Underpinning our Smart Heating Optimisation programme is our boiler optimisation technology which has been installed in retrofit application in 521 buildings in the UK and Germany since 2001.

These buildings are now suitable for further optimisation opportunities with total savings in heating energy of 25% being targeted.

Anglia Ruskin University, Babcock, BASF, Basingstoke & District Sports Trust, Belfast Education & Library Board, British Airways, British Land, Broadgate Estates, BT, Capita, Cornwall County Council, DC Leisure, Essex University, Fusion Leisure, Google, Home Group, Interserve, London Borough of Sutton, Medway Council, Ministry of Defence, Nuffield Wellbeing, Places for People, Plymouth City Council, Prison Service of Northern Ireland, Rushcliffe Borough Council, South Eastern Education & Library Board, Scarborough Borough Council, Tees Active, Tone Leisure, Western Education & Library Board, Western Health & Social Care Trust.

• Education 160 Schools & Universities
• Leisure 91 UK Leisure Centres with Pools & Hotels
• Germany 72 Commercial Offices through German Distributor
• Communal Residential 50 Sheltered Schemes – Care Homes –District Heating
• Public Buildings 30 MOD Buildings - Civic Offices – Police Offices - Prisons

Leisure Centres with Pools has been one of Fuelstretcher’s most active and successful sectors for retrofit boiler optimisation. Following our first installation at Rushcliffe Leisure Centre in 2002 our unique control technology has been applied to 91 UK leisure centres and indoor swimming pools. We are proud that almost all controls were purchased by clients on the basis of successful and robust trials validated by established Carbon Trust procedures. Numerous case studies exist, where in excess of 15% saving in heating supply energy has been achieved, with no loss of comfort in pools or with pool air.

However, years of experience, have made us aware, that further savings and comfort improvements could be achieved by applying additional remote optimisation techniques to pool, pool air comfort controls and HWS delivery. With benefits of integration, with existing installed Building Management Systems (BMS) and other site controls, we are now targeting a total of 25% in annual heating savings for our Leisure Centre Operator clients. With this level of savings, creative financing such as free equipment installation, free continuous monitoring and shared savings can be offered.

In addition, with our traditional relationships with Duty Managers “at the coal face”, we are now even better equipped to support and advise them in all matters involving the optimum performance of heating controls and plant and the effectiveness of their maintenance regimes. Our new Smart Heating Optimisation service not only confirms the proven savings of our boiler optimisation technology but it additionally acquires key comfort and efficiency data from the existing heating system for remote analysis and further optimisation by our Bureau.

Despite having saved an average of 15% in heating energy over 16 years we still believe that too few UK Leisure Centres , as major expensive assets, are being optimised to their full potential. We see this as a missed opportunity for both our clients and the Building Services sector that currently serves them. However we believe, with justifiable confidence based on history and experience, that our new Smart Heating Optimisation Service will also genuinely assist Leisure Centre Asset Management.

Very importantly, our unique boiler optimising algorithms, developed in 2001, remain just as effective with today’s Leisure Centre heating systems. This relevance relates, in particular, to

a) Advances in new condensing boiler designs

b) Integration of CHP and boiler thermodynamics for intelligent primary circuit management.

The remote monitoring system we use to support our boiler optimisation has, over many years given us visibility of the functioning of BMS and other site heating controls and mechanical plant, such as boilers, air handling units and system valves and actuators. In many cases their performance has been below optimal standards.

We have often remotely observed questionable or inconsistency in set-points or scheduling of pool, pool air and HWS heating. Although outside our commercial remit, at the time, we recognised the signs of heat wastage and sometimes compromised comfort.

This is not necessarily a criticism of system maintenance practices but Leisure Centres are particularly subject to changing dynamics and variations in occupant patronage and behaviour. With their complex heating systems and controls, we see a case for the continuous review of set-points, schedules and even BMS strategies to be a valued service.

In our experience, leisure centre managers often do not have the luxury of employing full time maintenance engineers to monitor heating controls and plant. With the help of our remote Smart Heating Optimisation service an immediate saving of 15% in heating can be expected due to our proven boiler optimisation. We then progressively remotely optimise the rest of the heating system to identify additional quantifiable benefits, in efficiency and comfort, mainly as a result of low cost measures we have recommended.

