Wilo pumps help energy efficiency in Isle of Man hospital
Wilo high efficiency pumps are helping a leading Building Services Engineer achieve his ambition of reducing a Government’s energy bill by 5%, year on year, through the sharing of the company’s energy solutions expertise.
The Isle of Man sits proudly in the middle of the Irish Sea, midway between the Lancashire coast and Northern Ireland, and has a permanent population of around 80,000 people. But that number increases by around 50% during the world-famous TT races and by not far short of that figure for the annual Manx Festival event – and during those weeks, the hospital becomes an even more valuable and essential resource than normal, as despite the dangers of the mountain course, riders are drawn from across the world to compete there and serious accidents are an annual reality. Fatalities almost inevitably seem to happen every year, but injuries are far more common and many bikers and their families have been hugely grateful for the skills of the medical staff at Nobles Hospital, just outside the island’s capital, Douglas.
The hospital at Braddan, was opened in July 2003. The majority of pumps incorporated in the development are the ones that were in the original construction and the technology available and energy efficiency potential from pumps in major buildings has improved immensely since the early 2000s. The Government of the Isle of Man is always looking for ways of reducing energy use and reducing the island’s overall environmental footprint. The island has a state of the art Government owned, but privately operated ‘energy from waste’ plant just south of Douglas which has added hugely to its green credentials.
The project to improve the energy efficiency of the hospital has been led by Paul Bevan, Building Services Engineer, Public Estates and Housing for the Department of Infrastructure on the island, who has 44 years of experience in the sector. He is responsible for carrying out a number of asset management schemes on the island including replacing lighting at the hospital with new LED options, that have led to a reduction of 75% in the costs of lighting on the areas completed.
Looking at the benefits of replacing the original pumps was high on his list of priorities and Wilo was pleased to be asked to take a look at the options available. As a result of the company’s experience in energy solutions activity, it was able to illustrate significant savings available across the hospital estate by replacing existing pumps with new energy efficient Wilo alternatives, mostly DL-E products which come complete with integrated inverters for variable speed. The days of having pumps that operate 100% of the time should be long gone and Wilo offers a range of options where pumps are required to operate only when demand kicks in.
Wilo has supplied 32 pumps to the hospital, 14 of which have already been installed. The others will be installed as part of a gradual replacement programme in the coming months, ensuring the overall replacement programme follows a smooth introduction of the new pumps, until the whole site has switched to the new, highly energy efficient options Wilo has supplied.
The Wilo DL-E models have been installed in the various Sub-heat stations around the site. Each Sub-heat station has a pump for Constant Temperature and one for Variable Temperature requirements. Already the Pathology department, the theatres, Intensive Care Unit, Accident and Emergency and Fractures clinic and the Estates and Kitchens areas have been switched to new pumps.
In addition, Wilo has supplied one BL pump with a Danfoss inverter. This is fitted to the primary chilled water circuit and was used as the initial trial product for the project. There are a further seven of these pumps to be installed on the chilled water circuits, which are supplied by two 400kW water chillers and an ICE storage unit.
Wilo’s Paul Cairns has been at the sharp end of the project: “It’s been a fascinating project to be involved in and it’s been a delight to be able to utilise our Energy Solutions expertise alongside Paul Bevan, who is 100% dedicated to making a huge difference to the island’s energy use footprint. So much of what we can offer has been accepted by him and his team – we’ve been pushing at an open door and its brilliant to see the benefits these newly installed pumps are already having on the hospital’s energy use and efficiency.”
As an example of the savings achievable, the BL pump installed on the chilled water system as the initial trial product for the project, is so far delivering £11,000 per annum in savings when compared to its fixed speed predecessor, based on £0.14 per kWh.
“The Isle of Man Government is committed to making the island as ‘green’ as we can make it for our residents,” says Paul Bevan. “It’s a beautiful island - not a very large one - so it’s vital that we operate an integrated programme of trying to ensure that in every way we can, we make it as energy efficient and as environmentally attractive as possible. These individual projects such as the upgrading of the hospital, all come together as part of the overall strategy of ensuring the Government owned and managed projects all contribute to the end game - that of making the island as ‘green’ as we can make it, for the years and decades ahead.”
And Paul keeps a close eye on all the projects being undertaken across the Isle of Man via a BMS (Building Management System) that can remotely monitor more than 80 sites across the island, including the hospital, allowing for efficient diagnostics and rapid trouble shooting in real time.