SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS

Environmental considerations are now at the forefront of building services design, equipment selection and application. At JCA we take our environmental responsibilities extremely seriously and believe in incorporating new energy efficient and renewable technologies into every aspect of our work.

As a progressive, forward thinking company, it is fundamental to our ethos that we lead by example in this area. New legislation is constantly being introduced targeting large companies, aiming to reduce their carbon footprint. The upside to this; it also reduces costs.

JCA have developed the award winning Echo IT cooling system, a revolutionary new cooling technology for data centres, providing a unique offering that is as cost effective as it is energy efficient. Not only do we develop but we are also sure to procure and apply energy efficient hi-tech equipment and products for our client projects.

An example of this is shown in our project at Sudbury School, North London, where we installed the Daikin Altherma System – a highly efficient and versatile air sourced, heat pump, hot water and heating system. At the time this was the first installation of its kind in the UK. JCA have extensive experience in design and build and are also able to offer design, installation, funding and maintenance services for a variety of renewable energy solutions including solar PV, heat pump technology, solar thermal technology, wind power and biomass.

For more information on our renewable energy services, please email info@www.jcagroup.co.uk

solarSolar PV

Photovoltaics is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity. This is achieved by using solar panels made up of solar cells containing photovoltaic material.

The panels allow you to generate your own electricity using energy from the sun and over the past two years there has been a 68% fall in PV module costs. Whether used on a domestic home, commercial building or solar farm, the opportunities for this technology are endless.

JCA are able to offer funding opportunities via our partner network for large solar PV projects, which not only power buildings directly but can also make money through the ‘feed in tariff’ (FIT).  The FIT means if you generate your own electricity, your energy supplier may pay you money. The ‘export tariff’ means that you can sell any extra units that you don’t use back to your supplier.

The carbon saving benefits = 0.529kg CO2 per kwh.

assessmentBuilding Energy Assessments

Not only do JCA incorporate renewable technology in to our projects but we can also help reinvent existing buildings into environmentally friendly spaces. JCA are able to offer building energy assessments which are designed to optimise energy usage and reduce both maintenance costs and your carbon footprint.

The assessment will take into account all aspects of your building, some of the services and products we can provide are:

  • Specialist low carbon energy and building services design consultancy
  • Energy efficient products
  • Renewable technology design & installation
  • Specialist LED lighting design
  • Air conditioning/heat pump energy assessment
  • Control systems
  • Efficient motors
  • Heat recovery systems

If you would like more information on our building energy assessments please contact us at info@www.jcagroup.co.uk or call on 01438 847 020.

biomassBiomass

Biomass is biological material and can be used either directly or indirectly as an energy source. There are three ways that biomass can be converted into energy, thermal conversion, chemical conversion and biochemical conversion.

Biomass can be used to generate electricity via steam turbines or gasifiers or to make heat via direct combustion.

Although when biomass is burned it does release carbon into the atmosphere (as burning fossil fuels does), it doesn’t release ‘new carbon’ and can therefore be considered as a sustainable solution.

heat-pumpHeat Pump Technology

Heat pumps are around 300% efficient, for every unit of energy used the heat pump produces three times the amount of extra heat to be used.

Recognised as an energy efficient technology, the heat pump works by transferring heat from the inside to the outside (in cooling mode) or extracting heat from the outside air and pumping it inside. The pumps are able to extract latent heat in temperatures as low as -20C.

The Government introduced a renewable heat incentive scheme (RHI) in 2011 for the non-domestic sector, this is the worlds first long-term financial support programme for renewable heat. They are due to announce a domestic scheme later this year.

thermalThermal Technology

Thermal technology is the process of turning heat into electricity. This is often done indirectly for example using heat to turn water into steam which will turn a turbine that powers an electric generator.

There are different systems that can be used to do this: solar towers are surrounded by heliostats that collect the suns energy and a central receiver at the top stores the heat in special salts that are moved from the tower to a steam generator.

Parabolic troughs use the shape of parabola to increase heat and allow it to be carried out at any time of the day. It uses tubes filled with a special liquid containing oil to collect he heat, the oil heats up to much higher temperatures and produces the steam.

Fresnal reflectors heat the water directly and use increased atmospheric pressure to increase temperature and produce the steam.

Solar dishes heat a compressed fluid and move with the sun to collect heat, using mirrors to reflect the sun on to one point. A piston can then be operated by expanding the compressed fluid.

windWind Power

This is the conversion of wind energy to a useful form of energy such as wind turbines to make electrical power.

Wind farms can be located onshore or offshore and can produce large or small scale electricity generation with massive advances in the technology over the recent years.

Wind energy is clean, abundant and free.