Our optimisation techniques benefit significantly from our engagement with ITC and the “internet of things”. Our remote Bureau of experienced engineers communicates via the internet with our site hardware platform which acquires valuable control plant performance data from the BMS network. This is data that our client’s Building Services and even BMS controls engineers normally do not access or utilise for performance evaluation of maintenance purposes.

As a result of bureau analysis we draw up agreed Action Plans, with local engineers, which list opportunities for improvements in performance. Most actions are simple adjustments to controls and can be scheduled into routine maintenance visits at little or no cost. Our bureau engineers may detect signs of more serious threats to comfort or efficiency. If so, we can empower both leisure centre management and contractors with information and recommendations for effective longer term asset and maintenance planning and budgeting. To enable the centre manager to engage with optimisation and its benefits we offer a web-based Heating Optimisation Dashboard which provides a simple overview of system performance status with alerts for non-compliance and remedial action...

Not to be forgotten is the value of periodic and informed review with leisure centre management, of centre use, changing occupant behaviour and potential heating scheduling and strategy changes. This ensures that our heating optimisation remains current.

We are confident that our service, inclusive of our proven boiler optimisation algorithms, will save 25% of heating energy in most leisure centres with pools.

Most compelling of all is our guarantee to provide a heating energy savings service which pays for itself and provides early profit improvements for our clients.

SMART HEATING OPTIMISATION OVERVIEW DASHBOARD

Main Features

• Operator authorised Management Overview.
• Real time display of key performance temperatures
• “Traffic Light alert”
  • Green – fully optimised and achieving target savings
  • Amber – No immediate threats but adverse system performance trends exist
  • Red – SMS alert if pool and pool air temperatures are threatened
• Charts for tracking recent history of system performance and trends
• System button for Diagnostics and assistance to local contractors.

Whilst only representing a small percentage of Fuelstretcher’s retrofit boiler optimistation installations, substantial successes have been achieved with many prestigious offices commercial offices in Europe. All are buildings where “state of the art Building Management Systems (BMS) have been previosly installed for owners and landlords such as Google, BASF , British Land, Prudential and BT . BMS continues to dominate the UK building controls market for many justifiable reasons. However, the perception that it provides the ultimate solution to heating system efficiency has been both scientifically and practically challenged. It is a paradox that all the “flagship” buildings owned by the above clients had BMS installed before our retrofit and yet we never failed to save less than 14% of heating energy by optimising boiler management. What is more, the process of remote monitoring of performance of our own technology revealed shortcomings in the BMS in maintaining optimal space comfort temperatures and set-points.

There were also questionable heating schedules and even strategies, particularly in tenanted buildings, where original commissioning was no longer in tune with ocupancy changes. This is not so much of a criticism of quality or maintainance but optimal performance of the BMS requires continuous monitoring as building dynamics change. There has, for many years been a compelling case, for the integration of our proven algorithms with the BMS network to address its absence of boiler optimisation and to provide a step change in its heating energy efficiency management.

We now have the tools to do this. Our new Smart Optimisation System and its hardware platform enables us to network with BMS sensors , attributes and strategies. So ,in return, we can remotely acquire data from the network to enable our experienced Bureau to monitor and critique BMS performance to optimise its efficiency of control and scheduling of comfort demand.

Our new service also relates significantly to the growing importance of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme and Energy Performance Certificates, as examples of the increasing carbon-focused environmental legislation affecting the operation of buildings. Energy price rises and the growing importance of sustainability and CRC reporting are major drivers for both occupiers and owners.

The combination of our proven boiler optimisation algorithms and our ability to optimise the performance of Building Management Systems is likely to save between 20% and 25% of heating energy in the first year of installation of our hardware. There are also economies to be made in the costs and effectivenesss of plant and controls maintenance .

We believe our service and its engagement with “the internet of things” challenges traditional Building Services and maintenace regimes. There are a number of options for procurement of our technology and service the costs of which are funded by guaranteed savings.

