At Makati Med, green is in

MANILA, Philippines - The mark of a true leading health institution is a passion for all forms of life. More than caring for its patients and even staff, it’s got a special spot in its heart for another very important patient — Mother Earth.

This can certainly be said of the Makati Medical Center. With so many hazardous elements posing a threat to the environment, the hospital has been spearheading various earth-friendly initiatives, some in partnership with other concerned groups, as its own way of contributing to environmental preservation.

One of the hospital’s first initiatives was the installation of the country’s first hybrid wind-solar power system, a project done in collaboration with Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART). The system, which runs on vertical-axis wind turbines, was an ideal fit for the hospital’s location in the heart of Makati City as it eliminates the need for positioning for wind direction and allows installation close to the ground.

MakatiMed’s most recent green initiative is the utilization of a solar-powered air-conditioning system. The Sedna Aire solar absorption air-conditioning system, with the use of natural solar power, significantly reduces electricity consumption and operating costs.

Sedna Aire employs a solar absorption system, which is still capable of carrying a full air-conditioning load, especially during sunny periods. Heat energy from the sun is absorbed by a solar heat pipe collector, which is then utilized for the displacement of electricity for the cooling process. Albeit the minimal amount of electricity still needed to pump the refrigerant, the system makes use of substantially less of it than its conventional counterpart.

One of today’s fast-growing green trends, solar-powered air-conditioning systems merge economics, advanced technology, and ecology, and harness heat from the sun, a clean, consistent, and safe power source.

“At MakatiMed, it’s not just our patients’ lives that matter, but also Mother Earth’s,” MakatiMed president and CEO Rose R. Montenegro stresses. “We recognize the danger that comes with abusing the environment’s most valued resources, and we believe that as inhabitants of this planet, it is our duty and responsibility to do something about it. The amount and quality of the earth’s precious resources are inevitably linked to human life — therefore, if the planet suffers, so do we.”

Beyond the hospital’s current green efforts, plans are being put into place for future green practices — one of which is heat recovery. Montenegro explains, “Heat recovery, in a nutshell, is the process of reusing waste heat for other heat applications. We will be using a heat exchanger to take waste heat formed in our chillers specifically on the condenser side before it goes to the cooling tower.”

 She adds: “This is an efficient green practice as it lowers energy consumption and water heating costs — and, in essence, allows us to make use of ‘free heat,’ which we have produced ourselves. Right now, we are in the design stages of constructing the technology for this for MakatiMed. We should be able to implement the system in two to three years.”

For more information, call the MakatiMed 24/7 on-call hotline 8888-999. Or log on to www.makatimed.net.ph.