Author: jeanc
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An electricity puzzle
One of our venues has very high electricity use at night, and we’re wondering why.
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Enforcing a minimum temperature
If your heating controls don’t enforce a “setback” temperature, in this kind of weather the building can get cold enough to risk damage. Here’s what good control looks like.
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Temporary secondary glazing
Polycarbonate secondary glazing can be a good heat loss solution for windows that don’t need to open in winter. It’s cheap and almost invisible.
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Not-in-time heating
Not-in-time heating is a very common pattern in community buildings. We describe some common reasons for it.
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Planning for heat pumps
We’ve been asked to help plan ahead for when a gas boiler fails in a church rectory – a house for a priest. Here’s what we’d suggest for these houses and for community venues.
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Setting a green choices policy
One of our early groups has asked us if we have any model policies for making choices based on payback periods, running costs, and the like. We don’t, but we have some suggestions and are asking around.
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Why get smart meters
We’re advising all of our groups to get smart meters. They should allow venues to see live energy use readings taken every half hour. In this blog post we explain why that’s useful.
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Maximum temperatures
Here’s an interesting fact – between 1980 and 2013, it was illegal in the UK to heat public spaces to above 19C unless there was a specific reason. We’re currently looking at why one of our monitors often sees 30C.
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Do we need to heat every day?
Churches often ask us this question, especially this time of year. The thinking on this has changed and the answer is usually “no”.
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A Good Reception
If you are thinking nice snacks and drinks I’m sorry to disappoint: not entertainment, but radio signals sent from sensor to hub. Not every temperature and humidity reading will make it to the hub, for onward journey to ‘the cloud’, if there are obstacles or a fair distance to travel. So how can we pamper…