New Energy Centre Opens at Bridlington Hospital

Thursday 24 March marked NHS Sustainability Day, the perfect occasion to celebrate the official opening of the refurbished Energy Centre at Bridlington Hospital.

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is committed to reducing its carbon footprint through the work of its Sustainable Development Group. The refurbishment of the Bridlington Hospital energy centre will help make a large step towards reducing the Trust’s carbon footprint.

The £1.24M project will achieve guaranteed savings of £104,375 in the first year - a 30 per cent reduction on current energy bills and operating costs.

The upgrade at Bridlington includes improved boiler control and the installation of a combined heat and power (CHP) unit which will make a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions as well as significant savings to the hospital’s energy costs.

The unit will supply all of the hospital’s night time electricity, over 50% of its day time electricity and make a substantial contribution to the heating and hot water supply.

The energy centre was officially opened by the Trust’s Finance Director Andrew Bertram. Andrew was be joined by Brian Golding, Director of Estates and Facilities, members of the Bridlington Hospital Estates team and representatives from Vital Energi who were the appointed supplier for the project.

Andrew Bertram said: “On behalf of the Trust I am delighted to officially open the refurbished energy centre at Bridlington Hospital.  By reducing energy costs, we can reinvest savings into front line services and patient care.”

Brian Golding, Director of Estates and Facilities, continued: “As an organisation, we are very much aware of sustainability issues and are committed to reducing our environmental impact. Our sustainable development group ensures that we are consistently addressing energy consumption across all our hospitals, looking at everything from light bulbs through to the design of new buildings.

“In 2014 we completed a major energy saving and carbon reduction project at York Hospital using a Carbon and Energy Fund Framework with Vital Energi. Since the completion of this project, we have seen a huge reduction in our energy consumption.

“We have now extended the successful strategy to Bridlington Hospital and a similar project at Scarborough Hospital is scheduled for completion in the summer.

The principal component of the new installation is a new combined heat and power unit. Carbon emissions are projected to be cut by 676 tonnes a year, a reduction of around 30 per cent.

CHP is a great technology that uses a gas fuelled engine to produce electricity, while heat is collected from the hot exhaust gases of the engine to help heat the hospital. This is a far more efficient way of producing electricity than normal power stations and reduces carbon dioxide emissions.

Mike Hooper, Director Energy and Asset Management for Vital Energi explained, “We are delighted to continue our relationship with York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as they expand their demand reduction and energy generation strategy to their other hospitals to achieve significant carbon and financial savings as a Trust.

“We have worked in partnership to deliver guaranteed savings of £2.26 million in energy savings and over 10,000 tonnes of CO2 over the course of the 15-year contract at Bridlington, making it another great example of the savings which can be typically made in the healthcare sector.”

30 March 2016