50% energy reduction for Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals

Danfoss VLT® HVAC Drives enable the hospitals’ Building Management System to respond to changes in outside air temperature, duct pressure and temperature providing versatility, reliability and energy savings to the Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals.

In order to assist Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals Trust to reduce its energy consumption, Efficiency Direct Ltd of Shoreham by Sea specified and managed the installation of dedicated VLT® HVAC drives to hospital air handling equipment.

A trial area was equipped with Danfoss VLT® HVAC Drives; which were connected to the hospitals’ Building Management System to respond to changes in outside air temperature, duct pressure and temperature. This provides the versatility needed for the challenging requirements of the environment found within a hospital.

The energy usage figures recorded before, during and after VLT® HVAC drives were fitted demonstrates the dramatic reduction in electrical consumption.

NHS Trust Energy Manager Dawn Moss said “The Danfoss VLT® drives are part of a series of Energy Reduction projects being undertaken. The drives have proved to be reliable, versatile and efficient, and the project has been extended across our estate.”

The Trust has since ordered a further 88 units for its two major hospitals in Sussex. The installation has not only improved the hospitals internal environment in the areas served, but has resulted in a reduction in the electrical consumption in the plant room of more than 50%. This has been quantified as saving £48,000; 288 tonnes of CO2 emissions and 533,000 kWh of electricity per annum.

About Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH) is the regional teaching hospital working across two sites: the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath. The Brighton campus includes the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital and the Sussex Eye Hospital, and the Haywards Heath campus includes the Hurstwood Park Regional Centre for Neurosciences.¨

The BSUH provide general acute services to the local populations in and around the City of Brighton and Hove, Mid Sussex and the western part of East Sussex and more specialist and tertiary services for patients across Sussex and the south east of England.

Both hospitals provide many of the same acute services for their local populations. In addition, the Princess Royal Hospital is our centre for elective surgery and the Royal Sussex County Hospital is our centre for emergency and critical care. (source: www.bsuh.nhs.uk)