Energy survey of libraries

Investigation of building fabric, services and management

In 2008, Vollmer Engineering Ltd. completed an energy survey of 12 libraries for Staffordshire County Council. In order to baseline the existing energy performance of buildings, a benchmarking tool provided by the Carbon Trust was used for assessing the libraries’ energy use against that of other public buildings. The building services (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, lighting, water), building fabric and energy management of every library were then reviewed in detail. This revealed potential annual energy savings per library of

• up to 38MWh (£1.6k at 2007 energy prices) at no cost
• up to 77MWh (£4.3k at 2007 energy prices) with payback less than 2 years

In addition to energy saving measures, recommendations were made on improving the comfort and safety of buildings. Our findings were very well received by the client. The Maintenance Team Manager, with responsibility for all Council buildings, commented that he was impressed we had told him things about the buildings that he had not realised himself. Our report was still being referred to two years after completion of the project.

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