Pipex px SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS

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1 Pipex px SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS Pipex px Carbon Abatement Systems Met Office Headquarters Building, Exeter, Devon, UK The Project: Met Office, a Trading Fund within the Ministry of Defence, is the UK s national weather forecaster and one of the world s leading weather and climate service providers advising UK and international governments on climate change. See Pipex px is an award winning expert in sustainable manufacturing & construction projects, delivering bespoke design & build energy efficient technologies & innovations to buildings. See In 2009 Pipex px were commissioned by Met Office to deliver the design & build of a Pipex px Carbon Abatement Systems, in order to significantly reduce the running costs & carbon emissions associated with Met Office supercomputer operations at their data centre in Exeter. The project was part-funded by The Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) grants. This document is Pipex px V1. Sarah Gill August 2012

2 Background: The UK government has enshrined in law the objective of reducing national greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, against a baseline of emissions in 1990 (excl aviation). A range of regional initiatives are underway, for example in London, where the Mayor has committed to a 60% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2025, to put London at the forefront of global low carbon green economy. Large commercial & public buildings, such as hospitals or data centres, often have very high carbon footprints due to their significant energy consumption operating enterprise servers, ICT equipment & building cooling equipment. Met Office, as a government body and a data centre owner/operator, had a requirement to lower carbon emissions in accordance with UK government policy and EU Codes of Conduct for Data Centres Energy Efficiency. Pipex px Carbon Abatement systems were selected by Met Office as the innovative solution to reduce both cost & CO2 emissions, while further contributing towards BREEAM excellence rating. Pipex px Expertise: Pipex px conducted this project in compliance with our ISO9001 quality, ISO14001 environmental & OH SAS18001 health & safety management systems, with a dedicated Pipex Project Manager handling ever step of the project from conception to completion. Pipex px Innovation: The Pipex system was manufactured to ensure 100% recycling of all waste, for zero landfill. Pipex can assist with both planning and funding matters for Pipex Carbon Abateman Systems.

3 Met Office Project Requirement: Above: IBM Supercomputers housed at Met Office data centre, used for weather forecasting operations, and requiring water cooling Above: The pumps & heat exchangers providing cooling water to the IBM super-computers, consuming significant volumes of electricity

4 Pipex px Free Cooling Systems: From the outset Pipex px & GPJ Consulting Engineers worked in close co-operation with the Met Office to devise and deliver a Pipex px Carbon Abatement System solution bespoke to Met Office needs in the operation of their IBM super-computers. Pipex px Carbon Abatement Systems involve a closed loop pumped circuit of insulated HDPE pipe work which carries chilled cooling water into the data centre halls & via specially designed flexible hoses into the super-computers themselves. The free cooling of this water occurs on the outside of the building by roof-mounted evaporative coolers (chillers) that are installed by Pipex px to harness the natural cooling available from the outside environment; this negates the conventional energy consuming methods of chilling cooling water and thus saves money and carbon emissions. The general rule to achieve this is that the natural outside weather conditions must be cold enough to exchange the heat generated and as such the process is dependent upon the prevailing climatic conditions at the time. In the case of the Met Office and their IBM super-computers, the water temperature required for cooling is around 20 degrees ºC. As such it is possible to utilise free cooling if the outside temperature is at or below 16 degrees C ; so for the majority of the year the Met Office can secure free cooling! Above: Pipex px placing the free cooling chiller units onto the Met Office roof

5 Above: Pipex px Carbon Abatement System installed on Met Office roof Above: BMS screens provide live updates to Met Office for a snapshot of the percentage of free cooling achieved at any given time, plus the cumulative energy savings to date

6 The Project & CO2 Saving Results: Initial performance figures when the system was switched on in April 2010 far surpassed expectations, returning a cumulative saving in energy of 392,000 kwh over a period of 17 days. With further fine tuning the Pipex px Carbon Abatement System will build towards optimum running profile estimated to provide an energy saving of 6,500,000 kwh over the first 12 months of operation. This equates to an approximate simple payback period of 3½ years saving on average 562 per day at current market electricity rates. Phase 2 of the Met Office programme involves increasing the computer cooling requirement to approximately 1300 kw but also increases the computer cooling water flow and return temperatures to 20/26.2 Deg ºC. This now offers greater scope for the evaporative chillers to operate at even higher ambient temperatures. A recalculation predicts the following: The total predicted free cooling will now be 8,000,000kWh per annum. The annual saving will be 268, with a payback of 2.7 years Tonnes of CO2 will be saved in the first year s running with an average energy claw-back of 734 per day, contributing to Met Office environmental and lean operational aims. Pipex px Engineering Construction Excellence: In order to help facilitate your companies transfer to Carbon Abatement Technology, Pipex px offer a free NO obligation assessment to ascertain your sites suitability. If you would like us to come and survey your site please contact: Tom Smith (CEO) Pipex px Direct Line: