Innovative technology, energy saving and respect for environmental in hospital HVAC systems: the real case of “S. Marco Hospital” in typical Mediterranean city (part one)

The design of HVAC plants for large hospital buildings must aim to some top priority objectives , that is: • To guarantee the continuity of energy supply from every case of critical states and black-out of electrical energy or natural gas • To forecast the use of clean innovative technologies of self streamlined production of energy • To rationalize the energy demand by suitable total systems both of survey and control of thermo-hygrometric variables of indoor comfort • To obtain the cheapness of operating costs of plants • To avoid polluting impacts on environment coming from the operation of HVAC plants The achievement of previous objective in plants design also allows the group of designers to win the competition for the design of S. Marco Hospital in Catania city where the building of hospital expects total € 141.500.000,00 fully funded whilst the share of money assigned to build HVAC plants comes to € 24.000.000 The paper wants to show: • in what way has been guaranteed the continuity of energy supply for every case of critical state • the economic gain through the selling of surplus of electrical energy self-produced that drop off significantly the operating cost of plants • in what ways the previous objectives have been reached through innovative technique of “Combined Cooling, Heating and Power”(CCHP) • the environmental benefits, in terms of reduction of air polluting flows of PM and CO2