Case Studies

Verulam School, St Albans

Savings in excess of £10,000 p.a. have been achieved.

Within the first two weeks of commisioning it became apparent that the school had an opportunity to save a great deal of money. Consumption of water, gas and electricity were all found to be too high.

In conjunction with the local site manager, Optimal conducted a detailed site audit to help identify the nature of the faults.

The following faults were identified with the assistance of Optimal:

• A water leak in the canteen heating system
• Gas heating timers were set incorrectly
• Staff urinals flushed nine times every ten minutes
• Only 30% of the base electricity load could be accounted for

Optimal made recommendations as to the remedial action that needed to be performed, ensuring the school staff could instruct the County’s maintenance subcontractors to repair the faults.

We also discussed possible improvements to utility consumption by utilising new technology and recommended that the urinals should be enabled with an infrared system to monitor movement. We researched suitable suppliers and passed this information directly to Verulam School for action.

Optimal has provided technical expertise and training to help the school’s personnel determine, understand and control the school's consumption profile for each utility.

As a result of this training, the school's staff have reduced the ongoing consumption of gas, electricity and water, by a process of reviewing the effects on consumption and by implementing changes in human behaviour.

Thus the saving improvement was twofold; instant savings due to maintenance issues and longer-term savings due to a reduction in consumption patterns. Overall, the school has achieved savings in excess of £10,000 per annum.

Beyond charging for the supply and installation of the system, Optimal provided all additional training and consultancy at minimal cost.