Category Archives: BLOG

Ongoing maintenance may feel dull, but it’s an essential part of facilities management. After all, many building systems, like fire alarms, pose a serious danger to life if a fault develops. Fault-finding early is the ideal way to keep everyone safe, and this means performing regular maintenance on your building systems. So, here’s a ready-made buildings maintenance checklist that will help you ensure a safe, smoothly running building.

HVAC

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems are there to help create a comfortable working environment for everyone in the building. But they are complex systems, and small faults can cause big issues. If these systems break, they can not only be expensive to repair, but they can lead to the building being unusable or even dangerous. This is everything from the air conditioning not working on the hottest day of the year in an office with lots of big glass windows, to a boiler leak causing dangerous gasses to fill the building.

Regular maintenance of these HVAC systems includes cleaning out dirt and debris from filters, replacing parts as they begin to degrade, running checks for leaks and regularly checking that everything is running smoothly. This approach means you will be able to reduce your repair bills overall,  avoid disastrous breakdowns and schedule in upgrades for convenient times when they will cause the least disruption.

Plumbing

Burst pipes can be catastrophic in a commercial building. Luckily, proactively inspecting your plumbing can prevent most problems from occurring in the first place. Plumbing checks should be carried out on a regular basis, and should include a visual inspection of pipework for signs of rust or corrosion, as well as pressure checks to detect leaks, low pressure or blockages.

Fire

To be fit for purpose, all commercial fire systems need to meet very specific safety standards. This is because failure to adhere to these standards can be a danger to life. So building managers need to be confident that these systems are working properly. Regular inspections help keep them compliant and aligned with the relevant regulations. This includes all fire detection and suppressant systems in the building, from fire and CO2 alarms to sprinklers and foam fire suppression.

Security

If your building operates security systems, whether that’s full access control or just CCTV, they play an integral role in keeping people and assets safe. Ongoing maintenance helps you get the most out of your system and pick up on any issues that could pose a threat to your property or people. Cabling should be checked, sensors cleaned and repositioned, any batteries changed, alarms tested, and glass inspected for damage to make sure the systems are all working correctly.

Roofing

When was the last time you inspected your roof? They are an integral part of your building, and yet many facilities managers neglect them. But if a tile becomes loose, a facia cracks or a gutter becomes blocked, this can cause issues in other areas of the building. Regular inspections help identify any issues if they are present and give you the ability to fix them in a timely manner.

Power Installations

This is very much in the ‘anything else that requires power’ section. Any sort of power installation, from a boiler to a large generator, will need regular inspections and maintenance, otherwise, they could pose a serious health and safety risk.

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we don’t just focus on HVAC maintenance. We work holistically to support facility managers with all of their building’s maintenance needs. For more information, just get in touch with the team today.

Every person, organisation and building in the world has a carbon footprint. Over the last 10 or so years a lot of focus has been on knowing what your carbon footprint is, and reducing it as much as possible. But not as much focus on business and residential business owners doing the same thing. So today we’re going to talk about what a carbon footprint is, why it matters and how using a heat pump could help reduce yours.

What Is A Carbon Footprint?

Essentially your carbon footprint is the name for the environmental impact generated by your company activities. Specifically, the amount of carbon dioxide released into the environment by performing the activity, and how damaging it is.

For example, if you wanted to work out the carbon footprint of a bottle of water, you would need to add up all of the greenhouse gases produced by sourcing the water, manufacturing the bottle, transporting and creating the product and all of the activities within the business to get that bottle of water made and sold to you. That’s a lot to add up!

We talked a bit more about how you can work out your carbon footprint in this blog, so if you wanted to know more, give that one a read!

Why Is Reducing Your Carbon Footprint Important?

Obviously, the fewer carbon emissions that are released into the environment, the better. And everyone should be doing their part to reduce theirs. But the two biggest carbon producers are businesses and buildings, so there’s a big incentive to start there, as it will have a much bigger impact than any individual action.

