RiversMeet is a community owned leisure centre in the heart of North Dorset, whose aim is to help meet the needs of Gillingham and the wider area.
To do this we need to ensure our business is sustainable both financially and environmentally to ensure the future of the site for future generations. Wasting energy and natural resources has both a financial
and environmental cost. We are now starting to realise the impact and drain on natural resources. Demand for natural resources and land for expansion is stripping the earth and increasing harmful pollutants in the atmosphere.
There is also huge impact on nature, with the destruction of habitats, illegal animal trade, and the general effects of pollution.As a business, every positive change we make, from turning off a light or implementing new energy saving technologies, helps reduce our energy consumption. As RiversMeet is a not-for-profit company, we can also invest money saved on energy back into new projects.
Working with a grant from Low Carbon Dorset, RiversMeet has implemented energy saving technologies that will save an estimated 195 tonnes of CO2 and £48,000 per year. Many of these changes can also be made in commercial and domestic environments – you can help improve the efficiency of your home/workplace too.
Our largest project is the patented air source heat pumps, supplied and installed by ESG. Heat Pumps work by using the ambient temperature in the air and compressing it to higher temperatures using a small amount of electricity. They heat the building and water around the building, but more importantly heating the air and water for the swimming pool, which costs approximately £96,000 per year and accounts for the majority of our energy expenditure.
ESG claim their heat pumps produce 82% less carbon than gas boiler heating. Other smaller changes we have made include changing many of our lights to LED fittings that use less than 50% of the previous electricity. Installing aerated showerheads from EcoCamel use less than 50% of the water that a typical showerhead uses.
From a business sense all of these changes mean cost-savings, and for Roversmeet more funds to re-invest into the business. There’s no solid reason why every single business wouldn’t be looking at their own energy consumption to see what financial savings can be made, and what environmental imapct can be reduced.
Low Carbon Dorset offer FREE technical support and grant funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.Funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Low Carbon Dorset helps businesses, community, and public sector organisations in Dorset
