Organic Energy Case Studies
Llanrhaeadr Ym Mochnant Primary School - © Google Images
Llanrhaeadr Ym Mochnant Primary School is a newly-built primary school on the edge of the village, located 12 miles west of Oswestry on the Welsh border. The £3.9 million project is part of Powys County Council’s School Modernisation Programme and saw the entire school move from its former Victorian buildings to the purpose built facility aimed at giving children in the area the very best surroundings in which to start their education.
As with other new schools within the authority, Specification of the boilers for the heating systems have to be considered in the context of the BREEAM environmental assessment method for buildings and the compliance requirements of Part L of the Building Regulations relating to the conservation of fuel and power.
In the context of the SBEM method of calculating CO² emission rates for new buildings, the lower the carbon impact of each element of the building design, the easier it is for the designers to achieve an overall low-carbon building. The requirement, therefore, was for a heating boiler that would have the lowest-possible carbon impact.
For its school buildings, the authority’s mechanical engineers would normally consider ground source heating or High Efficiency oil or gas boilers. By opting for Ökofen automatic wood pellet boilers, the designers were able more easily to achieve a low carbon output solution. Two 56kW boilers have been installed in tandem to run the school’s under floor heating. Added benefits include reliability and ease of maintenance.
The Ökofen boilers are fuelled by carbon neutral re-cycled post-industrial waste in the form of clean dry wood shavings and sawdust which are formed into pellets, available in bulk in the UK. The boilers are fully automated and require re-fuelling as little as once every 12 months. Efficient combustion is delivered by a burner with RCB recycling system and an automatic cleaning system maintains high boiler efficiency.
Based in Welshpool in Mid Wales, Organic Energy (UK) Ltd is the sole distributor in UK and Ireland for ÖKofen automatic wood pellet systems. The company works closely with a UK-wide network of independent installers and offers a fuel supply guarantee for Ökofen wood pellet boilers.
