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| Hochtief supplies healthcare center with heat from biogas The Maria Hilf healthcare center (Gangelt/Lower Rhine), which includes a clinic for the mentally ill and a home for the handicapped, will in future meet 60 percent of its heat requirements from renewable raw materials. This is ensured by a new biogas facility, for which Hochtief Facility Management Energy planned and realized the gas, electrical and heating engineering. The use of eco-energy will enable the center to reduce its heating costs by around 30 percent. The main function of the new facility – situated in the immediate vicinity of the healthcare center - is actually the generation of around 4,400 megawatt hours of eco-energy a year for a local power supplier. The heat produced in this process will in future be used by Maria Hilf for heating its numerous buildings. Biogas is created by fermenting maize and liquid manure. By using the new form of heating, the Gangelt center is also making a valuable contribution to environmental protection. Since the operation of the biogas facility is CO2-neutral, emissions of carbon dioxide will be reduced by over 3,600 tons a year. Another benefit is that this form of energy makes budgeting more dependable, since experience shows that the prices for regenerative energy sources climb far more slowly than, for instance, the cost of gas and oil. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |