An energy audit was performed to compare the site’s energy use against a national database of buildings of the same type, with similar hours of operation.

The audit highlighted a number of energy saving projects (Ecofit projects) that could reduce the Bowls Club’s energy consumption by 33,753 kWh per annum, a reduction of 7% on their bills and 13% of their carbon footprint. The key Ecofit project highlighted was a large scale change in the lighting technology used.

Given the nature of the activity at the site, the use of motion-detecting sensors to automatically turn light off and on was ruled out as too disruptive. This left the option of changing old lamps and light fitting to modern energy efficient designs and instigating behavioural change projects to ensure that lights and equipment are turned off when not in use.

The majority of T12 lights found on site were 8 feet in length. These fittings will require replacing as 8 feet tubes are no longer available. The newer fittings also have a longer life and produce better light levels. T12 tubes last for about 9,000 hours and T8 tubes last for about 20,000 hours. The new T5 tubes have an expected life of 24,000 hours. T5 tubes only lose 5% of light output over the increased lamp life compared to 20% loss for T12 or 10% loss of T8 tubes.

With the Energy Audit carried out at the before the energy procurement it was possible to bundle in the cost of the lighting upgrades into the unit cost of the energy.