Implementing Renewable Energy Technologies in NHS Dumfries and Galloway

92 Pages·2008·1.95 MB·English

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Energy Systems Research Unit

Sustainable Project:
Implementing Renewable Energy Technologies in NHS Dumfries and Galloway

By

Dirichi Nnaemeka Chukwu

A Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
MSc in Energy Systems and the Environment

December, 2007
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION
The copyright of this thesis belongs to the author under the terms of the United
Kingdom Copyright Acts as qualified by the University of Strathclyde Regulation
3.49. Due acknowledgement must always be made of the use of any material
contained in, or derived from this thesis.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am highly indebted to God almighty for his special grace, strength and protection
towards me.

My appreciation goes to all whom has contributed to the success of this master(cid:146)s
degree course.

I wish to thank my supervisor and course director Dr Paul Strachan for his unending
support, to Dr Andrew Grant for his patience and encouragement during my first
semester, and to all the staff and student of the sustainable engineering in the
University of Strathclyde for making my stay in Glasgow interesting.

Eva Milroy at the Graduates for Business programme, Scottish Enterprise Dumfries
and Galloway for giving me information, support and advice, Mr Ian Bryden for
providing this project and the necessary information on NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

And to my family, relatives, true friends and countless others who have lent their
support in diverse ways, I am grateful.

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DEDICATION
To my loving parents; Chief and Lolo Martins Onyemache Chukwu KSM, for all they
are to me.
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ABSTRACT
The objective of this work is to investigate the possibility of installing renewable
energy technologies within a typical hospital environment and demonstrate a method
whereby the hospital energy demand can be reduced. The study looks at the current
practice of renewable energy integration in hospitals with particular focus on the UK
Health Sector. A review of the framework set out by building regulations, British and
European standards and other environmental regulation was undertaken. These were
the guidelines of the methodology used in this study.

The thesis presents a case study on Annan hospital which is under NHS Dumfries and
Galloway Trust. The literature review covers the energy sources and usage, saving
potential and energy efficiency awareness in a hospital. It looks at the energy
efficiency strategies, taking into account the systems used to run a typical hospital
building. The building envelope and building services were considered with respect to
energy efficiency. As part of the methodology used in this study, an energy
management matrix was produced, followed by a simple energy audit to assess the
overall building energy performance and management status. The study focuses on
the energy demand reduction measures that should be applied in any hospital building
before looking at ways to offset the remaining energy demand.

Different options of renewable energy technologies such as wind turbine, solar
photovoltaic, biomass and ground source heat pump (GSHP) that can be applied in the
case study were analysed using energy model software called RETScreen. This study
recommends the use of ground source heat pumps as an alternative energy supply for
heating and domestic hot water in Annan hospital due to its noiseless and non-
combustion operation, less transportation involved and availability of land area. And
from an economic viewpoint, it has a positive Net Present Value.

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Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION...............................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT........................................................................................iii
DEDICATION.........................................................................................................iv
ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................v
Table of Contents.....................................................................................................vi
Table of Figures.....................................................................................................viii
Tables ......................................................................................................................ix
1 Introduction.......................................................................................................1
1.1 Project Aim................................................................................................4
1.2 Project Objective........................................................................................4
1.3 Report Description.....................................................................................4
2 Literature Review..............................................................................................6
2.1 Introduction...............................................................................................6
2.2 Energy Use and Savings Potential..............................................................7
2.3 Renewable Energy...................................................................................11
2.4 Renewable energy in hospitals.................................................................17
2.5 Related Cases of renewable energy technologies in UK hospitals.............21
3 Monitoring and Controlling Building Energy Performance.............................. 27
3.1 Building Energy Management System.....................................................27
3.2 Energy Audit ...........................................................................................28
3.3 Energy benchmarking..............................................................................29
3.4 Energy Management Matrix.....................................................................29
3.5 Economic Analysis Methods for Energy Projects.....................................32
4 Methodology...................................................................................................34
4.1 Energy Demand and Performance Assessment.........................................34
4.2 Implementing Energy Demand Reduction Measures................................36
4.3 Implementing renewable energy technology options for demand offset....37
4.3.1 Software Description: RETScreen........................................................37
5 The Case Study................................................................................................39
5.1 Introduction: Background of Annan Hospital health centre......................39
5.2 Objectives of the Case Study....................................................................40
5.3 Energy Demand and Performance Assessment of Annan Hospital............40
5.4 Energy Bench Marking for Annan Hospital..............................................50
5.5 Implementing Energy Demand Reduction Measures in Annan Hospital...53
5.6 Determining Energy Savings....................................................................55
5.7 Outcome of the RETScreen Renewable Energy Analysis.........................60
5.8 Result Summary.......................................................................................62
5.9 Financial Analysis....................................................................................66
5.10 Funding ...................................................................................................67
6 Environmental Concerns of Implementing Renewable Energy Technologies...69
6.1 Environmental Benefits............................................................................70
7 Conclusion and Recommendation....................................................................71
7.1 Conclusion...............................................................................................71
7.2 Recommendation.....................................................................................73
7.3 Further Work...........................................................................................73
References...............................................................................................................74
Appendix 1..............................................................................................................84
Appendix 2..............................................................................................................85
Appendix 3..............................................................................................................86