There are also some business benefits to embracing carbon neutrality now and moving towards a more sustainable business model. For one thing, it will protect your reputation in the marketplace as the public outwardly condemns more and more carbon-heavy businesses. Consumers are actively choosing to work with businesses that take their carbon footprint seriously and are making positive changes, so a boost to your sales figures and general market presence are a welcome bonus.

It will also make it easier for you to transition to a more sustainable business model in the future. There are already limits being put on energy consumption and regulations around things like fossil fuels – and you can bet there will be more in the future. Lowering your emissions now in any way you can will make reacting and complying with new sustainability regulations a lot simpler for you down the line.

Finally, it will actually help your business cut costs. While investing in carbon-neutral strategies and equipment might seem expensive, most will save you an enormous amount on energy bills in the medium and long term. By lowering your carbon footprint, you lower your energy use, which in turn lowers your energy bills. And while it isn’t always viable for businesses to spend money on becoming environmentally friendly, in this case, the savings are worth it.

By cutting down the carbon footprint of those two sectors, we could significantly slow down climate change, preserve our environment and make better use of the earth’s resources.

Building Maintenance And Carbon Footprints

Commercial properties are one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gasses, largely thanks to the multitude of systems inside that produce carbon dioxide as well as the physical act of building them. This is such a large problem that the government has actually launched a ‘Zero Carbon Buildings’ initiative, with the aim of bringing all older buildings to carbon zero by 2050, and ensuring all new buildings are constructed in a carbon neutral fashion alongside them.

Once a building has been built, the biggest source of carbon dioxide is usually the HVAC system. Older or legacy systems like gas boilers can produce around 4,500 kWh of CO2 per year, which can add up to a huge amount of carbon in the environment over the building’s lifespan. But if you change to a modern solution like a heat pump, you can cut that number to almost zero. Heat pumps produce just 220 kWh of CO2 a year because they are powered by electricity, not gas, and they last a lot longer as a result. Paired with renewable energy sources like solar panels, this single change could bring your building to almost carbon neutral within a matter of months.

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we are passionate about the environment and reducing the carbon footprint of our own business as well as our clients. We are currently consulting with a number of block and facilities managers on the changes that would need to be made to their HVAC systems to meet this target, and if you’re in a similar position we’d love to help you too. Just get in touch with the team today for a free consultation. And if you want to know more about energy efficient HVAC solutions, keep an eye on the blog.

Carbon is a big source of concern for the world right now. Greenhouse gasses have been flooding our environment for such a long time now that we’ve done irreparable damage to our planet. Thankfully, the world has woken up to the danger, and now we are all able to make changes to reduce our impact and really make a difference. If you own or run a commercial building, one of the ways you can do this and do your part to become carbon neutral, is by switching your heating, ventilation and air conditioning solution from gas to heat pumps.

What Does Carbon Neutral Mean?

Being carbon neutral means you are not contributing any carbon to the environment, but you aren’t removing it either. Given that very few businesses can actively remove carbon from the environment, being carbon neutral is the big goal for all businesses and anyone who owns a building in the UK. This can be achieved by adopting environmentally friendly policies and either upgrading or retrofitting equipment with more eco-friendly alternatives.

In fact, there’s a Zero Carbon Buildings Initiative in place at the moment, in which the UK government pledged to achieve a net zero carbon emissions goal for the country by 2050. Since a large portion of carbon emissions are generated by buildings, this is one of their first focus points. existing buildings to be retrofitted wherever possible with zero carbon solutions, rather than knocked down and a new building erected. This will save a significant amount of carbon by itself, and if new buildings are being designed and constructed in a carbon neutral fashion, suddenly zero carbon buildings become a lot more achievable.

How Do Heat Pumps Help?

The big question now is, what can you do to reduce the carbon footprint of your building? You might think that you’re locked into all of the legacy systems you have in place, but this simply isn’t true. In fact, most modern systems can be retrofitted into older buildings, replacing your less efficient and more wasteful systems in the process. In terms of heating, ventilation and air conditioning for your building, the best answer is a heat pump.

Switching from a gas boiler to a heat pump is a relatively simple process. Choosing the type of heat pump you want will depend on your location, access to resources and other things, and once installed can save you a massive amount of carbon emissions. In fact, while a gas boiler produces around 4500 kWh of CO2 per year, a heat pump produces just 2,20 kWh of CO2 emissions, largely through its power source – electricity. And since they last around 14-15 years compared to the gas boiler’s 10, they keep the CO2 emissions lower for longer.

