Energy saving in a hospital : Assessing economic and technical potential

The combined production of electrical, heating and cooling energy is becoming an increasingly important technology. It has several advantages : these include a lower consumption of primary energy, reduction levels of air pollution, and less expenditure. Simultaneous production of heat, cold and power gives us higher efficiency of whole system. Depending on the conditions, these combined systems can be the most economical solution for a building. The requirement is that the system is located where there is a high consumption of electrical, heating and cooling energy throughout the year. An example of the type of consumer that has such conditions is a hospital. It can happen that in a certain period of the year this type of system is not profitable because of the relative costs of gas and electricity. For this reason it is always important to make a detailed analysis of any planned system and to look at the various possible operating regimes. To be in a position to compare a new system with an old one, we must predict the future operating regime and all the costs that are associated with it. This paper constitutes a work starting from an analysis of typical energy demand profiles in a hospital, the technical criteria to assess the feasibility of cogeneration plants are proposed. Typical results for the hospital are also presented.