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Force Embraces Energy Legislation Thames Valley Police Spends Over £2.5m a Year on Energy and Utility Services

(PRWEB) September 23, 2009

Thames Valley police spends over £2.5m a year on energy and utility services. With the continuing volatility of energy prices and the increased regulatory requirements, taking steps to control and reduce energy consumption is a key priority for the force – and it will save thousands of pounds each year.

Thames Valley Police (TVP) started looking seriously at energy reduction in 2005 after realising that energy issues were set to become a greater concern, particularly as they are a public-building operator.

The force already had a large amount of data detailing their energy usage patterns but needed help to make use of it. Energy Manager Neil Wickham explained: “We had masses of data but no means of making sense of it or using it to show how and where we could reduce consumption. We were also unable to determine whether our levels of consumption meant we had to start complying with new legislation.”

TVP brought in carbon and energy specialist IMServ to help transform these figures into useful and meaningful information from which the organisation could benefit, and upon which force managers could base future energy-policy decisions.

Matt Davis of IMServ states that this is a common situation. “Many organisations spend a lot of money in order to obtain potentially powerful data but don’t do anything with it.

“By applying some simple analysis to this data, businesses can develop a much greater understanding of their energy consumption, work out ways to reduce their carbon emissions and, ultimately make significant savings.”

One of TVP’s main objectives is to reduce overall energy consumption while improving its carbon footprint and lowering consumption for all buildings.

Neil Wickham commented: “Even a small unit such as a public-service office will have a minimum energy consumption level throughout the day and night. Lowering this minimum energy consumption and spend across the force can lead to huge annual savings.”

The Challenge

The first challenge was to set about gaining a sound understanding of the Thames Valley Police property portfolio, which ranges from small residential properties and hill-top radio masts right through to Milton Keynes Police Station, one of the largest police stations in Europe.

In total, the force is responsible for the maintenance and management of over 300 buildings throughout the three counties@ Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

Neil, who lead the project at TVP, explained: “We have small sites that local police officers use. When they are called out on an emergency, turning the lights off or adjusting the heating are not priorities. We needed an energy consultancy that that was intelligent enough to understand how our individual operations work and be able to develop bespoke and targeted solutions to the energy problems we faced as an organisation.”

The Activity

The energy consultancy were initially brought on board to help provide energy-data collection services but this activity quickly expanded as TVP was made aware of the huge potential that existed with this data.

“As energy manager, I need to understand how and when energy is being consumed in each building in order to develop a strategy to help reduce it,” said Neil.

The consultancy bases its advice on accurate real-time information provided through the use of innovative smart meters. These systems are being installed at TVP sites to generate half-hourly energy consumption readings for electricity, gas and water.

By using its Energy Data-Vision software, the force can now view its energy consumption information through graphs showing profile data, tables detailing registered reads or, at a more sophisticated level, by bench-marking and monitoring sites.

Following the successful trial of Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) technology and Energy Data Vision (EDV) system at nine sites in the Milton Keynes Basic Command Unit area, Thames Valley police is now considering a full rollout of the system across all of the force’s 150 sites.

This would initially be implemented across all of the remaining non-half-hourly electricity sites followed by all gas and water serviced sites over the next two years.

Results

One outcome of the installation of AMR systems and EDV has been the ability to monitor improvements carried out at Milton Keynes Police Station. In 2007/08, passive infra-red movement sensors were installed on the lighting in all communal areas throughout the building.

The predicted consumption savings were in the region of eight to 10%. Using EDV’s Annual Profit reporting function, TVP has been able to demonstrate a reduction of 9.07% – the equivalent to £5,500 per year simply through this single trial.

The consultancy is also looking to install two small-scale building-management systems at two TVP sites to control boiler systems, lighting and air-conditioning units. This mini building-management system will allow the force to remotely set and maintain energy management.

TVP is now able to view a league table of its sites and plot those that are making the most energy savings and those where consumption is highest and energy-efficiency investment appears to be most needed.

The energy management consultancy also worked closely with the force to ensure sites complied with new and existing legislation relating to carbon and energy. IMServ provided assistance in obtaining energy certificate provision including Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and Display Energy Certificates (DECs).

Six months after DECs were made a legal requirement for public buildings, there is growing evidence that many businesses are failing to take the new energy legislation seriously.

Matt Davis of IMServ said: “Thames Valley police is a classic example of a public-building operator that needs to comply with DEC legislation. Six months after DEC became law, in October 2008 only 22,976 out of 50,000 had been submitted, representing a shortfall of almost 55%.

“It’s great to see large organisations like the Thames Valley Police recognising the financial importance of saving energy – rather than viewing it as a headache.”

The Future

Now Thames Valley Police is looking for the consultancy to help guide it through the process of obtaining its Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) accreditation. This is a mandatory scheme which will cover large businesses and public organisations, promoting energy efficiency and helping reduce carbon emissions.

The scheme has been designed to generate a shift in awareness in large organisations, especially at senior level and to drive changes in behaviour and infrastructure.

Emissions trading schemes such as CRC provide a financial incentive to reduce emissions by placing a price on carbon emissions.

In the case of CRC, participants have to purchase allowances equivalent to their emissions each year. The overall emissions reduction target is achieved by means of a cap on the total number of allowances available to the group of participants.

However, within that overall limit, individual participants can determine the most cost-effective means to reduce their emissions. Overall, the scheme aims to achieve emissions reductions of at least four megatonnes CO2 per year by 2020.

Matt Davies concluded: “What’s great to see is that, unlike a lot of organisations, Thames Valley Police is embracing the new energy legislation that is being introduced rather than burying their head in the sand. They recognise the sound financial and environmental benefits that this affords, whereas a lot of businesses see stick and no carrot.”

Neil Wickham commented: “I value having an independent expert on hand. Carbon and energy have become a significant business issue for us, and my role is increasingly demanding as the legislative landscape becomes more and more complicated. I expect that IMServ will be a key part of the ongoing development of the energy management systems structure at Thames Valley Police.”

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