BRITISH LAND - BROADGATE ESTATES –REGENTS PLACE LONDON 14% SAVINGS

• 10 storey offices
• 223,748 sq. ft. total
• Ground floor retail
• Fan coil units - heat/cool
• 12 Condensing boilers
• Schneider BMS upgraded Summer 2012

PRUDENTIAL - BEACON HOUSE- CARENDON DOCK – BELFAST –15% SAVINGS

• Capita Lease Building
• Clarendon Dock
• 54,000 sq. ft. office space
• 5 floors
• Atrium entrance
• Fan coil units – heat/cool
• 5 boilers
• Trend BMS

There are significant pressures on School Management politically, socially and financially to make optimal use of buildings critical. Ensuring building comfort is particularly difficult with student movement in and out of rooms and buildings all of which are subject to heat loss in winter. Occupant mobility and different thresholds of comfort make optimal comfort control difficult. Many schools have fragmented boiler houses serving numerous individual heating systems and different types of heating comfort controls.

These variables present a continuous challenge to ensuring that heating controls and plant maintain their optimal performance and set-points. The use of Building Management Systems (BMS) will help to achieve zonal comfort control and scheduling but its boiler and heat supply optimisation strategies are limited and excess supply of heat to classrooms is common. Fuelstretcher has installed retrofit optimisation of boilers in 160 schools of all sizes in GB Northern Ireland with substantial savings in heating bills and often improved comfort

There has for many years been a compelling case, for the integration of our proven optimisation algorithms with the BMS network to achieve a step change in its true heating energy efficiency. We now have the tools to do this. Our new Smart Optimisation System and its hardware platform enables us to network with BMS sensors , attributes and strategies. So, in return, we can remotely acquire data from the network to enable our experienced Bureau to monitor and steer local adjustments to ensure that BMS performance remains optimal.

The combination of our proven boiler optimisation algorithms and our ability to optimise the performance of Building Management Systems and the rest of the heating system and plant is likely to save between 20% and 25% of heating energy in the first year of installation of our hardware. There are also economies to be made in the costs and effectivenesss of plant and controls maintenance .

Our engagement with ICT and “the internet of things” truly challenges traditional Building Services and maintenance regimes. There are a number of options for procurement of our technology and service the costs of which can be funded by guaranteed savings

In 2004 The Energy Savings Trust approved the Fuelstretcher retrofit boiler optimising technology to enable Northern Ireland Electricity to meet its Energy Efficiency Commitment obligations by offering funding to schools as a means of reducing carbon emissions. Over the following years, over 100 retrofit controllers were installed across a wide variety of building types including primary and secondary schools throughout Northern Ireland. The variety of sites included both old and new buildings, with gas and oil-fired systems and with or without BMS.

In order to confirm the levels of savings that were being made, a number of sites were monitored over a 2 year period so that annual consumption before and after installation of the Fuelstretcher controller could be compared. This resulted in range of savings from 12% to 22% with an average of 15% savings across all sites being monitored.

Fuelstretcher has installed its technology in 50 Communally heated Residential and Care Homes in GB and Care and Northern Ireland. Our boiler optimisation technology has achieved significant savings in heating energy. This is with acquired experience and recognition of the fact that, in many instances, buildings are often overheated due to the special comfort and medication needs of vulnerable residents.

However ,with the versatility of our technology and the development of knowledge of individual schemes and their management, optimal savings in heating energy have been made with assured comfort.

Fuelstretcher was also accredited by the Energy savings Trust as early as 2003 with its technology being suitable for the Carbon Emmissions Reducton Targets to attract funding for Communally Heated Buildings.

Landlords and Housing Associations such as Home Group, Places for People and Western and Belfast Heath Health Trusts in Northern Ireland, have all benefited from our technology with savings of between 14% and 30% in heating energy.

Prioritisation of comfort and care has been fundamental in the process. This sector will benefit considerably from our Smart Heating Optimisation service where our ability to make the best use of networking opportunities, with existing controls, will enable us to remotely monitor comfort to ensure that the schemes can be appropriately optimised.