Improvements to wellbeing centre recognised at international energy awards

Nuffield Health’s Hertfordshire Wellbeing Centre has been recognised with a commendation at the international 2 degrees Champions Awards.

The facility was highly commended munder the Property Retrofit category for its Geyser Thermal Energy heat recovery system.

Nuffield Health's project aims at the Hertfordshire site were twofold - to cut energy use and to reduce noise pollution.

Twelve months after opening, the facility has already achieved energy savings per day equivalent to over 10 medium-sized houses - 42,000kWh of electricity and 127,680kWh of gas - and financial savings of around £10,000.

A spokesman for the centre said: “From its opening the Nuffield Health Wellbeing Centre’s heating system had noise issues so the water chiller was installed with noise dampers.

“However, on warm days the chiller struggled to achieve its target temperature due to the restricted airflow through the condensers, which in turn meant the dampers were left open, causing noise pollution for nearby houses.

“A bespoke Geyser Thermal heat recovery system was therefore built. The system’s automatic controls reclaimed otherwise-wasted energy from the chiller - in effect increasing the condenser capacity by 20%. This reduced the load on the compressor, providing lower energy consumption and considerable amounts of free hot water. This water - produced at 64C - could then be diverted and used for the on-site showers.

“On average, every day of year the site is getting over 5,000 litres of hot water for free and at the same time using 115Kw/hr less electricity - enough energy to make over 22,000 cups of tea every day.

“In financial terms the installation is saving nearly £10,000 per annum, not including any savings from reduced carbon taxes, providing an investment payback of less than two years.”

Lolli Olafsson, general manager at Geyser Thermal Energy, added: “There is remarkable symmetry in this model. Our retro-fitted heat recovery system at the Nuffield Health Wellbeing Centre in effect uses the energy from members while they are exercising to heat the water they then use for their own showers.”

After 12 months of operating, the heat recovery system has proved itself by:

• Reducing boiler gas consumption by 127,680 Kwh
• Reducing chiller electrical consumption by 42,000Kwh - just under 10%
• Reducing carbon emissions by 45,44 tons
• Removing the need for the dampers to be opened in the summer - no more noise pollution and complaints to the centre