Oxford Partnership - General

[amandakehoe]

Simon,

Thank you for the explanation. You and Fred definitely explained it in a way that I could understand.

Thank You,

Amanda Kehoe

[ronaldchadwick]

Not sure I follow all the technicle detail, but a question. Are there two or more types of panel, one to provide hot warter and heating and a second stype to generate electricity?

Another  source of heat is geo thermal not sure about the cost ewfficiency of this.

[nesma]

I'm not sure how successful geothermal would be in Denham, UK.

There was a trial Geothermal mini-power station set up in Southampton, UK something like 10 years ago (it was behind a Toys R Us).

From what I understand it turned out to be unviable; not sure if that was on economic or ecological grounds (or both).

It's interesting that in New Zealand where in some cities, like Rotorua (in a Volcano crater), so many people tapped into the heat source that too much heat was taken and the local government had to stop the residents doing it so there was enough for at least some of the installations to work!

In the IHG HQ building, what is planned for the waste-grey water? Will it be treated and used for flushes of things like toilets?

And will rain be harvested on the roof and used for similar items, say flushing the toilets (when there is enough water) and/or stored for watering the plants on drier days?

In addition to the solar water heaters Ronald mentions, for the photo-voltaic panels (traditionally shiny glassy-looking panels) it is possible to get UV-transparent camouflage so they fit into the design of a building in a much more pleasant manner (maybe this is what stanley is talking about?)

[nesma]

PS.

Ronald

I think it's a bit of an urban myth that Double Glazing has a vacuum in between the panes - this would cause the glass to crack. I was always taught that it's actually just air, or possibly a gas less thermally conductive gas.

One other point, since this building is in the UK.

The place I work wasn't allowed to have enough car parking spaces for all the employees as the local government wanted to force people to use other means of getting to work. Trouble is, there is no other means because it's build in the middle of no-where, joined only to a motorway (not even with a pavement). There is limited bus service (a few a day but it takes over an hour to get anywhere useful) and the train station is at least 1 mile away (you then have to wait for a stopping train). This means cars are still used but they litter the roads in the area increasing the risk of collision, increasing stress for employees and reducing to an extent, the efficiency of the driving.

So...be warned. If the local council tries to limit the car parking available, don't let them as it doesn't work!

We do have a car share policy though and the company subscribes to https://hants.liftshare.com/

which helps with sharing with employees at nearby companies.

One other thing whilst I'm at it...in the office our lights have movement sensors and so turn off automatically at the end of the day if there is no movement. As long as they don't go off and on too much, it saves power. Could be used in hotel corridors?

[ronaldchadwick]

Some double glazing's are made of special glass that allow you to benefit from the heat of the sun even in these freezing conditions. Our

drawing room held steady with the heating of at 22c today while the outside temperature did no rise above -2c. I think there are experiments with special inert gasses in between the glass as well that improve the efficiency.

I know IHG house in Denham and as far as I am aware parking is only a problem if the is a conference or major meeting. I had no problem parking there arriving mid morning. I do agree it is a bit isolated but that the price to pay for the nice views out the back i guess

[stanley]

There is a German company which uses "traditional" panels within their curtain walling system, which is not as attractive as solar controlled glasses......from my understand the transparent UV solar panels are only 20% as efficient as the tradional type......however in saying that it would still be 20% better than solar control glass, although sloar contolled glasses improve the U value of buildings and its overall performance.

You are correct DGU's do not have a vacuum, but have air trapped inside them....again when combined with solar controlled glass increase their effectiveness.............in saying this you can get argon filled DGU's for the same reasons of improved effectives.

My company were working with on new solar technology with Shell and have now bought them out so it will be interesting to see what developments are afoot....

[stanley]

Similar to the lighting you can get intelligent heating systems which reduces waste and improve behavioral patterns too

[fmcsev1]

Thanks for the feedback Ronald.

Best,

Fred McSeveney

[fmcsev1]

Good stuff, thanks Stanley.

Best,

Fred McSeveney

[ronaldchadwick]

Just stayed at the London IC and one of the good points was that there seemed to be some sort of green audit during our visit.  Some one with pad and pen was being shown around,we saw in at least three departments, question things like towel re use, food waste in the lounge.