1. Powering hospitals with community wind turbines.
Use of wind turbines in hospitals.
A new study from climate charity Possible has revealed that powering hospitals with wind turbines owned by their local communities could save the NHS millions. By diverting profits, otherwise destined for shareholders, into local projects to reduce fuel poverty, NHS Trusts avoid treatment costs for cold related illnesses. The approach would also help the NHS achieve its world-first 2040 ‘net-zero’ carbon climate target. If NHS Trusts bought electricity from new community owned onshore wind projects, each year’s spend on electricity could save Trusts £2.6m each in healthcare costs over the following decade. This means that for every pound spent on community wind electricity, NHS Trusts could also ‘buy’, for no additional cost, 30p of avoided future healthcare costs.
2. Wind turbines in hospitals.
Sustainability investments at Jacobi Medical Center help to meet system- and citywide emissions reduction goals
Jacobi Medical Center, Bronx, N.Y., kicked off its two-phase $11 million energy-efficiency project. They have installed a combined wind- and solar-powered street lamps that operate completely separate from a traditional energy grid.
The 22 outdoor lights replace 36 less efficient street lamps to illuminate the campus’ sidewalks and roadways. Each light has a wind turbine and photovoltaic solar panels, allowing them to collect energy on both windy and clear, sunny days.
https://www.hfmmagazine.com/articles/3687-hospital-captures-wind-solar-power
3. Use of wind turbines in hospitals. Community Hospital Rebuilds Better with Wind Energy
In 2007, a tornado destroyed the small community of Greensburg, Kansas and its hospital. Kiowa County Memorial Hospital administrator Mary Sweet says the tornado also caused a major shift in how the community makes decisions.
As plans to rebuild began the hospital administrators met and discussed what they wanted from the new building. She says they learned not to look just at the initial cost but at the environmental impact, long-term savings, and sustainable resources. One goal was to reach the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification.
“As we started moving forward, we set our goal high. We set it for LEED Platinum, knowing that no other critical access hospitals in the United States had ever achieved that. So, we set that as our goal, knowing that we might not achieve that, but in the end we did. So, for us, it was because it was a community movement to build green. It also became a personal goal of ours to match the other buildings in the community.”
Sweet says every dollar makes a difference in the hospital. Located in one of the prime wind areas in the U.S. administrators decided to use the resource available as a benefit by installing a wind turbine.
“We looked at the return for the investment. The original investment’s fairly high, but the turnaround, we’re looking at eight to 12 years payback with a life of the utility at 25 years. We put the first wind generator up. We were so happy with the output, we actually put a second wind generator in when some funds became available.”
https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2012/1974.html
4. Partnership to generate on-site wind power for UK hospital
A UK hospital has installed an on-site wind turbine under an interesting business model.
The turbine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Norfolk (pictured) is expected to generate 1.2 GWh per year, and to save around 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
It was provided by renewable power firm Ecotricity under its Business Partnership model. According to Ecotricity’s website, the company generally also operates and maintains its on-site wind turbines, providing power to the customer at a flat rate.
5. Hospitals to be encouraged to install wind turbines
Hospitals are to be encouraged to install wind turbines and solar panels to cut the NHS’s energy costs and help save the planet.
Ministers are to establish a £50m fund to improve energy efficiency across the NHS which emits one million tons of carbon a year. In fact it is among the largest and most resource hungry organizations in the world.
Hospitals will be able to apply to the fund for their own energy projects, which will save costs and reduce emissions. The money saved – a potential £12.5m a year – will be re-invested in patient care.
