building Regulations part L EPC grades will fall in our experience between half a grade to a full grade when this happens. Our estimates after this will be the a third of all properties will fail MEES and will need to be refurbished to a level that will pass MEES.

MEES does not legally affect properties up for sale however Banks and other financial Institutes will NOT lend against poorly rated buildings as they see it as a Toxic debt.

What Properties are Exempt from EPCs?

There are certain exemptions to Energy Performance Certificates

• Places of worship
• Temporary buildings that will be used for less than 2 years
• Stand-alone buildings with total useful floor space of less than 50 square metres
• Industrial sites, workshops and non-residential agricultural buildings that don’t use a lot of energy and are unoccupied. i.e. Gritting Salt Stores
• Some buildings that are due to be demolished
• Holiday accommodation that’s rented out for less than 4 months a year or is let under a licence to occupy
• Grade I listed buildings – you should get advice from your local authority conservation officer if the work would alter the building’s character
• Residential buildings intended to be used less than 4 months a year

 BEST Compliance can confirm if your building falls under an exemption

What is the average grade for an EPC?

This is a very difficult question to answer as each building is different and will have merits on the lighting, Heating, Insulation, Location etc. However, the median grade of building EPC we give is around a D to an E grade, but as explained this will differ with every building.

The post What is an EPC? appeared first on BEST Compliance.

Early man would build a fire in the centre of his combustible hut or damp cave. Even when coal came into regular use the efficiency of each open fire place meant that most of the heating went up the chimney, (it would have been warmer to sit on the roof), with added danger of chimney fires or sparks causing the home, especially dwellings with a thatched roof, to burn to the ground. We obviously had to think of something better, stand up Polish-born Russian, businessman, Franz San Galli, he invented the heating radiator in St Petersburg between 1855-1857.  

His invention was taken up by the wealthy Victorians as the ‘must have’ of the day, although the Radiator sensation in Great Britain really took off during the early 20th century. Although there are earlier beginnings of radiator development in the 1830’s the concept we see today is mostly based on designs by the inventive Americans, Joseph Nason and Robert Briggs in around 1863 with later design additions of the cast iron ‘Bundy Loop’ by another American, Nelson H Bundy in 1872. All the radiators of the day were run by steam, rather than hot water today. 

Boilers 

Boilers are systems designed for heating air or water to produce heat or energy. They can be incredibly simple or fairly elaborate, but basic models are made up of an enclosed container where heat is applied to water, which is then circulated throughout the system in the form of hot water or steam. The water must be boiled to create steam, giving the device its name. 

Many home heating systems and water heaters that use boilers don’t actually boil the water, however. Instead, water is generally heated to temperatures somewhere roughly between 42.14° to 93.3°C, although some people lower the settings to save energy and money. 

Much like a typical furnace heats air, boilers heat water or other heating fluids. The heated liquid then passes through pipes rather than ductwork to a particular heating implement, such as a radiator, to disburse heat. With radiant heating systems, sometimes referred to as heated floors, pipes can be placed in the floor or ceiling. The water is heated, and then moved through the pipes, which distribute heat throughout the space instead of at the end of a line via some other form of heating implement. 

Typical Central Heating Layout (Courtesy of Worcester Boilers) 

Condensing Boilers 

The process by which a condensing boiler works is actually quite simple: Water vapor in the form of steam is produced by normal boilers due to the combustion of hydrogen in the fuel being used. This vapor turns to steam and is quickly released out a chimney pipe. You would not want that steam to stick around your conventional boiler since it is highly acidic and very corrosive to the boiler. 

Engineers who develop HVAC technology realized that it was too bad that all of this steam was escaping since in their minds heat equals energy. There was a realization that if a system could be designed that used this heat energy and was resistant to its harmful effects, a win-win would be attained. This is how the idea of condensing boilers came about. 

As of 2015, condensing boiler sales are rising at a fast pace. Property owners are looking for simple and easy alternatives to conventional heating, cooling, and power systems and while the use of full renewable energy systems such as solar and wind power are not yet mainstream, super high-efficiency systems that can be easily installed and run on conventional fuel are becoming more popular. You’ve come to the right place to learn more about these green alternative energy systems! Thank you for visiting and learning more about high-efficiency condensing and combi boilers! The next time someone asks “What is a condensing boiler?”, you will know the answer! Also, the next time you look at your furnace chimney, realize that your current conventional boiler is losing valuable heat and energy each time it is used, and imagine a system that, instead of allowing this heated air to escape, would put it to good use. 

