The Sevillian Center Reinforces its Commitment to the Environment
The Seville Aquarium has taken a big step towards sustainability and environmental care with the energy improvement of its facilities. In 2018, it was the first aquarium to certify its carbon footprint and since then has worked on two fronts: improving the Life Support System and energy efficiency.
The center's manager, Rocío Alcázar, states that “all the actions we have implemented are framed within the objectives set by the company to contribute to environmental care, as well as to a more responsible consumption of natural resources”.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
A digitalization plan and implementation of a control system for all the aquarium's facilities has been designed, which will allow for more efficient and sustainable management.
With all the measures included in this plan, the aim is to reduce current consumption by 30%.
Some of the actions planned and/or already implemented under this plan include:
Implementation of performance improvements in the temperature control system to maintain the necessary temperature conditions in the aquariums.
Installation and commissioning of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software system for monitoring and controlling the life support systems, as well as the building’s climate control.
Replacement of halogen luminaires with LED lighting.
INSTALLATION OF PHOTOVOLTAIC PLANT
The commitment to renewable energies has become a priority for many companies and individuals, who are increasingly aware that we must make use of natural resources that are inexhaustible. For the aquarium, solar energy is a great ally.
In a privileged location, with 3,526 hours of light per year, Seville is an optimal city to invest in the implementation of photovoltaic panels that allow the use of excess energy produced by the sun, thus contributing to a more sustainable world and to fight against climate change.
The new photovoltaic installation, installed on the aquarium's roof, is based on a study carried out by the company Linkener. It has a total of 469 panels and already produces 27% of the energy consumed annually by the building, with production peaks close to 50% of the aquarium's energy needs during the central hours of the day.
*The photovoltaic installation carried out at the Aquarium of Seville has received support from the European Union through the NextGenerationEU Fund. Incentive program linked to self-consumption and energy storage, using renewable energy sources, as well as the implementation of renewable thermal systems.
IMPROVEMENT OF THE LSS SYSTEM
The Sevillian center has made a significant investment in improving the LSS (Life Support System), the life support systems for the different tanks. This action allows for the effective reuse of water from the tanks where the animals live, doubling the useful life of this natural resource through backwashing, thanks to high-tech systems that ensure water quality is not affected in this reuse process.
This improvement also leads to savings in energy consumption, as the process of washing the reused water does not require a temperature change, since the output and input temperatures are the same.