Powering Progress: How Facilities Professionals Can Future‑Proof The UK’s Buildings
The efficiency of the built environment is integral to the UK's journey towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions. Currently, 40% of the nation's carbon emissions are tied to the built environment, making it a pivotal arena for sustainable transformation.
Yet, too often, transformation of the built environment takes the form of building demolition and reconstruction. In fact, the UK demolishes over 50,000 buildings each year. With construction representing a far more carbon-intensive exercise than repurposing an existing structure, there is a clear environmental incentive to promote refurbishment over reconstruction.
Indeed, there are low-effort, high-impact energy solutions that can revolutionise a building's energy consumption, concurrently lowering emissions and reducing energy costs. Facilities management professionals are uniquely positioned to advance energy efficiency and future-proof buildings by pursuing transformative measures such as replacing old circulator pumps, balancing heating systems, and conducting energy audits.
Out With The Old, In With The New
Inefficient energy systems in commercial buildings are costing the environment, and businesses’ bottom lines. Specifically, 40% of a business’ energy costs are attributed to heating, cooling and ventilation. Unoptimised heating systems are particularly culpable for inflating energy costs, with UK businesses cumulatively losing out on approximately 800 million pounds in energy savings each year. Despite haemorrhaging money – and energy – 32% of businesses cited perceived high upfront costs as the biggest reason for not improving the efficiency of their heating systems.
Investing in energy efficiency is, however, a strategic business move from a financial and environmental perspective. Facilities management professionals can play a critical role in promoting low-lift, cut-through energy improvements that will significantly help businesses save on energy bills and reduce emissions.
There is the opportunity, for instance, to replace old circulator pumps in central heating systems with ones that use up to 75% less energy to achieve the same output. For facilities that invest in this upgrade, the subsequent energy savings mean that the replacements will pay for themselves in just under five years.
Moreover, there are around 16 million outdated circulators still being used in UK buildings. Replacing these with new models could cut the country’s annual electricity consumption by more than four million megawatt-hours. That equates to a reduction in carbon emissions of almost one million tons.
Balancing Act
In addition to swapping inefficient circulator pumps, facilities management professionals can push the needle on a property’s efficiency by ensuring that a building’s heating systems are properly balanced for optimal tenant comfort and energy optimisation.
Hydraulic balancing is a critical, yet overlooked, way of minimising energy waste. A well-balanced heating system allows for the efficient and even distribution of heat throughout a space – avoiding oversupply or undersupply of heat – which is particularly important in large spaces susceptible to uneven distribution and energy waste.
Facilities professionals should be trained in the signs of imbalanced heating systems – such as a noticeable discrepancy in temperature distribution – and empowered to rectify the source of energy waste with the help of energy consultants.
The simple yet effective measure of balancing a heating system can contribute to energy savings ranging from five to 20%, and importantly, significantly optimise energy use, thereby cutting carbon emissions.
Uncover New Opportunities For Energy Savings Through Energy Audits
According to experts, 30% of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted. To spot the holes in a building’s energy infrastructure, facilities management professionals should advocate for regular, comprehensive energy audits.
Businesses who meet the qualifying criteria of the Government’s Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) will be mandated to carry out energy audits every 4 years. Facilities professionals can play a role in both raising awareness of the ESOS to building tenants for businesses who qualify and recommending regular energy audits more generally.
Energy audits are an effective way to catch and correct energy inefficiencies in a building and identify opportunities for optimisation. As heating and energy technologies have matured, so too have energy assessments. Audits now incorporate best-in-class tools to analyse patterns of energy use and zero in on potential improvements capable of reducing business costs significantly.
According to the Department of Energy & Climate Change, an energy audit costs approximately 1% of a business’ total annual energy bills. As such, audits – which could reduce energy costs by as much ten to 40% - represent a strong return on investment and help businesses to minimise their carbon footprint. Facilities professionals can partner with building tenants to promote regular efficiency checks.
Champion Planet-Friendly Buildings
With the built environment accounting for a significant portion of the UK's emissions, upgrading inefficient energy infrastructure is imperative for achieving net zero. Facilities management professionals are well-positioned to champion eco-friendly buildings by promoting simple, impactful measures like updating circulator pumps, balancing systems, or encouraging energy efficiency audits.
Facilities management professionals play a pivotal role in the pursuit of energy efficiency, offering transformative solutions that not only make business sense but also align with the imperative to achieve net-zero carbon emissions. By embracing these measures, facilities management professionals can contribute to a sustainable and resilient built environment, paving the way for a greener, more energy-efficient future in the UK whereby refurbished properties are prioritised over demolition and reconstruction.
Click the article to enlarge it.
