York Hospital – Award Finalists for Retrofit Carbon Reduction Project
York Hospital have recently been listed as finalists of a building industry award for the Retrofit Project of the Year after completion of their refurbished energy centre last year. The £4.6 million project is set to drastically reduce the York Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust’s carbon footprint while saving them around £60,000 a month.
About the Retrofit Project
York Hospital is part of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, a trust that provides a complete range of hospital and specialist healthcare services to around 800,000 people living in and around Yorkshire. The trust is committed to reducing its carbon footprint through the work of its Sustainable Development Group and the refurbished energy centre, completed in March 2015, goes a long way in helping them to reduce the trust’s carbon footprint.
At the heart of the newly refurbished energy center is a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) unit. The CHP uses a gas-fuelled engine to produce electricity while excess heat from the exhaust gases is reused to help heat the hospital. This effective way of producing electricity and heat reduces carbon emissions by a vast amount.
As part of the retrofit energy centre the trust has also implemented upgraded, energy-efficient light fittings.
The Outcome
It is projected, thanks to the newly refurbished energy centre and the CHP unit, that the hospital’s carbon emissions will be reduced by 22% – up to 2,996 tonnes a year.
On top of this the £4.6 million project is guaranteed to save the hospital £848,000 a year, a 26 percent reduction on current energy bills and operating costs, providing an overall saving of £12.7 million over the life of the project.
Brian Golding, director of estates and facilities at York Hospital Trust, states that they have already seen a significant reduction in their energy consumption and that by reducing energy costs, they can reinvest into frontline services and patient care.
It is clear that the York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is committed to addressing its energy consumption and reducing its carbon impact across all of its hospitals.
We wish them all the best in achieving the award for Retrofit Project of the Year.
