As part of a dramatic overhaul to upgrade its facilities for its student and in keeping with Building Regulations Part L, Leicester College updates its old boiler systems with a new state of the art solar thermal system. The new solar thermal systems provides up to 70% of its annual hot water needs and cuts energy bills at its vocational training campus, which is better for the environment and financially cost effective.
The college, which is one of the largest in the country with 27,600 students and 1,600 staff, is one of the first in the UK to adopt evacuated tube solar thermal technology to service its hot water needs. Freeman’s Park Campus, which incorporates a vast range of specialist vocational facilities, including a industry standard kitchen, now features 300 Kingspan Solar Thermomax vacuum tubes, which will service its hot water needs all year round.
Specifically designed to operate in Northern Europe climates, the solar collectors use vacuum technology to deliver an unrivalled transfer of solar energy to heat. The vacuum tubes provide insulation, which protects the system from outside influences, such as cold, wet or windy weather ensuring top quality performance is consistently achieved. They also allow energy from the sun to be collected efficiently and effectively, so that solar-heated water can be delivered in record time.
“Before installing the solar tubes, we were using gas boilers that were energy guzzlers and costly to run. Switching to Thermomax solar tubes meant we could reduce our carbon footprint whilst simultaneously generating significant savings on our hot water bills.”
Robin Dalby at Leicester College
Project carried out by Kingspan Solar