Active launches Aberdeen's only A rated building

Our corporate headquarters, the Active Renewable Energy Centre, is one of the most energy efficient buildings in the UK and the only A rated building in Aberdeen.

The building has been designed from the ground up to be extremely efficient making the most of natural light and ventilation wherever possible. The small amount of energy which the building needs to operate as a comfortable working environment is generated on-site from a combination of micro-renewable technologies including:

• air and ground source heat pumps
• thermal solar panels
• PV solar panels
• road energy system
• rain water harvesting
• wind turbine - the final stage of the development, the wind turbine will be integrated into the site within the coming months.

The Active Renewable Energy Centre versus a standard commercial building

The typical energy consumption for a commercial building of this style is approximately 190,000kW/hrs with an estimated fuel cost of £28,500 per annum. The Active Renewable Energy Centre is expected to significantly reduce these figures, and even when the wind turbine is excluded from calculations the building will consume an estimated 37,410kW/hrs of energy per annum. Based on the current tarrif of 15p/kWhr the anticipated fuel cost is just £5,611.50 per annum (conservative estimates). The introduction of the wind turbine should displace the consumed electrical energy of the building and provide a carbon neutral facility.

One of the main stumbling points when it comes to energy efficiency is proving to people that the technology delivers real cost savings as well as reducing CO2 emissions.  To tackle this Active has installed an advanced monitoring and control system which will measure the energy generated and consumed by the building. We plan to publish this data over time and if you are interested in finding out more please contact us directly.

Award winning building

Active was awarded a commendation in the Scottish heats of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) awards 2010, in the Sustainability category, for the AREC. The AREC also won a Special Technical Award at Aberdeen City Council's annual EcoCity Awards 2010. The award was created to acknowledge the importance of Active's sustainable headquarters.

The Active Renewable Energy Centre has raised the bar when it comes to practical, commercially viable, green developments and if you would like to see for yourself how it all comes together contact us at  info@active24-7.com