The Magic Ingredient

Of course, heat pumps do an amazing job, and they are a great first step in your carbon neutral journey. But while they are low carbon, they aren’t zero carbon by themselves, since they require mains electricity to run. The real magic comes when you pair heat pumps with renewable energy. In other words, solar panels.

By utilising solar energy you’ve generated yourself, you can completely negate the need for mains electricity for your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. This is not only a great cost saving exercise (since energy bills for most commercial premises can add up to thousands a month in just HVAC costs), but it also slashes your carbon emissions for the system to basically zero. If you have a well-insulated building then you can enjoy efficient heating at low cost and zero carbon emissions. Now isn’t that magical?

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we are passionate about the environment and reducing the carbon footprint of our own business as well as our clients. We are currently consulting with a number of block and facilities managers on the changes that would need to be made to their HVAC systems to meet this target, and if you’re in a similar position we’d love to help you too. Just get in touch with the team today for a free consultation. And if you want to know more about energy efficient HVAC solutions, keep an eye on the blog.

We don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s pretty hot in the UK right now! We’re having some unprecedented heatwaves this year, and workplaces across the country are turning to the ‘AC’ part of their HVAC systems to keep cool. But if you haven’t been taking care of your air conditioning properly, you could end up in a sweaty disaster. So today we thought it would be a good idea to remind you of why regularly servicing your air conditioning is a good idea!

Better Energy Efficiency

With energy bills soaring, you want to make sure you’re making the most of every penny you spend, and not washing money running inefficient equipment. Regular servicing is an easy way to ensure your air conditioning system running at full efficiency. Small things like clogged air filters, dirty condenser coils and other issues mean that the system is using more energy to operate normally, sending your energy bill through the roof. You might not even notice any of those issues are there, just that your energy bill has gone up and you don’t know why. Maintenance can stop these things from building up and keep your energy bills manageable.

Lower Repair Costs

Speaking of keeping your bills manageable, regular servicing also means your repair bills will be lower across the board. That’s because your technician will be able to spot issues while they are still small and fix them early, leading to lower repair costs. Without regular servicing, you will find yourself on the receiving end of emergency repair bills, which are never cheap.

Your System Will Last Longer

As with any major equipment, regular servicing will extend your system’s operational life significantly. When just one component fails in the system, the rest of the components have to work much harder to compensate for it. This significantly reduces the lifespan of the entire system and means you will need to replace your HVAC systems a lot more often than strictly necessary. And while of course there is a limit on how long certain components are going to last, regular servicing means less stress is put on the system, and the longer it will last.

Better Indoor Air Quality

Air conditioning isn’t just there to keep you cool. It’s also there to clean and filter the air to provide a safe environment for your employees. It’s been proven time and time again that indoor air quality is linked to productivity, sickness, absenteeism and employee happiness, so it’s a worthwhile investment to make! But to achieve all of this, your air conditioning system contains a number of air filters that are designed to purify the air that passes through it. These can get dirty very quickly, which then decreases the air quality. Regular servicing ensures that your filters are working as they should, being changed regularly and that everyone in the building is breathing clean air.

How often your air conditioning needs servicing will depend on a few things, including the model, age, how often it’s used and how well it has been maintained in the past. So, if your air conditioning isn’t cutting it in this heatwave, it might be time for a service. To book yours, or find out more, just get in touch with the team today.

If the last 2 years has done anything, it’s revealed just how important hygiene is for the overall health of individuals and the population as a whole. But while we’ve all been focused on making sure we wash our hands and properly clean surfaces, how much thought have you put into the cleanliness of other areas? Like the air in your building, for example?

Air quality isn’t just about keeping Covid-19 out of your lungs. It’s also directly related to things like concentration, mood, performance and better overall health, and improving it can have serious benefits to everyone breathing it. So how do you keep your air quality high and prevent infection? By keeping your HVAC systems clean and well maintained.

