Demand
Overview
To understand the energy needs of the Visitor Centre, an overview of the demands is provided below, consisting of the description of:
- Electrical demands for Small Power / Catering devices
- Electrical demands for Lighting
- Electrical demands for Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) system
- Heating demands
Small Power / Catering
The electrical demands of this category refer to the consumption of the following devices:
- 2 Computers / Laptops
- Small Fridge / Freezer
- Microwave / Kettle / Coffee Machine [A rated]
- Large LED TV [A+ rated]
- Computer / Projector (for conferences / tours)
Lighting
The design of the Visitor Centre is such that allows utilizing of natural light as much as possible. However, this depends on weather conditions (e.g. sunny, cloudy), time of the day (e.g. morning, midday) and day of the year (e.g. summer, winter).
In total, the lights are on only between small periods of time during weekdays, e.g. from 8 am to 9 am and from 3 pm to 6 pm.
Figure 1: Daylight harvesting - Meeting Zone
The total annual electrical demands for Small Power/Catering and Lighting have been reckoned at 3945 kWh.
Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) system
For the calculation of the electrical demands of the MVHR system (electricity used to drive the mechanical fans), we used the Specific Fan Power value of 0.4 (W/(L/s)). As estimated, the average consumption of the ventilation fans throughout the year equals to 50 W, thus 438 kWh annually.
In total, the lights are on only between small periods of time during weekdays, e.g. from 8 am to 9 am and from 3 pm to 6 pm.
Heating Demands
The annual heating demands, as calculated from the ESP-r model, are equal to 2,115 kWh.
Since occupants in the building can affect the heating demands due to the casual gains, it is important to have an overview of the general occupancy patterns considered for the Visitor Centre:
- Typically: 2 people in the office between 9:00-17:00 on working days
-
Meeting days:
- 1 or 2 per week with 15-20 occupants in the meeting area for around 2 hours
- 1 per month with a maximum of 50 occupants in the meeting area for around 2 hours
Summary of annual demand profile
The annual demand profile for the Visitor Centre is summarised as:
- Annual Electrical Demands (for equipment except heating): 4,383 kWh
|
-> | 3945 kWh |
|
-> | 438 kWh |
Graph 1: Annual Electrical demands (except heating)
- Annual Heating Demands (from Electric Heaters): 2,115 kWh
Graph 2: Annual heating demands
Finally, the estimated annual demands for the Visitor Centre are calculated to be 6,498 kWh or nearly 6.5 MWh.