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Table of Figures
Figure 1: Energy use in hospitals (2).........................................................................11
Figure 2: Chart showing the total renewable energy sources used in UK(17).............12
Figure 3: UK Wind Resource (30).............................................................................13
Figure 4: Wind Turbine Installed in a High School Premises (4)...............................13
Figure 5: Graph showing the Biomass market in UK (32)..........................................15
Figure 6: Ground source heat pumps schematic (34)..................................................17
Figure 7: Driver for Implementing Renewable Energy (10)........................................18
Figure 8: Barriers against Implementing Renewable Energy Technologies (10).........19
Figure 9: 660kW wind turbine installed in Antrim Area Hospital (71).......................24
Figure 10: Procedure for Assessing Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Options
for the Health Care Sector.......................................................................................34
Figure 11: Annan Hospital.......................................................................................39
Figure 12: Sankey Diagram of Annual Energy Consumption...................................44
Figure 13: Annan Hospital Monthly Gas Consumption 2005/2006..........................45
Figure 14: Annan Hospital Monthly Gas Consumption 2006/2007..........................45
Figure 15: Annan Hospital Monthly Electricity Consumption 2005/2006................46
Figure 16: Annan Hospital Monthly Electricity Consumption 2006/2007................46
Figure 17: Gas fired unit boilers in Annan hospital..................................................47
Figure 18: Domestic Hot Water calorifier in Annan Hospital...................................48
Figure 19: Energy Consumption Yardstick (benchmark criteria) (13)........................51
Figure 20: Effects of Improved Insulation on Gas Consumption in Annan Hospital.57
Figure 21: Summary of the Effects of ECM on Energy Demand in Annan Hospital.60

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Tables

Table 1: Scottish Power Fuel Mix Breakdown: April 2005 - March 2006 (68).............7
Table 2: Energy Management Matrix Chart (60)........................................................31
Table 3: Annan Hospital Energy Management Matrix.............................................41
Table 4: Insulation Level in Annan hospital.............................................................49
Table 5: Heat Load Calculation per Room in Annan Hospital..................................50
Table 6: Energy Performance Index of Annan Hospital...........................................50
Table 7: Normalised Performance Indicator (NPI) Calculation................................52
Table 8: A variety of low energy lighting options (6,11).............................................54
Table 9: Heat Load Calculation per Room after Improving Insulation.....................56
Table 11: Summary of the Effects of ECM on Energy Demand in Annan Hospital..59
Table 13: Result from the Simulation 1(Annual Energy Production of the RE
technologies)...........................................................................................................62
Table 14: Result from Simulation II (Based on higher demand in energy consumption
in the hospital).........................................................................................................64
Table 15: Simulation III (Based on lower or reduced demand in energy consumption
in the hospital).........................................................................................................65
Table 16: Financial summary of the RE technologies from Simulation 1.................66
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1 Introduction
Hospitals are institutions for the care of the sick or injured. Hospital buildings are
normally occupied 24 hours per day, all year round. Hospital buildings use energy in
many different ways, so have high potential for energy savings. Hospital buildings are
usually large thus careful control of their internal climate is necessary. Hospitals are
prone to high heat generation; this combined with good building insulation reduces the
cooling effect of the external temperature on indoor temperature and air quality. This in
turn increases indoor temperature and thus reduces heating requirements.

Nevertheless, since hospitals encounter numerous emergency cases daily, there is need
for constant power supply, thus demand on electricity is often high. Healthcare facilities
are designed to meet the requirement of the patient, to provide a good working
environment for all hospital staff, visitors and other users. Provision of a conducive
recovery and working environment for patients and staff is necessary as it will result to
significant economic benefits through customer and employee satisfaction, such working
environment can only be achieved with constant power supply. This contributes to high
energy demand typical with the health sector.

Implementing energy conservation measures (ECM) in hospital buildings during
construction and operation can reduce the health risks associated with pollution and
climate change, protect the environment and save money via energy demand reduction.
Normally, hospital buildings are designed for long term use and are often utilised far
longer than anticipated by its builders. The actual active lifetime of a hospital building is
frequently greater than 40 years (7), though a lot of retrofitting and renovation often takes
place during its life time and these present an opportunity for implementing or improving
energy efficiency measures. However, energy efficiency measures can be incorporated
into the design of new buildings. For instance, buildings can be designed to use natural
light and ventilation reducing the need for electrical lighting and air conditioning, which
accounts for over 50% of the primary energy use in a typical hospital (2, 7).
1