Airborne Pathogens And Viruses

One of the most common causes of infection from viruses is the inhalation of contaminated air. For example, speaking, coughing and sneezing can all expel large numbers of ‘aerosols’ (suspensions of solid or liquid particles in the air), which could include viruses and bacteria. The smaller the particles are, the longer they will stay in the air and the further they will travel when expelled. For example, we know that Covid-19 can survive in the air for over 25 minutes before it is dispersed enough to not be infectious.

When exposed to dry air, most of the moisture content in the aerosol will evaporate instantly, making the suspended particles smaller and lighter, able to travel further and survive longer. But both temperature and relative humidity affect the airborne survival of viruses, bacteria and fungi. So by controlling the heat, humidity and airflow within your building, you can significantly reduce the lifespan of viruses and pathogens and protect the people working within.

From The Outside In

Your first line of defence against pathogens and debris getting into the air in your building is to stop it from coming inside in the first place. The simplest way to do this is t ensure that all air intakes in the building have been fitted with a pre-filtration system, containing a filtering media that blocks larger pollutants from entering the building. These systems are actually a fairly standard part of most HVAC systems, as they help improve efficiency and keep it operating at optimum. The thing most people get wrong is not changing this filter media often enough. Since it is responsible for catching all of those bigger pathogens and stopping debris clogging the system, they tend to get filled up quicker than smaller filters and lose their effectiveness. By hiring a company to perform regular routine maintenance tasks like changing filter media, you can dramatically improve your indoor air quality and protect your HVAC equipment at the same time.

Regular Cleaning

Outside health concerns for the people in your building, maintaining good hygiene standards in your HVAC system can also have some commercial benefits. As we mention every week, regular maintenance is key to ensuring your system is working correctly and catching problems while they are small. Cleaning is a part of the HVAC maintenance programme for this exact reason. Without regular cleaning and hygiene checks, your HVAC system could suffer from:

• Condensation forming and pooling on vessels, pipes, equipment, cold surfaces and even floors, causing hazards and damage.
• Corrosion and other damage to buildings, structures, fittings and equipment.
• Bacterial growth and mould, resulting in hygiene issues, spreading infection and compliance difficulties.
• Higher servicing and maintenance costs as a direct result of damage caused by poor hygiene.

The good news is that ongoing HVAC maintenance isn’t an expensive outlay for you, unlike the cost of replacing a full unit, or paying sick leave for employees who are breathing poor quality air. While the cost of replacing a complete system can run into the thousands, maintenance and cleaning of that system will cost a fraction of that and keep your buildings in working order for longer. Not only that, but there is some evidence to suggest that well run HVAC systems could actually save you money in terms of energy and electricity used by your building.

By investing in regular maintenance and cleaning for your HVAC systems you are ensuring lower payouts for repairs, reducing your emergency call-outs (and their charges) and providing a cleaner, more comfortable environment for the people using your building. For advice or help with your long-term HVAC maintenance plan, get in touch with the team today to book your free consultation

Carbon is a big source of concern for the world right now. Greenhouse gasses have been flooding our environment for such a long time now that we’ve done irreparable damage to our planet. Thankfully, the world has woken up to the danger, and now we are all able to make changes to reduce our impact and really make a difference. If you own or run a commercial building, one of the ways you can do this and do your part to become carbon neutral, is by switching your heating, ventilation and air conditioning solution from gas to heat pumps.

What Does Carbon Neutral Mean?

Being carbon neutral means you are not contributing any carbon to the environment, but you aren’t removing it either. Given that very few businesses can actively remove carbon from the environment, being carbon neutral is the big goal for all businesses and anyone who owns a building in the UK. This can be achieved by adopting environmentally friendly policies and either upgrading or retrofitting equipment with more eco-friendly alternatives.

In fact, there’s a Zero Carbon Buildings Initiative in place at the moment, in which the UK government pledged to achieve a net zero carbon emissions goal for the country by 2050. Since a large portion of carbon emissions are generated by buildings, this is one of their first focus points. existing buildings to be retrofitted wherever possible with zero carbon solutions, rather than knocked down and a new building erected. This will save a significant amount of carbon by itself, and if new buildings are being designed and constructed in a carbon neutral fashion, suddenly zero carbon buildings become a lot more achievable.

