Energy Consumption per Square Metre League Table Position: 22
Energy Costs per Square Metre League Table Position: 10
This site was chosen for a visit as it is one of a few sites not included in Phase 1
Tops Christchurch is run from an ex Church Hall dating back to 1924.
There is no smart metering capability on site therefore there is no opportunity to calculate accurate energy usage by appliance or even circuit. The only available option is to use a combination of energy usage information obtained from meter readings through our agency consultancy, Bespoke Utilities, see appendix 4.
The hall is solely used by Tops Day Nursery
| Operating Times (5 days per week) | Floor Area (m2) | Cost per m2 (£) | Yearly Gas Bill (£) | Yearly Gas Usage (kWh) | Yearly Electricity Bill (£) | Yearly Electricity Usage (kWh) |
| 07:00-20:00 | 259 | 14.43 | 2759 | 78959 | 2054 | 13317 |
There are two gas boilers on site, one for heating and one for hot water, these are both on constant. The manager had been advised to leave the heating on all the time to bring the temperature up to an acceptable level. On checking, the heating boiler was set quite low and a temperature of 31 degrees was displayed. No room thermostat could be found.
There is an immersion heater in the office area that supplies hot water to the toilets at the front of the building. This was found to be on constant with no time clock fitted.
There is no air conditioning on site.
The main lighting is fluorescent strip lighting controlled by wall switches. The main room has three banks of separately controlled lights. All lights were on, including unoccupied areas. We have a process of checks in place to ensure no lighting is left on after we leave the premises.
Outside security lighting is controlled by timer and only outside operational hours.
There is a fridge/freezer, toaster, microwave, kettle, cooker, digital table and various phone and tablet chargers. All used at various times on an as and when basis.
There is a water cooler and water boiler, neither of which have time clocks fitted.
Office equipment includes a printer/copier, hard drive, 2 screen monitors, laptop computer.
Site Recommendations: (Savings calculated on a price of £0.15p/kWh)
| Item No | Measure | Cost (£) | Saving (£/year) | Saving (kWh/year) | Payback (years) |
| 1 | Installing timer on Immersion heater 3kW power, 120L size | 180.00 | 175.50 | 1170 | 1.03 |
| 2 | Installing timer on water cooler 120w Reducing from 24/7 to 10 hrs per working day *Ref 1 | 10.00 | 110 | 733 | 0.09 |
| 3 | PIR sensors to 6 lights in toilet areas, store room and laundry (6 watt bulbs) Reducing from 13 to 1 hr per day * Ref 1 | 127.73 | 16.80 | 112 | 7.6 |
| 4 | Educate to switch off lights when not in use giving an annual saving of 20% * Ref 1 | 0 | 10.35 | 69 | Immediate |
| 5 | Sleep mode on printer assuming on standby for 10 hrs per day (Standby 0.181 kW) (Sleep mode 0.0087 kW) * Ref 1 | 0 | 67.20 | 448 | Immediate |
| 6 | Install solar panels (5.6 kW) * Ref 2 | 5835.45 | 517.1 (inc.export tariff) | 2585.5 (50% of generated | 11.3 |
| Totals: | 6153.18 | 896.95 | 5117.5 | 6.86 |
Ref 1: Calculations based on 260 working days per year
Ref 2: Solar panel energy figures based on 2018 records for 4kW installed system at Tops, Wimborne generating 3693.5 kWh per year. Cost based on quotations as of October 2019
Ref 3: Printer energy consumption figures from supplier, Clarity copiers
