Energy team work energises Corwen care home efficiency

Denbighshire County Council’s Energy Team has seen a considerable reduction in energy use at Cysgod y Gaer, Corwen, after finishing the second stage of work to improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions at the building.

The council is working to reduce its building estate carbon footprint which is responsible for over 60 percent of direct emissions.

Phase one of work at the care home funded by the Welsh Government Green Recovery Fund saw a 10.2kw PV array installed on the roof at the site to produce electricity to power the building.

The work also saw LED lighting installed and modifications to the heating system and controls which saw carbon emissions reduced by 2.80 tonnes yearly.

Now the team has also carried out a modification to the buildings water heating system which has produced a big drop in the care home‘s daily energy consumption.

The previous two water cylinders which were heated by the main heating boilers have been replaced by a system which allows instant hot water instead of being on continuously.

This has resulted in around three quarters less water heating energy use a day.

The gas consumption has reduced from an average of 750kwh to 200kwh daily on top of the impact of the previous work. This is a further reduction of around another five to six tonnes of carbon emissions per year. The total emissions at the care home are now around 10tonnes per year lower than they were before the carbon reduction project work.

Robert Jones, Principal Energy Manager said: “We have appreciated the support of the residents and staff at Cysgod y Gaer for helping us carry out this work at the building to provide a more energy efficient home for them all to enjoy.”

Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We are committed to reducing our carbon emissions and energy usage across all our buildings and I am pleased to see this fantastic impact the latest work at Cysgod Y Gaer has had.”