As well as bringing great energy savings, variable-speed drives also help with the overall improvement of the building system, explains Pete Winterbottom.

Energy-efficient ventilation and lighting for animals and humans in new buildings at Marwell Wildlife are provided by Monodraught Windcatcher natural-ventilation system and Sunpipe natural lighting. The buildings are Cafe Graze and the ungulate building that houses Congo buffalo and bongos.

Derriford Hospital at Plymouth has reduced its energy bills by an estimated £25 000 a year following the replacement of its heating system. Equipment for the project was supplied by BSS Industrial.

Running costs and emissions for generating hot water in the kitchen of Mitsubishi Electric at Hatfield have fallen by 78% following the installation of the company’s PWFY water-heating system.

Small energy savings in heating and cooling systems delivered by often overlooked components can deliver large cumulative benefits. Andy Lucas explains.

Stephen Hart explains the importance of system design to get the maximum energy-saving and operational benefits from variable-speed pumps.

A rapid and flexible approach to bringing the benefits of condensing boilers to new and existing plant rooms is provided by Potterton Commercial’s Paramount MB modular prefabricated condensing heating solution. Applications include education, hospitals and sports and leisure establishments. The modules include high-efficiency condensing boilers, pumps pressurisation system and heating controls.

Passivent natural-ventilation systems for commercial buildings are claimed to have been proven in real life to be one of the strategies to attain an A-rated Energy Performance Certificate. Their performance attracts BREEAM credits and can often help buildings achieve at least a ‘very good’ rating.

The Osborne demonstration house on the BRE Innovation Park is being brought up to Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable homes with the installation of Mitsubishi Electric’s Ecodan heat-pump residential heating system.

With just half a day of use, a variable-speed drive can compensate for the environmental cost of its manufacture and disposal — according to a study from ABB carried out with Tampere University of Technology in Finland.

Brian Phillips considers whether commonly held concerns about free-cooling systems in the UK have any validity.

Passivent’s mixed-mode cooling system can help a building achieve a Class A Energy Performance Certificate, based on experience of real-life projects.

Ray Edwards shares his experiences of huge and extremely cost-effective energy-saving potential of variable speed drives for fans and pumps.

David Whitfield explores the central role that multi-energy thermal storage has to play in the design and delivery of an energy and cost efficient building system.

While you cannot avoid using energy in the built environment, it is perfectly possible to take control of those energy costs — and benefit the environment into the bargain. Philip Ord looks at the potential of heat-pump VRF systems — and explains the significance of the headline.

To help achieve the energy efficiency and reduced overall cost of ownership required by Robert Wiseman Dairies for its new £68 million production site in Bridgewater, consulting engineers AE Robb & Associate specified Chalmor’s long-life, energy-efficient Endurance lighting fittings in the cleaning-in-production (CIP) room.

John Staunton discusses the role of chilled beams in delivering comfort cooling efficiently and how they contribute to a building’s BREEAM rating.

ABB has launched an online calculator that shows how much energy and carbon emissions can be reduced by controlling electric motors using variable-speed drives.

Space Air has revamped its popular residential showroom to include fully operational models of Daikin’s residential range of products. They include the Altherma air-to-water heat-pump system, heat-recovery ventilation and air-to-air split and multi-split systems.