Environment Agency helping to reduce CO2 emissions in Darlington
24 Apr 2014 12:14 PM
New wind turbine installed at Teesdale
House
As
part of its aim to reduce carbon emissions, the Environment Agency has
installed a new wind turbine at its office in Teesdale House
Darlington.
The
office already had one wind turbine and uses a heat recycling system, but this
second wind turbine will further improve the environmental efficiency of the
building.
The
project is part of a scheme to establish the benefits of using efficient heat
recycling systems that work with renewable energy sources such as wind and
solar to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings.
The
Environment Agency has been working with partners to develop an intelligent
control system that works alongside the wind turbine. This uses its power to
control the building’s existing heating and cooling
infrastructure.
Keith Solts, Environment Agency technical manager, said:
“We are not aware of any other research project like this in Europe. This
intelligent control system monitors the internal and external conditions around
the building and the renewable energy being produced, and calculates how best
to utilise the energy to power the air source heat pumps to maximise the
performance.”
It
is estimated that the wind turbine will generate 7,500kWh of electricity a
year. Annually the installed system will offset 28,500kWh of gas, resulting in
an annual carbon reduction of 5,270 kg CO2.