How Do Heat Pumps Help?

The big question now is, what can you do to reduce the carbon footprint of your building? You might think that you’re locked into all of the legacy systems you have in place, but this simply isn’t true. In fact, most modern systems can be retrofitted into older buildings, replacing your less efficient and more wasteful systems in the process. In terms of heating, ventilation and air conditioning for your building, the best answer is a heat pump.

Switching from a gas boiler to a heat pump is a relatively simple process. Choosing the type of heat pump you want will depend on your location, access to resources and other things, and once installed can save you a massive amount of carbon emissions. In fact, while a gas boiler produces around 4500 kWh of CO2 per year, a heat pump produces just 2,20 kWh of CO2 emissions, largely through its power source – electricity. And since they last around 14-15 years compared to the gas boiler’s 10, they keep the CO2 emissions lower for longer.

The Magic Ingredient

Of course, heat pumps do an amazing job, and they are a great first step in your carbon neutral journey. But while they are low carbon, they aren’t zero carbon by themselves, since they require mains electricity to run. The real magic comes when you pair heat pumps with renewable energy. In other words, solar panels.

By utilising solar energy you’ve generated yourself, you can completely negate the need for mains electricity for your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. This is not only a great cost saving exercise (since energy bills for most commercial premises can add up to thousands a month in just HVAC costs), but it also slashes your carbon emissions for the system to basically zero. If you have a well-insulated building then you can enjoy efficient heating at low cost and zero carbon emissions. Now isn’t that magical?

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we are passionate about the environment and reducing the carbon footprint of our own business as well as our clients. We are currently consulting with a number of block and facilities managers on the changes that would need to be made to their HVAC systems to meet this target, and if you’re in a similar position we’d love to help you too. Just get in touch with the team today for a free consultation. And if you want to know more about energy efficient HVAC solutions, keep an eye on the blog.

Did your last energy bill make you wince?

It’s the same story up and down the country, as energy bills double or even triple and everyone looks for ways to manage the price rise. Some change providers, some simply try to use less, and others are installing brand new systems to be more efficient. But we have a fourth option for you to consider – and it’s much more convenient and cost effective than the others.

Make sure your settings are correct.

Yes, it really is as simple as that to save money on your HVAC bills, and here’s why.

Why Set-Up Is Important

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems are by no means simple. They are actually quite complex, and they need to work together in harmony in order to perform properly and deliver energy-efficient heating and cooling for your business or home. This means you need to have them set up in the right way to provide you with the most energy-efficient heating and cooling for your space.

A great example of why set up is so important is actually a domestic thermostat, exactly like the one you have in your own home. Research has shown that setting your thermostat just one degree lower could save you around 10% of your heating bill. And if you’re one of those households that sets their thermostat at around 25°C, you could save even more by turning it down to the recommended 20°C. It’s a similar story in commercial buildings, with slight set-up changes being able to yield massive cost savings.

Set Up Mistakes That Could Be Costing You Money

There are a huge number of ways you can set up your HVAC system, and you can change these settings at any time. Most people will change their settings when the seasons change to compensate for the change in weather – but others will just leave the settings be, wasting money in the process. To give you an idea of what we mean, here are some of the most common set-up mistakes we see in both commercial and domestic HVAC systems:

Heat set wrong: The most basic of mistakes – your thermostat is set too low or too high. Your thermostat is critical for regulating the temperature within a space, over time, so if it’s not set correctly you could be heating an empty building and wasting energy, or leaving your tenants shivering.

Sensor not working properly: If your thermostat sensor is broken, isn’t performing properly or is miscalibrated, this means your HVAC systems could be running at the wrong times. In the worst-case scenario, your sensor would be reading the room temperatures as lower than they are, and running hot air through a building that didn’t need it, costing you a small fortune.

Timer not working properly: Again, since HVAC systems often work on a schedule, ensuring your timer is working and set correctly is important. This is what allows you to control how much energy you use by running the heating or cooling at optimum times, and not running it when not needed. If your timer isn’t set properly, you could be spending money on running it when you don’t need to.

