E.ON has begun working with Newham University Hospital in East London to improve its energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
The project is among the first of the London Development Agency's (LDA) RE:FIT programme which aims to reduce the capital's carbon emissions by updating public buildings with the latest energy saving measures.

The energy company has developed an energy performance contract with Newham University Hospital, which guarantees the level of energy savings which will be achieved by the designed solution and within a fixed budget.

The first phase of the project involves replacing old inefficient air handling units (AHUs) that supply heating, cooling and ventilation to wards and theatres with modern, significantly more energy efficient systems.

The new energy solution had to work within a tight public sector budget, but will cut the hospital's energy consumption by more than 940,000 kWhrs per year and is expected to pay for itself within seven years, while cutting the hospital's carbon emissions by more than 3,000 tonnes over the same period.

Richard Scott, head of consultancy at E.ON, said: 'We're delighted to be working with Newham University Hospital Trust and bringing forward one of the first guaranteed energy saving projects. Our carbon consultancy team were able to design a solution which met the hospital's objectives to reduce energy consumption whilst also contributing to its carbon reduction goals and, through the RE:FIT scheme, those of London too.'

Kai Kin Lee, capital design project manager at Newham University Hospital Trust, said: 'The current units have been there since the building was constructed in 1982 and as such are old and inefficient. It was vital that the new solution met the hospital's budget and return on investment requirements, was able reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by the greatest amount, and could be flexible and adaptable enough to ensure that any disruption to patients, staff and visitors would be kept to the absolute minimum.

'Following a detailed audit of our existing solutions, E.ON was able to recommend a solution that met all of these requirements.'

The new AHUs will use heat recovery, where heat is taken from the extracted air and is transferred back into the supply air without mixing the two air streams. This is important in a medical application such as a hospital, where 'contaminated' extract air should not be reintroduced into the building.

Future improvements, including further air handling plant replacement and dry air chiller heat recovery, are planned to reduce the hospital's energy use further.

The purpose of RE:FIT is to assist public bodies in London to significantly reduce carbon emissions from buildings which will help London achieve its overall target of cutting carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2025 (as set out in London's Climate Change Action Plan 2006).