Trelissick becomes more environmentally friendly

Date:

31/03/2008

A National Trust property in Cornwall has become the first in the UK to install an LPG-powered combined heat and power (CHP) unit.

Trelissick Garden in Feock near Truro is a tiered garden, with panoramic views down to Falmouth and the open sea with extensive park, woodland and riverside walks taking in Roundwood Iron Age Fort.

When work was commissioned to extend and refit Trelissick Garden's catering facilities, the National Trust was keen to use green building technologies where possible.

Working in partnership with their heating consultants, SJH Design Services Ltd, the Trust has installed the first ever LPG-powered CHP unit.

Economic and Environmentally Friendly CHP is an extremely efficient way of producing usable heat and generating electricity simultaneously at the point of use from a single fuel.

For Trelissick Garden, the choice of an LPG fuelled CHP unit was obvious. LPG is recognised by the National Trust as a cleaner burning fuel and the site already uses Calor LPG to power its catering facilities.

Efficient and Economical and the Ideal Solution Property Manager, Chris Curtis, said: "At The National Trust's we are always looking to minimise our environmental impact and consider greener options. This was particularly important when considering a solution for the site's Heating and electrical demands and the LPG fuelled CHP unit assisted us in meeting with that requirement.

"The Baxi DACHS unit acts as the lead boiler with the additional benefit of providing on-site electrical generation. The CHP heat output is augmented as required by duty/standby LPG fired condensing boilers controlled from the BMS system."

He added: "When we embarked on the project, the most important aspect was to be as environmentally friendly as possible. We considered various options, including biomass but this was deemed inappropriate as we don't have any woodland that would provide the fuel for such a system.

"The facilities on site have changed dramatically since the installation so the direct running costs cannot be compared, however, the system is so energy efficient we are looking forward to economical as well as environmental benefits."

From http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/