News archive - Week ending 27th July 2007

Hospital Draws Well Water for Laundry

Using water from a new well to wash laundry is among plans being considered by NHS Lothian to reduce its utility bills. Geologists believe there is so much underground water at St John's Hospital in Livingston that, if added to collected rainwater, it could make the region's NHS laundry service self-sufficient.

Every hospital in the region, including the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, sends dirty laundry to St John's, which handles 200,000 items of linen every week and uses around 68 million litres of water a year. The hospital has already started collecting rainwater in tanks to wash laundry and recently called in surveyors to assess the possibility of a well.

The project is still in the very early stages and the next step is to ask Scottish Water to test the source. A test well would cost about £70,000 and information gathered so far suggests that a well could produce between 200,000 and 500,000 litres of water a day, although it is not yet clear what treatment might be required to make this fit for use.

This just one of a number of environmentally friendly ideas being considered to help NHS Lothian achieve its aim of a 30 per cent reduction in carbon emissions over five years. Among other measures, the temperature control system for hospitals and other properties was recently upgraded and can now automatically reduce heating on a sunny day or increase it in a sudden cold spell. The Health Board has already reduced its carbon footprint by about 20 per cent.

Patio Heaters, the New Environmental 'Enemy'

Initially they might have been seen as a way of extending the al fresco drinking and dining hours, but patio heaters are becoming a symbol of environmentally destructive consumerism; the new 4x4.

A number of retailers have stopped stocking patio heaters and the Energy Saving Trust is urging others to follow suit because of the "substantial" amount of carbon emissions they produce. The average patio heater uses the same amount of energy as a gas hob uses in six months and emits around 50kg of carbon dioxide per year.

The EST Scotland estimates that there are now 160,000 households in Scotland who own or plan to buy a heater. These could create 7,700 tonnes of gas every year, equivalent to a car driving from Glasgow to John O'Groats and back 43,000 times. In Glasgow, the heaters are said to create 950 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

In the UK as a whole the EST estimates that 1.2 million household gardens have a patio heater, set to rise to 2.3 million next year, although the Market Transformation Programme (MTP), which provides data for government, estimates a more conservative 630,000 domestic heaters. Their use has increased over the last eighteen months since the introduction of smoking bans.

Increased Transmission Charges Could Threaten Remote Generators

Campaigners are claiming that plans to increase charges to remote generators could undermine renewable energy schemes in Scotland. Ofgem is believed to be considering backing changes to the cost of transmission losses. Generators nearer cities and areas of high demand, which have least losses en route to users, would pay less.

Opponents fear the changes would discriminate against projects such as wind farms in the north of Scotland and may even encourage companies to relocate away from Scotland.
Ofgem calculates that the scheme could lead to an overall saving of about £15m per year in energy terms and a reduction in carbon emissions by around 150,000 tonnes of carbon per year.

A Scottish Executive spokesman said a transmission charging regime would actively work against the development of renewable energy resources in Scotland. He added: "We will press for a change to Ofgem's remit as we build an energy policy that maximises Scotland's abundant clean, green energy resources."

£260,000 Grant for Ocean Power Delivery

Offshore wave energy company Ocean Power Delivery (OPD) has been awarded a £260,000 Regional Selective Assistance grant to upgrade its production facility at Fife Energy Park in Methil. The investment will create 53 new jobs.

During a visit to the energy park, John Swinney, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, said that OPD had been working closely with Scottish Enterprise to secure financial assistance for a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for its world leading Pelamis wave energy converter. Dr Martin Reynard, chief financial officer, OPD, said: "This grant award is intended to help offset investment costs for manufacturing at the Fife Energy Park which can in turn help bring OPD one step closer to commercial volume production of Pelamis."