Adoption of cogeneration in hospitals as an option for fulfilling the stability Law. An application for the Nomentana Hospital in Fonte Nuova (RM)

This thesis truly deals with energy efficiency in hospitals, a topic no longer young and nearly endless, as asserted by many authors mentioned in the references at the end of this treatise. But, as already run over, the context in which everything takes place is decisively current: the Stability Law of the Monti government. The present treatise, among innumerable energy efficiency interventions admissible for a healthcare structure, considers perhaps the most drastic: the direct intervention over the methodology of electrical and thermal energy production, i.e. the installation of a cogeneration plant.
The justification is easier said: detailed knowledge of all the technical installations operating of a hospital and of their modus operandi would require years of work and studies, an unacceptable period in the field of a master degree thesis. Therefore, on the strength of a real energy consumption of a real healthcare structure, it will be evaluated one of the most forceful intervention, as already said, and the benefits obtainable in the context of the stability law will also be computed.
The healthcare structure under consideration is the Nomentana Hospital, located in Fonte Nuova (RM). This preference has been dictated, besides immediate logistical convenience, by the fact that nobody has ever done this kind of analysis for this structure (which, as it will be shown in the 5th chapter, is characterized by a remarkable annual energetic expense) before.
This is, briefly, the content of the following chapters:
. chapter 2, Reference norm. A brief overview on the main references concerning the healthcare sector and the cogeneration will be offered, with particular emphasis on the incentives provided for high efficiency cogeneration plants;
. chapter 3, Energetic situation of hospitals. On the strength of statistical data, main consumption centers inside a hospital and the respective percentage, energy forms enlivened and reference amounts referred to unit of beds, surface and volume, will be pointed out;
. chapter 4, Cogeneration. General definitions and application fields of cogeneration are provided, together with brief historical hints, main energy balances and motivations about the importance of using cogeneration in hospitals;
. chapter 5, Feasibility study of a cogeneration plant at the Nomentana Hospital. This makes up the bulk and the most important part of this treatise. Different installation hypothesis for 2 cogeneration plants for the Nomentana Hospital will be provided, presented as a feasibility study including detailed consumptions accompanied by the relative costs evaluation for each month of the hypothetical year in which the proposed installation is put into operation. Together with relative discounted cash flows and obtainable White Certificate computation, a deepened study of the electrical energy bill will close the chapter;
. chapter 6, The context: the stability law 2013. As already outlined, this law calls for clear restrictions for national healthcare structures, concerning, in particular, a huge cut to purchasing costs of goods and services. It will be computed that the contribution given by the energy saving achieved on the strength of the previous feasibility study in the light of this context.