Condensing boilers are based on a remarkably simple concept, and are an elegant yet powerful solution for those who want to get more energy efficiency out of their home energy system. They are an alternative energy system for today’s home that is available right now and relatively easy and inexpensive to buy, install and maintain. 

Types of Condensing Boiler 

There are basically three different types of super high-efficiency condensing boilers available to a homeowner in the US, UK and Europe. The choice between them will depend on the space you have available, the design of your current system, and your desire for efficiency. The three types of condensing boiler are:

• Standard condensing boilers
• System condensing boilers
• Combi-boilers

About 100 BC a Roman engineer called Sergius Orata designed a system of central heating, known as the hypocaust. 

Standard Condensing Boilers

These are also sometimes called a “heat only” type sends hot water directly to where it is needed. This type of condensing boiler looks conventional, sending water to a storage tank to hold hot water until it is needed for your shower or sink. Regular condensing boilers also need a feed tank of water. Regular models take up the most floor space. 

System Condensing Boilers

These models have the hot water going more directly from the boiler itself, rather than from the tank, and they also do not need a feed tank. Of course the greatest benefit of these models is that they take up little space. 

Combi-Boilers

These boiler systems do not require a hot water tank at all, and merely heat up water flowing through as it is needed. Of course the combi-boiler takes up the least floor space and is therefore the most popular type of condensing boiler. 

Your choice in condensing boiler will depend on how much you want to pay in conversion, how quickly you need to recoup your investment, and the floor space available. It may also depend somewhat on the experience and expertise of the installer you choose. No matter what, however, a super high-efficiency condensing boiler will save you money and energy. 

As with many new and innovative technologies, condensing boilers at the start were not as reliable as conventional boiler systems. This was normal and expected, because sometimes new technologies reach Condensing Boiler Type: Combi Boiler the consumer market before they have been completely tested for longer-term reliability. Also as expected companies were able to fix the problems with reliability quickly as reports cam in from those who were the first to install these renewable energy systems in their homes. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the reputation for poor reliability stuck in some circles. However, now that they have been used substantially in many parts of the world, the bugs are out and they have proven to be highly reliable. 

So, put simply, a condensing boiler is an innovative furnace or boiler that is able to recoup energy that conventional furnaces and boilers lose. Most boilers allow the heat that it produced in the process of burning gas or oil to escape, treating it like a byproduct. Condensing boilers, on the other hand, capture this excess heat energy that is in the form of water vapor. 

Condensing Boilers have taken many parts of Europe by storm, replacing “conventional” boilers and furnaces. In the US people are now beginning to realize the potential of condensing boilers as a home alternative energy source – nor a renewable energy source because they do burn oil or gas, but an alternative that saves money and reduces the home’s carbon footprint. 

Condensing Boilers are costly and may require and initial investment of 40-50% more than a conventional boiler when installation costs are factored in. With the typical savings you will gain from a Condensing Boiler you will start to recover that cost – and begin truly a lot of saving money – in about 2-4 years.  

Split Air Conditioning System 

Split systems provide a convenient way to cool small buildings or specific areas within a building. Typical applications include shops, garages, restaurants and office areas.  

They are sold as a package making them quick to install with minimal disruption to building occupants. Another key benefit of split systems is that they do not require any form of centralised plant space within the building. 

As the name suggests, split cooling systems are made up of two basic 

components: one or more indoor room cooling units, and an outdoor 

refrigeration unit which dumps heat taken from the building. The indoor and outdoor units are linked by pipes which transport refrigerant between the units.  

The cooling capacity of split systems ranges from approximately 2 kW to 

30 kW. The higher capacity systems can incorporate several indoor units, 

or a concealed fan-coil unit can be installed which has one or more 

ducted outlets. 

Some split systems can operate as a heat pump, whereby they are able to 

provide heating by reversing the refrigeration process. The benefit of this 

is that a building’s heating and cooling needs can be provided by one 

system. 

Split System’s in an EPC 

Split Systems are ideal and dramatically improve an EPC Grade especially in smaller property’s like shops and offices. 

