Dundee City Council achieved a fantastic 25% reduction in carbon emission since 2010. However, the ambitious council were looking to reduce emissions by a further 1,000 tonnes per year through implementing a range of energy conservation measures. The £1.7m project was procured through the Scottish Government's Non Domestic Energy Efficiency (NDEE) Framework. We were selected to identify and implement the best package of measures. Vital Energi provided an Energy Performance Contract which guaranteed minimal performance across key areas such as carbon reduction and financial savings. This enabled the Council to transfer most of the technical and financial risks as Vital Energi guaranteed a minimum payback period.
Vital Energi worked with Dundee City Council to further develop their plans and identified 46 separate self-funding energy saving measures, across 8 council properties, of varying age, that would benefit from energy conservation measures.
The buildings identified for upgrade were high energy usage premises, including the Olympia Leisure Centre, Dundee Ice Arena, Central Library, The Crescent, Unit T Claverhouse, Dundee International Sports Centre (DISC), McManus Galleries and Gellatly Street Car Park.
A 50kWe Combined Heat & Power Enginer (CHP) was installed in the Dundee Ice Arena, designed to generate significant financial savings and carbon reduction. CHP engines burn gas to generate electricity and then use the heat created during this process to provide heating to the arena, offices, changing rooms, the function suite and bar/cafe.
The CHP will save the council 206,000kWhr per year, which equals to almost 50 tonnes of CO2 reduction. Financially, the engine delivers strong savings per year and by the end of the project lifecycle it will not only have paid for the initial capex investment, but also generated a significant savings.
The other energy generation measure delivered on behalf of the council was the installation of photovoltaic panels on three buildings. The solar panels will generate over 200,000kWhr of savings and 43 tonnes of carbon reduction per year, and will return the initial investment in 15 years.
We have extensive experience of delivering lighting upgrades in busy, public buildings and begin each project by working with the public and stakeholders to minimise disruption. This can be done through various ways, such as working outside core hours or creating "zones" where disruption is kept to a small area.
Our surveys concluded that lighting upgrades at the Dundee Ice Arena, Central Library, Unit T Claverhouse Building, DISC, McManus Galleries and Gallaty Street Carpark would reduce energy usage by over 600,000kW/hr per year and would fund themselves in under 8 years, making it the biggest contributor to reducing the council's emissions.
We oversaw the complete replacement of 5,504 fittings and converted a further 2,090 fittings to LED throughout the council's estate, with additional units provided to the Council's team for maintenance purposes. They also installed motion sensors where appropriate, which mean that lights are only activated during times of occupations, which further lowers energy usage. The old fluorescent lighting was removed and disposed of in accordance with Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
Overall the LED lighting saves 659,533kWh and almost 300 tonnes of carbon per annum. Alongside this the lighting system provides savings of approximately £70,000 a year, which gives a total payback period of 7.4 years, as well as reducing the amount of maintenance required.
