UK Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings (CEREB)- Lessons Learned After 5 Years of Running

The Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings (CEREB) is a unique, teaching, research and demonstration resource for the built environment. It is located at London South Bank University (LSBU) and showcases different renewable and low carbon energy solutions for which performance data is captured for teaching and research. The technologies included are Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) for providing heating and cooling to the 8,500 m2 K2 building which is located below CEREB. The solar thermal collectors are used to provide the hot water demand of the K2 building, with back-up boilers to supplement the required heat on cloudy days. The centre itself has additional technologies including solar fibre optic lighting, solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels, solar thermal tubes (evacuated tubes), phase change materials, absorption chiller for cooling, and a weather station, which is crucial for understanding the performance of the various technologies at different times of the year and different weather conditions. This paper consists of two parts; the first part presents a brief description of CEREB and the K2 building including the concept behind the design, sustainability measures and key features followed by a description of the technologies used in the building and in the centre. The second part presents lessons learned from the design, construction and running the building over the last 5 years with results from the solar thermal panels and PV Panels.