As well as being The Queen's official London residence, Buckingham Palace is the venue for numerous receptions, audiences and banquets each year and houses approximately 600 full and part-time staff. It therefore needs to provide heat and power for a huge number of people and purposes.

Ron Harper, Deputy Property Manager at Buckingham Palace, is responsible for ensuring that energy is supplied efficiently and effectively. Property Section staff are committed to saving energy wherever possible:

"Every five years, issues relating to the efficient running of the household's heat and power supplies are reviewed by the team here at Buckingham Palace, meaning that energy efficiency within the Royal Household is constantly under a process of scrutiny and improvement."

Heat resonance imaging
A number of energy saving devices have been installed in recent years. In 1995 heat resonance imaging was used on the Palace to pinpoint the major areas from which heat was being lost from so that heat and therefore energy loss could be reduced.

It was found that most heat was being lost through windows and, in particular, through skylights. As a result, double glazing has already been fitted to a number of skylights and is planned for the skylights above the Picture Gallery in the near future.

Monthly meetings are held with English Heritage to ensure that any changes which are made do not affect the integrity of the building as a heritage site.

Display Energy Certificates
In 2008 Buckingham Palace Property Section commissioned a Display Energy Certificates survey to rate its energy rating consumption over a 12 month period. The result showed that Buckingham Palace has a rating of ‘C’, which is excellent for a historic building (A being very efficient and G being the least efficient).

The purpose of the Display Energy Certificates is to raise public awareness of energy use and to inform visitors to public buildings about the energy use of a building. The regulations came into force in October 2008 but because Buckingham Palace is not a public building it was therefore not obliged to carry out the survey.

The ‘C’ rating took into account a number of facts. The systems that have been installed in the past 10-15 years, such as combined heat and power units and flat plate heat exchangers, have reduced the consumption of energy. Many areas of the Palace are heated to relatively low levels and therefore do not waste energy.

However, because Buckingham Palace is a Grade I listed building, there are limits to what further improvements that can be made, such as the installation of double glazing. The Palace therefore continues with measures such as fitting thermostatic controls to heating and automatic sensors to lighting, so that further reductions of energy consumption can be reached. In due course, boilers will be replaced with more efficient models, but only when those installed reach the end of their useful life.

Building Management System
A computerised Building Management System has been installed to control heating and power systems around the Palace, enabling these systems to be reviewed and adjusted so that they are running as efficiently as possible.

For example, if the outside temperature rises, even by a few degrees centigrade, the radiators inside the building can be cooled to maintain a constant room temperature and to ensure that rooms are never overheating or wasting energy.

Fans in the Palace kitchens, which once ran on full power all day, can now be used at half or two thirds of their capability, depending on the activity in the kitchens. Between meal preparations the fans will run on a minimum capacity, whilst during preparations for a State Banquet they run on full power.

Combined Heat and Power Units
In addition to this, two Combined Heat and Power units, or CHPs, are currently in use in Buckingham Palace. Ron Harper explains how these use energy more efficiently:

"These are engines which run on the same principle as a car engine to produce power, except whereas a car engine loses heat through its radiator, heat from the CHPs is instead collected and harnessed for use elsewhere. The CHPs currently heat the hot water for the entire Palace."

Lighting
There is a vast amount of lighting within the Palace, from standard office lighting to chandeliers in the State Rooms. Combined, these have the potential to use a great deal of energy.

For this reason, Property Section staff have been phasing in more energy-efficient forms of lighting. Light Emitting Diode, or LED technology alongside high frequency lamps enable lighting within the Palace to run as efficiently as possible, using far less power than standard lightbulbs.