Ireland – Dublin
Organisation : Symphony Energy Controls Ltd (UK)
The owner-occupier client, Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI), commissionedSymphony Energy to optimise the performance of the existing HVAC systems in their main University Campus buildings. An Energy Performance Contract was agreed, under whichSymphony would be renumerated exclusively from the actual energy savings achieved by the project. The goal was to optimise the efficiency of the existing HVAC equipment, onlypurchasing new equipment where there was a strong business case to do so.
26 York Street (26YS) was the flagship building of the campus. Built in 2017, 12k m2, across10 floors (6 above ground level, 4 below). It includes a 2-floor library and a 2-floor gymnasium, as well as classrooms, offices, caffeteria, lecture theatres and operating theatres.The building is open 07:00-23 :00 seven days a week.
26YS was already well run, with a 2019 EUI of 202 kWh/m2/yr. This was well in line withthe LETI/UKGBC target at that time. At the end of the project we had reduced the EUI down to 107 kWh/m2/yr, representing a 47% reduction in total building energy consumption, and a 250 tonne reduction in carbon emissions per year. All this with very small addition of embodied carbon.
The main actions implemented to reduce the energy consumption of this building.
The goal of the project was to optimize the efficiency of the pre-existing CapEx investments.
Two Gas Condensor Boilers were added as described in the next section.
Three key measures were used in the project at 26YS.
1. High-performance control commands sent via an onsite automation server to the BMS system delivering radically improved efficiency to the HVAC system as a whole. These control commands are generated by a set of building-specific algorithms thatconstantly monitor data from the BMS, other building IoT, and short-range weatherforecasts and then optimise the plant output accordingly.
2. Symphony Cycle – a Patented HVAC heat recycling process that works on buildings with chilled water cooling and fan coil units or chilled beams. For 80% of the yearSymphony Cycle gives free cooling and free heating to the building.
3. 26YS was originally heated by two 1,100kW gas boilers. As part of the optimisation project, two 300kW Gas Condenser Boilers were installed to manage the Heat Loadwith the larger Boilers remaining as back-up for times of Peak Load. In the threeyears since the implementation of the project, the original large Boilers have not been needed.
This is an owner-occupier situation, so the tenant feedback is the client feedback. The improvement in the energy efficiency is obvious from the improved EUI figures.
Feedback from the Client Facilities Team confirms that post commissioning hot-cold requestshave reduced to near zero as the spaces accurately auto adjust to seasonal and occupancychanges.
Client feedback on the project is available on this video : https://vimeo.com/1020519481
