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Recommendations and analysis of savings in communities of owners.
In this post we will comment on some measures or recommendations to influence the savings in communities of owners in order to improve energy efficiency in their facilities. When any action is proposed in the building to improve its energy efficiency, it is convenient to approach it as an integral action affecting the whole, always in a global way to improve its envelope if that were the case or the installation systems, but also intervening and improving the own integrity and state of conservation of the same and later apply an adequate preventive maintenance on it.
The cost of the investment necessary to undertake the improvements and the economic viability should also be assessed, considering the savings achieved and the payback periods achieved with them, although in this case we will only cite some more important measures or recommendations to optimize the systems of facilities.
Heating and DHW systems.
A point to highlight in the savings of communities of owners is to influence the heating systems and community ACS that can reach 55% of the total in community spending. When opting for centralized systems for heating and sanitary hot water, it will be convenient to insulate all the pipes in the sections from the boiler to the houses, as well as in the areas where they pass through common areas or without air conditioning where we can have greater losses.
Substitution or change of some of the regulation elements of the installation that have deteriorated or are defective, such as the burner, the boiler or both, estimating that this action could achieve energy savings of between 7 and 9% or even 16% if they run together.
Insulation of non-insulated boilers in such a way that we will achieve an estimated energy saving of 3%, improving their performance.
Install a control and regulation system for the entire installation that allows adapting and optimizing the operation of the installation according to the demand of the building at all times, either by sectoring by zones or by using equipment that controls the thermal conditions of each room, the regulation of the water pumps, etc.
Replacing conventional boilers with others with higher performance such as condensing or low temperature ones. The latter have the advantage that they have less losses in the distribution pipes than normal boilers.
Illumination systems.
1.-Appropriate mechanisms or equipment must be used to achieve correct management and control of lighting in common areas and in passageways, so that some of the best functions are the following:
- Timers make a certain point of light stay on only for a period of time.
- The luminosity sensors that allow to regulate the level of illumination in a certain room since they act by modifying said levels in a lamp depending on the natural light received.
- Presence sensors that are activated automatically when they detect the presence of people.
2.-It is recommended replace incandescent lamps with low consumption ones as they can last up to 10 times longer than normal ones. In this way, it is possible to illuminate efficiently with significant savings in electricity consumption, providing an even higher level of illumination. As a guide, if we replace a 100 w incandescent lamp with an efficient 20 w one, we could achieve total economic savings during its useful life that would reach approximately € 64, thus being a profitable investment.
3.- The use of LED or compact fluorescent type bulbs is recommended, especially when we talk about ornamental lighting in common spaces.
4.- In those parts of the building that have many luminaires, it is advisable to divide them into zones in order to manage consumption in a more rational way, and allowing only those in the spaces occupied by the user to be used.
Water installations.
When the water in the supply network has a large amount of lime, it will be convenient to install anti-scale devices in the equipment and facilities to allow proper operation for as long as possible.
Using thermostatic mixer taps with flow selector, it is possible to achieve an adequate mix of hot and cold water without efficiently losing water. With double-opening mixer taps so that they have a system with a stop to reduce the water flow by up to 50%.
Using temperature regulators in the shower can achieve an estimated saving of 5%. Place flow regulators or flow regulators in the taps that allow a saving of up to 50% of water.
The installation of cisterns with a discharge switch allows to regulate the flow or the amount of water that is lost in each discharge and allow significant savings in water consumption.
Potential improvements and estimation of savings in equipment systems.
General maintenance and audits.
It is necessary that a correct general preventive maintenance of the building facilities is carried out periodically to allow their correct operation and avoid deterioration or decrease in their useful life. It is always recommended to contract these services to specialized companies with experience in each installation to guarantee its correct state of maintenance.
A recommended option to efficiently manage energy consumption is by carrying out audits that allow detecting possible weak points to be able to adequately correct them and that can also give users the necessary recommendations on the habits to achieve said objective, so that with Such measures, which will always be individualized to each case, and through a study of costs and benefits obtained, spending on energy consumption can be reduced.
