Hospital brings in wind of change with turbine plan

A WIND turbine could be built at a Lothians hospital as part of plans to make the health board greener.

Health chiefs are considering placing the power-generating facility at Liberton Hospital as an alternative energy source, it has emerged.

The move has been welcomed by environmental campaigners, while NHS Lothian said it was only one of numerous plans to move away from traditional, more expensive energy sources.

It is understood that government incentives to source more green energy have allowed more flexibility to invest, while NHS bosses hope it will drive down the price of electricity and improve the organisation's carbon footprint.

A number of new buildings will be developed over the next five years in the Lothians, and that opportunity is being used to implement various alternative energy opportunities.

Energy and environmental manager for NHS Lothian Charlie Halpin said: "New government incentives are allowing us to include a number of renewable technologies in our building programmes."

As well as the wind turbine at Liberton - an elderly people's hospital which has around 170 beds across eight wards - there are a number of other options on the table.

The new Royal Victoria hospital could have solar panels installed along one side, which would provide a significant amount of power.

Dalkeith Medical Centre could benefit from a ground source heat pump, which uses pipes to extract natural heat from the ground.

A new sexual health "one-stop shop" in Lauriston will also capitalise on renovated premises with solar thermal panels to heat the water.

Managers at St John's Hospital in Livingston are also discussing scrapping the current boiler system and finding power from biomass options.

As well as the cost-saving motivation - NHS Lothian needs to fill a 70 million funding shortfall - the moves should help the health board hit Scottish Government and European Union environmental targets.

Mr Halpin added: "Although the use of combined heat and power isn't renewable technology, it allows the recovery of waste heat. Every one of our new capital projects takes renewable energy potential into account."

Lothians MSP Robin Harper said: "Large organisations like NHS Lothian have the economies of scale to be out in front when it comes to renewable energy."