Improve Energy Efficiency

Energy Management in Leisure Centres

24th January 2018

Improving Energy and Water Efficiency in Leisure Centres

Providing services to the public on a day-to-day basis means that leisure centres have long hours of operation and need to maintain a safe, comfortable and enjoyable environment. Being large and complex buildings however, such necessities can mean leisure centres consume a significant amount of energy and water which impacts on profitability and ultimately can become unsustainable. By becoming more efficient a leisure centre can make significant reductions in costs and improve their carbon footprint.

This guide, created in conjunction with CMR Consultants, is aimed at helping leisure centres decrease energy and water costs by suggesting methods that can be implemented to increase efficiency. Some may be more complex and costly than others but by making these changes a leisure centre can significantly help keep their running costs down and enhance user experience.

Creating Awareness

One of the simplest and cheapest ways to increase the efficiency in a leisure centre is to inform people, both the public and staff, about it. Create awareness via leaflets and staff meetings to make sure both colleagues and visitors are aware of energy saving measures such as turning off lights, fitness and catering equipment, sauna and steam room supplies when not in use, reducing water consumption and maintaining systems that help keep energy consumption low.

Create an Energy Team

Whilst raising awareness is beneficial, having a team to follow up on business aims will be a crucial part of achieving those goals. An energy team can be given specific tasks and goals to align with budget reduction targets as well as ensuring that changes to procedures and controls are maintained. By gathering the team for monthly meetings, you can keep on top of changes that are being made and evaluate whether they are having the desired effect on energy and water costs and efficiency.

Create a Clear Plan

After you have created an energy team to manage changes, make sure you have an action plan and clearly defined energy and water efficiency targets. Measurement and monitoring of electricity, gas and water supplies, particularly out of hours consumption (water leaks and equipment left switched on), will provide the tools to firstly help the team drive down unnecessary consumption and secondly provide feedback to help motivate continuous improvement.

General Changes

  • Upgrade lighting to LED and install presence detectors that automatically turn off lighting when no one is in an area.
  • Make sure the building is well maintained and insulated to reduce heat loss, particularly heating and cooling pipework and door/window seals.
  • Check that levels of ventilation and air extraction are not excessive.
  • Upgrade boilers in the facility to the highest efficiency standard and ensure appropriate controls are installed to optimise flow temperatures based on demand.
  • Install inverters to pumps and motors where the end-use demand is variable to reduce pump speed and hence energy consumption, during low-demand periods.
  • Consider sub-metering to measure the energy and water consumption of significant energy consuming plant and equipment such as boilers, chillers and air handling units. Usage profiles can be analysed against demand to help maintain optimal performance. As energy and water improvements are made, the sub-metering can be used to track and verify the savings.
  • Maintain and clean ventilation systems, particularly filters and supply/extract louvres. Energy consumption can increase by up to 60% if this is not done.
  • Carry out an energy and water audit to help understand energy and water flows and balances and generate more specific opportunities for improvements. CMR Consultants Limited are specialists in energy and water audits within the Hotel & Leisure Sector.

Swimming Pools

Many leisure centres include a swimming pool and these are usually the largest consumer of energy in the complex. Public swimming pools must be kept at a constant temperature and water quality carefully monitored. Energy and water costs of a swimming pool will always be relatively high but there are ways to reduce this by implementing a few energy and water saving strategies.

  • In areas where there is significant natural daylight, switch lighting off (or reduce the levels of lighting) during daylight hours.
  • Turn the pool heating and ventilation down or if practicable off overnight and cover it when not in use to reduce thermal and evaporative losses.
  • upgrade lighting to LED, with dimmable controls for areas benefitting from natural daylight and presence detector controls for offices, training areas, changing rooms and toilets.
  • Recirculate pool air supplies instead of using full fresh air to reduce heating load but ensure controls are in place to maintain humidity levels to avoid building fabric damage.
  • A pool water treatment plant can be installed altering UV output based on water quality rather than a constant replenishment.
  • Inverter control of pool pumps to reduce circulation flow-rates based on water quality.
  • Consider CHP (combined heat and power) to provide lower cost electricity and heating supplies.
  • Low water consumption taps, showers, toilets and automatic shower controls to save on water.
  • Keep the temperature of the water between 25°C – 27°C and ensure the temperature is controlled for both the pool water and the conditioned air (which generally is maintained at 1oC above the pool water temperature).
  • Carry out a walk round of the site before closure to ensure plant, equipment (including showers and taps) and lighting is switched off.

Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS)

Due to the complexity of the systems used in a leisure centre it is very difficult to maintain optimal energy performance; temperature set points and time controls invariably are altered and energy consumption increases. BEMS’s systems use intelligent, programmable controllers to interface with plant and equipment to maintain design temperatures, flow-rates and time controls, locking in energy efficiency savings. Modern systems are server based, enabling on-line analysis of energy consumption (through both main incoming meters and sub-meters) and visibility of system parameters using graphs. Management information can be produced to track performance against budgets and also evidence savings associated with energy and water efficiency projects and initiatives.

To find out more about how BEMs can help increase your leisure centre’s energy efficiency, click here.

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