Hospital aims for green bill of health

A new £17m hospital in the UK claims it will be one of the greenest in the country by using advanced renewable and energy efficient technologies. The 24-bed Malvern Community […]

A new £17m hospital in the UK claims it will be one of the greenest in the country by using advanced renewable and energy efficient technologies.

The 24-bed Malvern Community Hospital, due to open later this year, will utilise renewable geothermal energy for heating, cooling and hot water, using ground source heat pumps to harness solar energy absorbed by the earth. It will also generate low carbon electricity using highly efficient combined heat and power that will meet a significant proportion of the building’s needs.

Both technologies will work in tandem to improve overall energy efficiency and are being supplied by Greater-Manchester-based ENER-G.

By generating its own green power, the hospital is projected to save £8,700 a year on its energy bills, and reduce its carbon emissions by 15 tonnes per annum, equating to the environmental benefit of planting 1,500 trees.

The new hospital will include in-patient and out-patient facilities, x-ray and ultrasound, day rehabilitation and therapies, palliative care and visiting mammography and MRI scans. A minor injuries unit will transfer from the existing hospital, offering increased capacity.

The ground source system involves 25 boreholes and two heat pumps with combined capacities of 125kW for both heating and cooling. The combined heat and power (CHP) system is a reciprocating gas engine rated at 33kW of electrical output that will generate 55kW of useful thermal output for the building and the ground loop for the heat pump.

The NHS is responsible for approximately 3% of England’s total carbon dioxide emissions and has an annual energy bill of over £500m.

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