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Ebbw Vale: Energy cost savings in local leisure centre

Challenge: Ebbw Vale Leisure Centre anticipated their annual energy usage and bill would rise from around £400,000 to £1.4million last financial year without a corresponding increase in revenue. They were desperate to look at ways of reducing costs.
Solution: Damian Williams, IoT Delivery Officer for BGCBC installed 4 Milesight environmental sensors and 1 pool temperature sensor in Ebbw Vale Leisure Centre. The sensors were left to run for 4 to 6 weeks and a first review was undertaken with Leisure Centre management and the Tech Valleys project manager. Changes were made to Air Conditioning timings of the gym directly from viewing the data we’d collected. 7hrs running time were reduced per day.
The amended settings were left for a further 4 to 6 weeks whilst the sensors accrued the data and a second review was undertaken. The review showed that the changes made weren’t negatively affecting the patrons comfort or usage of the gym but were saving energy. This data was shared with the Leisure Centre Manager and prompted him to instigate an energy audit on heating at the leisure centre. The sports centre also replaced their pool covers for more efficient covers after seeing the data.
The installed sensors are also able to provide information on sports hall lights, issuing a notification when they are left on after closing time, this allowed leisure centre staff to be notified when lights were left on and prompted staff to ensure they were turned off before leaving the building, and therefore save money - we weren't just talking one light bulb - the sports hall is the size of two indoor 5 a side pitches!
Result: By installing these sensors, the leisure centre will be saving approximately 170kWh per day in the gym and leisure centre, at an approximate cost of 41p per kWh. An estimated saving of £69.70 per day! If you calculate this over a year this will be a saving of an estimated £24,000!
*all figures are estimated and not confirmed
Type of sensors used:
- Milesight Environment Sensors - Co2, Temperature, Humidity, TVOC (volatile organic compounds), light - average cost £280 per sensor
- Decentlab Pool temperature probe - average cost £700 per sensor