Somerset College
Emergent Energy has been working with one of South Africa’s leading independent schools, Somerset College, on a variety of interventions aimed at reducing their energy consumption.
Foremost amongst these has been the design and installation of solar heat pump systems to heat water for two of the schools boarding houses. The systems, each with a 6000 litre capacity, will provide domestic hot water using an innovative and highly efficient technology which combines a standard heat pump system, with an external roof mounted evaporator. The evaporator allows the system to absorb both radiant energy from the sun, and ambient heat, allowing for a coefficient of performance higher than 4 in good conditions. These systems received rebates from Eskom under the Demand Side Management (DSM) program.
Emergent Energy has also carried out a variety of other interventions for Somerset College, including:
- An energy audit of the schools energy use practises.
- Project management of the installation of a 2kW PV system on the sports pavilion roof.
- Design and installation of a 500 litre solar heat pump system for the sports pavilion.
- Energy modelling of the schools chapel, which is very hot in summer, and cold in winter.
- Production of a report on LED lighting and its use at the school.