Training meets energy needs

With management becoming more accountable for increasing costs, the emphasis on monitoring energy consumption and identifying how to maximise efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and involve staff in helping to cut energy costs is becoming paramount.
    
In tackling these issues, the Energy Institute (EI) has developed a training programme which covers all aspects of energy management to assist in helping meet energy needs effectively, and engaging hearts and minds to save energy across the entire organisation. The EI also offers TEMOL (Training in Energy Management through Open Learning) – a practical industry qualification in association with the University of the West of England. TEMOL provides a flexible, open learning approach and consists of a series of modules, which can be learned as a cohesive body of study, or as individual elements reflecting specific needs of those concerned with managing energy. Having worked through the TEMOL, a candidate is able to recommend a wide range of improvements with fully worked technical solutions, costing and financial analysis.

A TEMOL success story
David Lively MEI is an estates officer at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital in the Midlands. He has been an EI Member since 2003, and was awarded the TEMOL qualification in 2005. He had previously studied a Mechanical Engineering Technician City & Guilds course at North Birmingham Polytechnic, followed by an HNC in Building Services at East Birmingham College. This was undertaken part-time while working as a craft apprentice fitter for a car components manufacturer. He has been working for the Birmingham Heartlands and Solihull NHS Trust since 1980 and has a dual role as both an engineer and energy officer responsible for all central plant.
    
He says: “I chose to study this course in order to broaden my knowledge within the energy field. Part of the training was to complete a project of approximately 10,000 words in length on a chosen subject; and after careful consideration and discussion with my course tutor, I chose the efficient generation of steam, distribution and condensate return at a large acute hospital.
    
“There were a number of reasons for selecting this subject. It was firstly because it covered a wide range of topics. This discipline also accounted for more than 70 per cent of the total energy consumption of the site and was therefore enabling me to identify the key areas where energy costs and carbon dioxide emissions could be saved.”

Paybacks
As David began to research his chosen subject it quickly became evident that this subject covered a wide range of skills and applications from purchasing energy to fuel options, monitoring and targeting, boiler controls and motor management to name but a few. The project proved to be very interesting, with the completion of on-site surveys and researches on the web, as well as putting into practice information and advice given by the Carbon Trust and the Department of Energy. He adds: “I discovered a great deal of information through these websites and applying new concepts to site operations proved both interesting and challenging. In some cases this was as simple as changing housekeeping practices and in others capital had to be invested; but nearly all subjects had paybacks of less than two years.”
    
David continued: “I enjoyed completing the TEMOL course and project, which definitely taught me methods to broaden my knowledge in energy management. It also gave me the opportunity to enhance my skills in report writing. Once I had completed the project I was left with a feeling of pride and a job well done, and will endeavour to put into practice the recommendations for major energy savings identified whilst completing my project, which were in the region of £60k, grossing a reduction of some 2,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions!”

Gas system
The EI is proud to be generating projects of this standard through its energy management courses, and recently the hospital has also launched its new combined heat and power system. This CHP scheme enables the hospital to generate its own electricity in a purpose designed Energy Centre, cutting emissions of CO2 by 1,627 tonnes per year. The new Energy Centre replaced ageing coal fired boilers, which had served the Trust well for many years, with a state-of-the-art gas fired ‘trigeneration’ system that creates electricity, steam or hot water for the winter heating and chilled water for use in the air conditioning systems during the warmer summer months.  Improving the chilled water system has also allowed cool air to reach parts of the hospital that were not previously serviced, increasing comfort for patients as well as hospital staff.
    
This £5 million programme, financed by Ener-g Combined Power, was structured around the principles of a Public Private Partnership contract, and included a £403,000 grant from the Carbon Trust under the Government’s Community Energy Programme. Ener-g Combined Power provides the trust with a guaranteed level of performance for the system over a 15 year period.

Improving energy performance
In response to the on-going need to reduce energy consumption, new legislation is now also in place requiring all public buildings to provide a Display Energy Certificate (DEC). DECs show the energy performance of a building based on actual energy consumption as recorded annually over periods up to the last three years. Managers affected by this law will need to have annual energy meter readings and are advised to start collecting meter readings now to ensure they have sufficient data ready for 1 October 2008.
    
As part of the EI’s portfolio of energy management courses, one-day courses are available covering: Metering, Monitoring and Targeting; Energy Management for Energy Savings; Energy Auditing; Small Scale Renewables and Microgeneration; with a special one-day session dedicated to Meeting your energy certification requirements.

The EI is the only chartered professional membership body serving the energy industry and its programme of energy management training courses are catered for those new to the energy industry or requiring detailed information on specific energy management issues.

For more information
To ensure you are kept up to date on all energy and environmental issues in your workplace, and for more information on how the EI can support your energy training needs, contact Yasmine Dialdas on
Tel: +44 (0)20 7467 7135,
E-mail: ydialdas@energyinst.org or visit www.energyinst.org