Antrim Area Hospital: Windmill Installation
Antrim Area Hospital, part of the United Hospital's Trust, is an excellent example of an organisation that is taking a leading role in the pursuit for energy efficiency. The hospital has taken one of Northern Ireland's defining characteristics, the wind, and harnessed it to provide a renewable source of energy for its patients. In 2002 the organisation installed a 40 meter high wind turbine at a cost of £500,000, with £400,000 of this being grant aid from the government's Energy Efficiency Fund. The turbine, which helps generate enough electricity to power this major hospital throughout the night, will have recouped the hospital's outlay by the end of 2007. The 660kW wind turbine generator provides nearly 1,900,000 units (kWh) of electricity annually, which equates to annual electricity saving of over £90,000.
Ballymena Borough Council
Since 2004 Ballymena Bourough Council has implemented projects that have dramatically reduced the energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from its own estate. Key innovations include the installation of renewable energy generators with biomass, solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies in council buildings. The Council is currently developing a 1MW landfill gas generating facility, which will not only reduce landfill emissions of methane, but will also bring in additional revenue through electricity generation and Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCSs). The districts' new £17million civic centre will also be fitted with 20kw solar thermal and 50kw geothermal generators. The energy saving initatives have cut overall consumption across council sites by 11 per cent compared to pre-2004 levels,with savings projected to be 18 per cent by April 2007. The reduction in energy consumption has saved the council almost £180,000, and grant funding of £250,000 has allowed the installation of major new plant to help bring down expenditure further. In 2006 the council was the recipitent of a National Energy Efficiency Award.
North Down Borough Council
In planning its two new waste management facilities North Down Borough Council has included in the design sustainable energy generation systems with the aim of producing both financial and environmental savings.
Photovoltaic panels in the roof of the waste transfer station and environmental education centre will generate electricity to power the lighting and some of the plant and machinery on the sites. The concentration of cells at the waste transfer station will be approximately three acres in size, making it the largest single site concentration of PV panels in Great Britain and Ireland to date and one of the largest in Europe. Solar panels will also be incorporate on both sites to provide heat for water and office. Rainwater will be harvested and reused on both site. Other than drinking water, no mains water will be required. The Council is working to access grant monies from the Renewable Energy Programme for the panels, etc.
The Council is also planning to build an 850KW wind turbine in Balloo Wood, directly across the road from the new waste transfer facility, which will generate additional power for both facilities. It will save the Council £150,000 in energy costs each year. The Council has received a grant of £500,000 toward the total costs of £750,000 for the wind turbine from the Central Energy Efficiency Fund.
Council is working towards a CEEQUAL Award for the design and construction of the Household Waste Recycling and Environmental Education Centre. This rigorously assesses the environmental quality of the civil engineering projects. As an example of measures taken this means even the materials in the concrete used are 'green' i.e. renewable ash not quarry material.