Scientists behind a cutting-edge technology already delivering gas bill savings of up to 35% for a trio of schools in Greater London are calling on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to include the approach in his just-announced Greener Schools programme.
The schools in Wansted, Romford and Dagenham have also reduced carbon emissions by up to 9.7 tonnes per year after having their heating systems upgraded with the hi-tech nanofluid, accelerating the speed with which rooms and spaces in the buildings heat up.
Berkin Arikan, CEO of Hydromx which manufactures the nanofluid and has supplied it for the Empire State Building in New York, believes it has massive potential to reduce school energy bills and cut their carbon emissions – both key pillars of Khan’s Greener Schools initiative – without the need for capital investment or major disruption to school operations.
He said: “We applaud Mayor Khan’s drive to address fuel bills and carbon emissions and in doing so keep children warm and free-up school budgets for much-needed resources. And, while we support the installation of solar and heat pump technology, our work with The Diocese of Chelmsford installing Hydromx into more than 35 schools across Essex – including Wansted, Romford and Dagenham – has highlighted how a really straight-forward, quick and cost-effective approach can deliver huge energy and carbon savings.”
Installation simply requires draining the heating system and re-filling with a mix of water and the nanofluid. It can take as little as a morning, results are instant and ROI is typically around two years. The approach is suitable for buildings of all types and ages, including Victorian and Listed buildings.
Chelmsford Diocese, which encompasses Church of England schools across Essex and East London, is the first in the country to include Hydromx in its carbon reduction strategy, starting with a three-school pilot project, as diocese spokesman Peter Palmer explained: “Specifying this system into our school estate is a key component of the diocese’s Net Zero objective. The pilot project delivered significant energy, cost and carbon savings so we rolled out Hydromx across the remainder of our applicable voluntary aided schools.”
Feedback from schools has included pupils complaining about being too hot immediately after installation, previously hard-to-heat rooms being ‘toasty warm’ and savings being made equating to annual book budgets.
One headmaster said: “The very first day after installation everyone said the school felt hot. The radiators were roasting rather than being luke warm. It really has made a big difference.”
Read more here about how Hydromx is assisting New York City with its aim to be carbon neutral by 2050.
If you’d like to discuss installing Hydromx into your building get in touch
About Hydromx
Hydromx utilises nano-particles to speed up heat transfer from boilers into radiator systems, reducing the amount of energy required for rooms to reach the required temperature. Because boiler cycling and HVAC plant run-time is reduced, equipment lifespan is increased and maintenance requirements lessened, all adding to costs savings. Furthermore, we’ve had instances where installing Hydromx delivered the potential to increase heating/cooling capacity of existing plant sufficiently to avoid capital investment in new plant to cope with increased demand.
Hydromx is suitable for most commercial and domestic hydronic HVAC systems using water as a primary heat transfer fluid. It is a non-invasive, easy-to-install energy and carbon saving solution which works by improving heat transfer. It provides complete system protection against corrosion, calcification and bacteria and includes anti-freeze. Hydromx is inert, recyclable and guaranteed for 20 years. Depending upon the application and system characteristics, it will normally deliver energy, carbon and cost savings of between 20-35%.
Installation involves draining the system, flushing and re-filling with 50% water and 50% Hydromx. No major plant or system changes are required. The technology is backed by sound scientific principles and evidence supported by worldwide installations that have, in some cases, returned almost 50% energy savings.
If you’d like to discuss installing Hydromx into your building get in touch