The thermostat doesn’t work: Finally, your thermostat just flat out doesn’t work at all. It either isn’t connected properly, or it sends the wrong temperatures to the main system, which can lead to you using gas and electricity at the wrong times, or even 24/7, which will end in a very, very expensive bill.

And these are just a few of the more common set-up mistakes we see when we inspect HVAC systems. They might all seem small, but they can add up to a lot of money. When you’re running a block of flats and spending £10-15K a month on gas and electricity, you want to be sure you’re reducing that as much as possible.

With the right settings and regular maintenance, you can save around 10%, sometimes even 30-40% depending on the age and condition of your equipment, on your energy bills. That’s roughly between £1,500 and £6,000 a month in savings, all thanks to regular maintenance and settings checks! So if you don’t already have an inspection and maintenance plan in place for your HVAC systems, now’s the time to get set up!

Other Money-Saving Tips

Of course, with energy prices so high at the moment everyone is looking for ways to save money in any way possible. So as well as making sure your HVAC systems have been set up correctly, here are a few things you can do to reduce your bills for your heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems either at home or in a commercial property:

• Cleaning: Regularly cleaning your vents and replacing filters when they get dirty keeps your systems running efficiently and saves you money.
• Maintenance: Make sure you are regularly maintaining your HVAC units, to the manufacturer’s schedule as a minimum.
• Clear Vents: Ensure your HVAC vents are clear and not blocked so the system can easily draw air in or pump it out.
• Check For Draughts: Draughts andair leaks in windows or doors can cause warm or cool air to be wasted, adding up to a lot of energy loss.
• Window Dressings: Using blinds and curtains effectively during the summer can keep the heat out and reduce the need for air conditioning,

We know times are tough at the moment, but we hope that our tips can help you save some money as energy prices continue to soar. And if you would like one of our expert team to inspect your systems and advise on any changes you could make to save you money, just get in touch with the team today.

Air conditioning systems aren’t just machines. They are actually more like the human body. Each unit has its own set of systems, all dependant on one another and carefully in balance, and all need taking care of. If you avoid the dentist for years, eventually you’ll get a cavity and have to go for a long and expensive procedure – the same goes for your air conditioning! And if you’ve got air conditioning on a commercial level, then taking care of it is even more of a priority. So, here are a few facts about air conditioning maintenance, and why it should become a habit rather than an afterthought.

Being A Clean Freak Is Good!

A clean air conditioning system is a happy air conditioning system, and just like your tumble drier at home, it needs a clean out every now and then. But it’s about more than just keeping the mechanisms looking good. Commercial air conditioning systems cycle and clean a lot of air every day for your building, and the dirt they catch tends to build up in filters and pipes. Systems that are dirty are not as energy efficient as clean ones, resulting in a significant reduction in performance and climbing running costs. Not only will it cost you more money to run, but the dirt build up will also increase the stress on the mechanical parts in the system, making them work harder than they should and reducing their lifetime. To top all that off, not cleaning your system can risk a decline in air quality when ventilated and throw off the temperature regulations, resulting in wildly varying air temperatures. In short, if you want your air conditioner to run at its best and not need replacement parts as often, keep it clean!

Being Reactive Costs You Much More 

Despite assurances to the contrary, a lot of companies still operate in reactive mode when things go wrong with their air conditioning. This means that they only bother to maintain it when something goes drastically wrong, rather than scheduling regular cleanings and maintenance checks. The downside to being reactive is that a repair on a big failure, or just a full deep clean, can cost you far more than regularly scheduled check-ups. Not only does it cost you more in running costs (see the point above) but your system failing could result in a huge bill for a replacement. By scheduling regular air conditioning maintenance, you can catch and replace failing parts in a staggered way, before they cause problems, and prolong the life of your components.

How To Tell If Your Air Conditioning Needs A Tune Up

There are a few main warning signs to help you figure out when your air conditioning units need a little TLC.

Age: You’re not the only one who worries about getting older! We suggest replacing your unit every 15 years, as this is the average age of failure. So if you air conditioning system is getting to that age, make sure you are looking out for signs of failure, and planning a replacement strategy.

