Unusual Furnishings Ltd., T/A Taylor's Classics

Introduction

The company was started in 1978 by founder Martin Taylor from his love of antique furniture. Their warehouse, showrooms, factory and offices are all located in their 40,000 ft² premises so they have full control of quality and scheduling.

Most of the company’s energy spend relates to electricity consumption, with half hourly metering providing an opportunity to analyse consumption data in detail.

LCBEP Recommendation

Specialist low carbon consultant, Pro Enviro Ltd., visited the Stafford premises in May 2022 to undertake a free LCBEP energy efficiency review that looked at all aspects of the business. They made three recommendations that would reduce both the cost and levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

1)Installation of LED lighting

At the time of the site visit, most of the lighting across the site comprised fluorescent fittings and could all be replaced with more efficient LED equivalents. There were further savings that could be made by the addition of PIR sensors to the LED lowbay fittings.

The LED lamps should have a life span from 30,000 hours with a replacement period of 15 years, in comparison to the existing lighting system which has a life span of 15,000 hours and replacement period of 7.5 years, therefore reducing maintenance costs.

The table below shows the potential annual savings from installation of LED lighting.

Since completing this work, the company has advised that the LED lighting is not only more efficient and longer lasting, the quality of the light emitted is much better than the previous fluorescent tubes. It’s now more of a natural light and has greatly improved the indoor working environment.

2)Installation of Wood Burner heating system

During the site review it was noted that the company produce a large quantity of wood waste on the site, and this was disposed of at an unknown cost. They could use this by-product on site to generate heat as a replacement to the poorly utilised electric panel heaters.

It is recommended that they have a wood burner installed on site as well as a briquette forming machine. This practise avoids the use of gas or electric and instead uses a biofuel, so saving CO2 from the transfer of the wood waste from the site to a waste facility.

By implementing this recommendation, they could save £5,407 and 10.16 tCO2e per annum on energy cost alone, not accounting for the reduced cost of disposal of the wood waste and the carbon saved by keeping it from landfill.

3)Installation of Solar PV

The company was interested in the potential cost and benefits of installing a Solar Photovoltaic array on the roof of the building and they were advised that a full solar PV survey would be required to determine the cost benefit of any solar PV system that could be installed on the roof.

However, initial estimates indicated that a solar array of 350 x 350W polycrystalline PV modules could be installed on the available roofing to create a 122.85 kWp photovoltaic system.  Although the performance of any solar system cannot be guaranteed with certainty due to the variability of the amount of sunlight from year to year, the calculation of estimated generation was based on industry standard methodologies.

The estimated quantity of energy generated by the recommended array was 89,447 kWh per annum and it was estimated that the site would use 70% of the energy generated.

The anticipated savings from the generation of energy used on site in the first year was £9,430, 17.72 tCO2e and 62,613 kWh.

LCBEP Grant

Due to the time constraints around completing all recommendations prior to LCBEP grant claim deadline date of 15 March 2023, Taylor’s Classics wanted to submit separate grant applications.

The company successfully applied for a initial grant to install a wood burner at a net project cost of £11,500 and received their grant of £6,900 in September 2022.

A second grant to install both LED lighting and a solar PV array was successful. However, it subsequently transpired that installation of the solar PV array was not possible before 15 March 2023. Therefore, they received their grant of £3,100 in March 2023 to install LED lighting at a net project eligible cost of £15,084. This second grant was limited due to the application of our Value for Money calculation.

Taking into consideration the company’s contribution of £16,584 and their estimated annual savings of £23,524, their project payment period is calculated as under one year!

Whilst a grant towards the installation of solar PV was not possible, the company are currently in the process of installation and anticipate they will be connected to the grid by the end of May 2023. This will create further saving, improve their environmental credentials and securing their future.