As part of the £4 million energy performance contract with United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT), Veolia has upgraded lighting at Lincoln County Hospital, Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, and Grantham and District Hospital (pictured).
It says that the new lighting systems will enhance the patient care environment, cut carbon, deliver a 91% energy saving, and achieve electrical operating savings of around £400,000 per year, to the hospitals, which, combined, serve a population of around 736,700 people.
The upgrade has seen 10,106 LED light fittings, including standard and emergency luminaires, installed across the main hospital sites. The new systems are linked to smart controls and sensors that monitor ambient light and presence, control output to the correct level, dim and switch when there is sufficient daylight, and illuminate only when the area is occupied. These, Veolia says, combine an improved quality of lighting throughout each building with annual energy savings of 4,522,344 kWh, and CO2 savings of over 2,400 tonnes.
Complementing the lighting upgrades are a range of carbon-reducing measures including a new CHP plant, boiler enhancements, conversion of the steam system to a low temperature hot water network, and new electrical infrastructure upgrades and control systems for the facilities. The new plant will be operated and maintained by Veolia for 15 years, with investment payback achieved in just over three years.
The new contract will build on the reductions achieved by Veolia at Lincoln Hospital, where around 64,000 tonnes of CO2 has been saved since 2004, and included the successful ‘90k in 90 days’ initiative, a three-month challenge to engage staff to make regular, small, money-saving changes. This resulted in the Trust cutting its overall carbon footprint by 13 per cent between 2009 and 2015, against a national average of 10 per cent.