AET INTRODUCES CAMEL SOLAR FAÇADE COLLECTORS FOR COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS Building façades will be able to harvest energy from the sun to generate abundant supplies of hot water and space heating following the launch of a range of patented, solar thermal façade collectors for commercial and industrial applications from sustainable solutions provider, AET. By acting as an integral, renewable component of its building services system, AET’s Copper FAÇADE and Aluminium FAÇADE flat-plate solar collectors enable the façade to become an energy-saving element of a building’s architectural design. AET’s Camel Solar FAÇADE collectors are particularly suitable for applications where there is insufficient space on a building’s roof for a solar thermal array. The collectors are ideal for buildings with flat roofs in areas where planning rules or aesthetic demands exclude a roof-top solar thermal installation. Incorporating AET’s Camel Solar flat-plate collectors into a vertical facade helps evens out the amount of solar radiation falling on each unit. During the winter months, when the sun is low in the sky and demand for heat at its highest, the FAÇADE collector’s vertical location will help maximise the take-up of solar radiation. However, during the summer when heat demands are lower and the sun is high in the sky the FAÇADE collector’s orientation helps limit the amount of solar radiation falling on the unit.
Aquatiere Has The Soft Touch The Aquatiere No Scale saltless water softener is steadily making its mark amongst architects and specifiers. Recently installed at the National Railway Museum and on North Sea Oil Rigs, the innovative softener is proving invaluable where avoiding the need for the provision of salt and ongoing maintenance is an effective method to reduce costs. It is also worth noting that a conventional salt based softener can waste up to 180,000 litres of water over a few years. The Aquatiere No Scale softener uses Template Assisted Crysalisation to change the limescale in the water to microcopic crystals of magnesium and calcium which in there natural seperated state, do not form hard scale. The unit is simply fitted onto the incoming water main and requires no power, no drain and no seperate drinking water tap. 20/40/60 litre per minute versions are available from stock, other sizes can be made to order. www.aquatiere.co.uk Enquiry No 64
Enquiry No 63
Energy efficient LED emergency lighting serves a dual purpose Responsible companies are continually looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprints. Lighting can account for anywhere between 10-20 per cent of an organisation’s total energy bill and when set against a backdrop of increasing fuel costs, reducing expenditure on this resource can appear to be an insurmountable task. However, the introduction and innovative use of light emitting diode (LED) emergency lighting has already resulted in significant savings for some forward thinking health estate managers. Correctly specified, installed and maintained emergency lighting plays a vital role in keeping the occupants of a building safe from the potentially deadly consequences of a failure in the general lighting. While a traditional system is often just left in ‘standby’ mode until it is needed, the flexibility of a modern LED based system means that it can also be used as a secondary source of lighting – one that is far more cost effective than using the mains equivalent. LED luminaires produce less than five per cent of the carbon emissions of fluorescent lighting and this allows operating costs to be kept to a minimum without compromising efficiency. They also operate via functional extra low voltage (FELV) power, meaning that a mains electricity supply does not have to be run to every luminaire, which vastly reduces the amount of wiring associated with 230V cabling. As well as energy efficiency, an LED emergency lighting system offers enhanced levels of control. At particular times of the day when certain areas may have a much lower footfall, it can be used to provide general lighting via one of seven different levels of illumination. As each luminaire can be controlled independently, areas of a building can be lit where and when necessary, for example, residents in a care home can have low-level lighting overnight in their rooms. The use of low-level lighting can also enhance security, giving the impression that areas that are in fact closed are occupied. It is also possible to have a separate switch so that the emergency lighting system can be activated to provide light at a pre-determined level to assist manned security patrols. While lighting can be controlled via timers and light levels configured to suit particular requirements, in the event of an alarm situation the system will resort back to its primary use and adjust the light levels accordingly. Although reducing energy consumption is a formidable challenge, the savings possible by using LED based emergency lighting are significant and can go long way in helping building managers achieve their carbon reduction targets. www.hochikieurope.com Enquiry No 65
48