Rising Energy Bills: This is an easy way to test if your air conditioning system is starting to break down. Take this month’s energy bills, and compare them to last month. Then do the same with this year and last year. If you see a marked increase in the more recent bills, then there is something wrong.

Leaking Water: Finding puddles of water where they shouldn’t be isn’t always a sign of a leak in your roof. Sometimes it can point to a leaky air conditioning unit. This leaking is usually caused by a liquid backup, or the overflow of excess condensation. Either way, your first call should be to your air conditioning professional to get it fixed and prevent further problems.

Unpredictable Temperatures: If you’ve set your AC to 20 but you’re still sweating, odds are there is something wrong with your unit. This could be something as simple as a faulty thermostat, or it could just be a worn out system that’s struggling to cool the air as much as it should. So, if everyone is hot and bothered, get your units checked.

Strange Noises: Are strange noises ever a good sign? Well, they definitely aren’t good when it comes to your air conditioning! If you are hearing whistling noises that sounds like a ghoul is stuck in your pipes, creaking, clunking or any other kind of strange noise, this could be a sign of a bigger problem with your unit, and it definitely needs a check-up.

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we work with companies of all shapes and sizes to instal and maintain air conditioning systems in their commercial properties. So, if you haven’t checked on your air conditioning unit in months, or just think yours needs a tune up, why not give us a call and arrange your free consultation? We can show you the best way to care for your air conditioner so that it becomes a long-term partner, and not just a nightmare fling.

In the past we’ve talked a lot about the environmental impact of buildings, particularly when it comes to heating them and supplying them with water. And we’ve also mentioned the benefits of heat pumps as an alternative to traditional gas boiler systems in terms of both energy and cost. But if you want to be really green (and almost eliminate your energy bill), then you can combine two powerhouses of green energy – heat pumps and solar panels.

How Do Solar Panels Work?

Solar panels are by no means a new invention. But they are something that’s flown under the radar for many years, largely because the technology was still too expensive to be commercially viable. However, with a lot of development in the last decade and funding schemes from local governments, solar panels are now an affordable solution for businesses and homeowners alike.

So, how do they work? Solar panels essentially absorb the energy from the sun and convert it into energy. That’s the simple version. The more complex version is that on a subatomic level the panels allow photons (or particles of light) to knock electrons free from their atoms, generating a flow of electricity. This is because each solar panel is made up of lots of small panels, also known as photovoltaic cells. Each of these cells takes in sunshine and UV energy, and turns it into electricity.

Solar panels are made by attaching a lot of these individual photovoltaic cells together and sandwiching them between two layers of semi-conducting material, usually silicon. This protects the cells and the people around them, and allows the cells to work together in generating a substantial electrical current.

These panels are attached to the roof of your building, where they get the most exposure to sunlight. A qualified installer can then wire them directly into your electrics or attach batteries, so that the energy they generate can be used to power the building or be stored in battery cells for a later date. It’s a little more of an upfront expense, but it’s the ultimately renewable, green energy source.

So How Do Solar Panels Power Heat Pumps?

So in this blog we’ve talked a bit about heat pumps work when compared to a traditional gas boiler. You can read in more detail there, but in essence they work by absorbing thermal energy from a low-grade source, transferring it to a heating element with a higher temperature and dispersing it through the system. The source for the thermal energy can be air, ground or water, depending on your premises and limitations.

Heat pumps are generally much more energy efficient (around 400%) and much more environmentally friendly, since they produce far less CO2 and require less energy to run. So, switching to a heat pump is already a great step toward reducing your carbon footprint. But if you want to really make cost and environmental savings, you can take it one step further and connect solar panels to your heat pump. This means that any electricity the heat pump requires to operate will be powered by the greenest, most renewable form of energy – sunlight. Which is better for the environment and better for you.

On average, a heat pump (of any variety) will use around 25% of its rated heat output in electricity. So for a 20kW heat pump, up to 5 kW of electricity is needed. If you can provide that electricity through solar power, rather than buying from the grid, you can save yourself a huge amount of money. And if you invest in battery storage for your solar panels as well, you can retain any extra energy you generate for use during production dips (aka winter in the UK!).

