Social Housing – Rumsey Court
In April 2013 we undertook an analysis of the commons areas energy consumption of Rumsey Court a Wealden District Council sheltered scheme.
We fitted an energy monitoring system and also undertook a full audit of their lighting. Following and analysis of the consumption patterns we concluded that large savings could be made by upgrading the lighting and by supplementing this with microgneration in the form of a 10KWp solar PV installation which would also create an income over 20 years.
Lighting
The original common areas lighting consisted of 70 20w downlighters which were permanently on which we replaced with 24 17w LED lights fitted with a micro sensor and corridor function which dims the lights to 10% when areas are vacant.
There were also 41 28w 2D switch start fittings on the corridors which we replaced with 28 17w LED fittings again fitted with microwave sensors and corridor function. The corridor function was important for Wealden as it means to corridors are never dark, which is crucial for the safety and well being of the elderly residents.
The LED fittings were specifically engineered for the Wealden Sheltered Schemes by Ecosphere and the lighting manufacturer to offer value, efficiency, safety and ease of maintenance.
The installation has led to a 70% reduction in energy consumed by the lighting and together with reduced maintenance and lamp changing costs would ensure a payback in less than 3 years.
Solar PV
We installed a 10KWp Solar PV system to provide free daytime electricity to power the common ways and also an income under the governments feed in tariff scheme which is tax free and paid over 20 years.
As and approved Sunpower installer, Wealden decided to have the highly efficient Sunpower 327w E20 series. These are the only panel to carry a 25 year product warranty as well as performance guarantee and top all the global league tables in terms of yield per KWp installed and degradation rates.
The installation will achieve an annual ROI of over 20% and 7 year payback. The predicted overall financial benefit of the system after 25 years after deducting the install costs is over £100,000.
Following on from the two measures the energy performance certificate for the building went from a ‘D’ rating to a ‘B’.
"Wealden are really happy to be working alongside Ecosphere to roll out green technologies across our sheltered schemes reducing our carbon footprint and helping our residents benefit from the installation of Solar PV and LED lighting in the common areas. The feedback from residents has been great with many residents claiming that the lighting is much better than the old fluorescent types. The introduction of these green technologies has also helped reduce the landlord charges we occur by over 60% in the first 6 months. The standard of Ecosphere’s work is of a consistently high standard and the project has run to schedule which is crucial when working to budget constraints”
Head Of Housing - Wealden District Council
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