Ideally located on the border of Cumbria and Northumberland the remote Gilsland Spa Hotel is set amongst 140 acres of park and woodland. Renowned for its entertainments programme, the Gilsland offers a variety of weekend and themed mid-week breaks.
Like many hotels, rising energy prices, increased overheads and more stringent legislation introduced to increase the energy efficiency of commercial buildings have been a growing issue for the prestigious Gilsland Spa.
In partnership with leading LPG supplier, Calor, energy consultants NJK Partnership undertook a comprehensive energy survey on behalf of the Carbon Trust to identify where energy savings could be made which would result in reduced carbon emissions and energy bills.
The Carbon Trust commissions free site surveys to organisations with annual energy bills of over £50,000. The site surveys are tailored to the specific circumstances and needs of an organisation and typically include discussions with key members of staff and identification of where energy saving methods can be implemented, including the implementation of new equipment or technology. Recommendations will also include details of estimated savings, budget costs, and payback periods for implementing the improvements. The Carbon Trust will also advise businesses whether they are eligible for an interest free energy efficiency loan or ECA (Enhanced Capital Allowance) loan.
Mark Pattison, Associate Partner at NJK Partnership, said that the main focus for identifying savings was the hotel’s plant room. “Due to the hotel’s remote location main gas is unavailable. The plant room was fired by two oil-fired steam boilers that were over 30 years old, inefficient and produced high levels of carbon emissions. Combined with the heat loss generated through the plant room itself and the domestic hot water storage area, huge amounts of oil were being wasted to provide the heating and hot water for the hotel.”
The initial recommendation regarding the hotel’s energy usage was to look into alternative fuels and replacement boilers. NJK Partnership suggested switching to LPG for heating and water heating as it is a more energy efficient fuel providing all the flexibility of mains gas in areas where mains gas is unavailable. Compared with oil, LPG burns more cleanly, produces fewer carbon emissions and produces less smoke.
Bulk LPG tanks were installed to cater for the increased usage as Alan Seggie, Calor’s Commercial Bulk Specialist, who oversaw installation of the additional LPG tanks, explains: “Calor LPG allows the full package of heating, water heating and catering to run from a single source so it made sense to look into converting the whole hotel to LPG. The hotel was already enjoying the benefits of LPG for catering as it provides a moist flame and a responsive and versatile heat, something all professional chefs rely on in their kitchen. For heating, it is used to provide fast, more efficient central heating and water heating for leisure applications including swimming pools.
“We were also able to offer the hotel The Think Tank® telemetry system meaning that the LPG supply is monitored and Calor is automatically notified when a delivery is due meaning the hotel should never run out of fuel giving the hotel’s management team one less thing to think about.”
Three LPG powered Viceroy GT pressure jet boilers from Ideal Boilers were installed in the plant room along with two Lochinvar LPG water heaters. NJK’s Mark Pattison explains the savings that have been made as result of switching to LPG powered equipment: “We looked into the carbon emissions currently being produced by the oil fired boilers and compared it to the estimated emissions from a similar LPG powered system. We identified the potential to save 116 tonnes of CO2 per annum.
“By introducing the energy efficiency measures at the hotel, primary fuel use reductions of over £6,350 have been estimated. This is due to the move from oil to LPG powered boilers and increased plant efficiency including improved control functions provided and better pipe insulation.
“Estimated maintenance costs for the existing steam boilers were running at approximately £25,000 per year, due to the age of the boiler plant. The new boiler plant has reduced this figure by 80 per cent to £5,000 per year. Finally, the steam boilers suffered water loss during the blowdown procedure, which the new boilers will not be affected by as they do not raise steam, providing further savings.
Hotel secretary Ray Boughan says: “We were exceptionally pleased with the results of the survey and the measures that have been taken to make the hotel more energy efficient. All of the companies involved in the modernisation of the plant room, and the switch from oil to LPG, worked together to minimise disruption and allowed the hotel to operate as normal. The contractors, Hughes Beatty, based in Penrith, worked very swiftly and efficiently to complete the work in the time frame and the switch from the old system to the new one was seamless.”
Calor’s Alan Seggie believes that many more businesses can benefit from energy savings by applying for a Carbon Trust energy survey. He says: “Businesses can make an application to the Carbon Trust on the web site, www.carbontrust.co.uk. The process is simple to follow and consists of just three stages; the application, the site survey, and the feedback and there is no obligation to implement the recommendations.”
Hotel manager Les Thompson concludes: “By implementing NJK’s suggested improvements to reduce our carbon emissions, the hotel has become more energy efficient and therefore resulted in the added benefit of cost savings. NJK has estimated that we will have made enough cost savings to cover the installation of the new equipment in less than six years.”
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Issued on behalf of Calor by Connect PR
For further information, please contact:
Kathy Hodson / Sue Foster
Connect PR. The Chubb Buildings, Fryer Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1HT
Tel: 01902 714957 / 07890 381725
Email: kathy@connect-group.com / suefoster@connect-group.com
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