FRIMLEY Park Hospital in Surrey is beating soaring energy costs and emissions targets with a super efficient power plant providing heat, electricity and cooling. Dubbed the 'big lean green machine' because of its money-saving and environment-friendly credentials, the hospital's new combined cooling, heat and power plant (CHP) is helping to keep energy consumption under control. The equipment was funded by a £2.7m grant from the Department of Health Energy and Sustainability Fund and a further £450,000 investment from the foundation trust hospital. It is now saving the trust more than £330,000 a year and resulting in a carbon saving of 1,260 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The trust is even able to sell back surplus electricity that it generates to the National Grid.
Colin Mapperley, general manager of facilities, said: "The project has been a big success both in terms of the money it has saved and the lower impact on the environment. It really is a win-win. We have also seen energy prices go far higher than anyone anticipated in recent years, but the success of the project has meant that we have been able to cope we