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance, we’re really passionate about the environment. We’re always looking for ways to reduce the environmental impact of heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and passing that knowledge on to our clients. By advising our clients to combine solar panels and heat pump solutions, we hope to help you save money, and do your bit to save the planet. If you’d like to find out more, just get in touch with the team today to book your free consultation.

If you’ve been watching the news recently (or at any point over the last few years), you probably know that the environment is one of the most important issues in the world right now. And the message being sent is very clear – everyone, no matter how big or small, rich or poor, can do something to improve the state of our environment. That includes your business! One of the big (yet simple) changes your business could make is to cut your carbon footprint, and businesses have been encouraged to do this as part of their sustainability efforts for some time. But how do you work out what your carbon footprint is in the first place, and what can you do to reduce it?

What Is A Carbon Footprint?

Put simply, a carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases (GHG) our business produces, both directly and indirectly, in order to build and operate a product or service, as well as running the business itself. Greenhouses gasses are the main aspect we look at when working out our carbon footprint, and these are the gasses that make the planet warmer by trapping heat in the atmosphere. They include:

• Carbon dioxide (CO2), which occurs when fossil fuels are burned, and accounts for the majority of emissions in the developed world.
• Methane of CH4, which mainly comes from agriculture, livestock and landfill.
• Nitrous Oxide (N2O), which is about 300 times more potent than CO2, but is produced in much smaller quantities by farming and refrigerants.
• Fluorinated gasses like hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs, which are used in air conditioning.
• Sulfur hexafluoride of SF4, which is very potent an often found in electrical engineering, production or insulation.

While these are the main offenders, there are all sorts of other greenhouse gasses your business may be producing, and these all need to be taken into account when working out your carbon footprint. And it might surprise you to know that the main culprit of CO2 production within businesses is often the buildings themselves, and the energy it takes to heat, cool and ventilate them.

Where Do I Start?

So, where you do start in working that out? Well, your carbon footprint needs to capture greenhouse gas emissions output form your business on an annual basis, so your first step will be collecting data from within your business. This will come from a few different places, including travel, logistics and operations. The essential information you will need to gather includes energy, gas and water details, along with business travel data.

This information will typically fall within 3 ‘scopes’ for the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which are:

Scope 1: GHG emissions from fuel combustion, vehicles and fugitive emissions (like refrigerants or nitrogen fertilisation) that are directly within the organisation’s direct control.

Scope 2: GHG emissions related to the production of electricity, heat and team purchased by the organisation.

Scope 3: Other indirect GHG emissions that weren’t included in Scope 2, but are related to the businesses wider activities and come from GHG sources owned or controlled by others. This includes emissions related indirectly to the use of consumer goods associated with transport and waste treatment, along with the travel of employees and visitors and things like upstream raw material production.

It can take a lot of time to collect all the data you need from those sources, and many businesses need some support in doing this, particularly when you need to get data from third-party sources. But don’t worry – we can help you with all of that!

What Do I Do With The Data?

Next up you will need to select the appropriate emission factor for each emission source in order to calculate the tonnes of CO₂ emitted (tCO₂e). Make sure the data you use is for a consistent time period to get the best results here – so if you’re looking for annual numbers, all of your data should come from within the same time periods. This will give you consistent results and make it much easier to work out what you can cut back from where.

Once you have your data laid out, you will need to select a methodology for your footprint that is most relevant for your organisation and your ambitions. You can choose to conduct a basic footprint using a carbon calculator spreadsheet, or you can adopt an internationally recognised standard to work towards. The choice you make will depend on the data you’ve collected, as well as what you plan to do with the findings.

One of the ways you can do this is by looking at the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in your buildings. If you are still running gas boilers, or old, inefficient air conditioning, these could be contributing significantly to your carbon footprint. Luckily, they are easily dealt with. By installing heat pumps as an alternative, you can cut your carbon emissions by up to 90% – or more if you power them with solar panels. If you would like to know more, just get in touch with the team today for your free site review.