Due to the capability to cool and heat an area (Inverter) they can control the temperature a lot more than traditional heating.  

A single unit can roughly heat 80m2 of space as a rule of thumb. They are a lot more efficient than other technologies as they use a heat pump essentially turning the cooling mode into reverse and newer heat pumps are around 400% efficient. This means that for every unit of energy used by the heat pump in operation, four or more units of heat are generated for use in a building. 

As heat pumps work by extracting available heat from the outside air, they are far more efficient than even the most efficient fossil-fuel based heating systems. Heat pumps are particularly efficient for all kinds of indoor heating.  

It should be noted that split systems are required to have a Air Conditioning Inspection if over 12Kw as a rule of thumb this is if its over 3000sq/ft of conditioned floor space 

Benefits 

• Relatively quick and easy to install.
• Do not require any plant room/area within a building.
• Heat pump systems can provide heating and cooling.
• The indoor unit can be concealed if required-Simple occupant control can be provided, with the option of an infrared remote control.
• Some concealed indoor fan coil-type units can be configured to provide fresh air in addition to re-circulating the room air.   

Limitations 

• Only suitable for relatively small spaces.
• Typically require a specialist service operative for repairs and maintenance.
• Can only service a single internal zone; systems with multiple indoor units cannot provide simultaneous heating and cooling in different areas.
• Simple split systems only re-circulate room air and cannot provide ventilation.
• Outdoor units can be unsightly and create noise.

Whilst looking for a New Split look for a system that has an EER of at least 4.0 & SEER of 13.0 

Air Forced Convection Heaters 

Warm air unit heaters are typically used in industrial applications and burn oil, propane or natural gas. There are two basic types of heater: 

Unflued units, where the heat and products of combustion pass directly into the space. This type of unit is particularly energy efficient but requires adequate ventilation to dilute and remove the products of combustion. 

Flued units, which incorporate a heat exchanger that enables air drawn from the space to be heated indirectly and the flue gases to be vented outside the building. 

Both types of heater can either be free standing or mounted at high level.

Key points 

Quick and simple installation. 

Good access to free-standing units for servicing. 

Ductwork can be connected with free-standing units to distribute heat more evenly. 

Condensing units are available which have increased energy efficiency. 

Limitations 

Gas burners require regular checks (typically every six months) to ensure correct operation. 

Free-standing units take up floor space. 

Difficult access to high-level units. 

Heat output is convective which can result in warm air building up at high level (stratification). This may necessitate the use of fans to create air movement and circulate heat evenly throughout the space. This problem is more acute with high-level units. 

Convective heating requires a higher air temperature to be achieved in order to maintain the same level of comfort as a radiant system. This causes greater energy consumption compared to a radiant system. 

Unless an external flue is fitted the products of combustion pass into the building, which requires adequate ventilation. 

Noise from the units may be a problem in quiet environments. 

Reference 

Tom de Saulles (2002). The Illustrated Guide to Mechanical Building Services. England: The Chameleon Press Ltd. 10 – 35. 

CondensingBoiler.net. (2016). Condensing Boiler Guide. Available: http://www.condensingboiler.net/. Last accessed 23rd Jan 2016. 

The post HVAC Systems Review appeared first on BEST Compliance.

The Laundry had been struggling a little in recent times and the landlord was just keeping things afloat however the landlord had increased costs on the property and as such the rent review was necessary.

After the rent increase via the review had been attached the Landlord decided he could not take on the extra cost of £75 a month and as such refused to pay. This led to the tenant leaving the property and moving elsewhere, leaving the unit vacant.

The sad thing was that the solution was right in front of the Landlord / Tennant and agent.

Entering the building as an Energy Assessor the first thing you do is look up at the lighting and then for the heating elements, as this helps you understand what your dealing with. In this particular property I saw 24 100-watt T12 Tube lighting. Alarm bells start ringing for inefficiency, T12s were introduced in the 1970’s and are highly inefficient as a light source, they are actually more efficient as a heating source.

After doing some quick calculations on site and switching these over to equivalent LED tubes I roughly worked out that the electricity cost savings per month to the tenant would be around £90.

If the landlord had actually stepped up and replaced his highly inefficient lights, the rent review would have been passed, meaning the landlord would still have a tenant instead of a vacant unit, the tenant would be saving a little money each month and the agent would not have the hassle of marketing the property.

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