BRANCH EVENTS
International, a founder and Council member of International New Energy Industry Alliance, and a Committee Member of the Chinese Financial Association of Hong Kong, discussed ‘Potential applications for hydrogen and fuel cells in hospitals’. Dubbing hydrogen ‘a clean and renewable energy source’, she explained that it can be produced ‘without carbon footprint’, transported long distances, has high energy density when compressed, produces ‘clean’ power and fuel, is a clean industrial feedstock, ‘versatile as an energy vector’, and has similar safety considerations to natural gas and petroleum. With Governments globally targeting phasing out sales of new ICE vehicles, Cynthia Zhu said this ‘paved the way’ for the roll-out of HFC vehicles as ‘an attractive alternative’. Globally, she explained, based on data from the Hydrogen Council, there were already over 1000 hydrogen-orientated projects in hand, including in the UK, while estimates from the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility indicate that the global commercial fuel cell vehicle market is projected to grow by 34% CAGR to US $20 bn in 2030, ‘driven by policy tailwinds, rapidly falling costs, and governments’ strategic planning worldwide’. Among the key drivers, she explained, are the falling cost of hydrogen technologies and products due to economies of scale, and more than 60 countries – including China – committing to zero net emissions by 2050.
China’s own plans Cynthia Zhu also discussed China’s medium and long-term plans for hydrogen industry development, which include encouraging low carbon and renewables-based hydrogen production, and ‘steadily constructing hydrogen storage and transport systems’, as well as promoting R&D in the core technologies, participating in international cooperation and standardisation, and ‘educating a hydrogen workforce’. China is also keen to advance demonstration projects in transport, storage, urban districts, and the metallurgy and chemical industries. She later considered how the hydrogen
industry has ‘evolved’ since 2015, before discussing Sinosynergy’s background, heritage, and capabilities in hydrogen production and storage as ‘the number 1 HFC manufacturer in China by market share’. The company has one of the world’s largest fuel cell production lines, and continues to expand its production capacity. In China, the annual carbon dioxide emissions of ‘heavy duty’ trucks account for 54% of all vehicle emissions, despite these ‘trucks’ making up only about 4% of all road vehicles – a factor she said made them the key vehicle type to focus on to reduce all vehicle-related carbon emissions.
Left: Wang Gang, Director of the Shandong Provincial Architectural Design Institute, who spoke on trends in hospital development, design, and construction in China, gets hands-on with some of the technology in the event’s exhibition.
Right and below: The symposium and dinner proved an excellent opportunity to make new contacts and share knowledge and experience.
Meanwhile, as major consumers of electricity and other energy to provide a continuous clinical service, there was, Cynthia Zhu stressed, considerable opportunity for hospitals to use hydrogen fuel cells – both as a power generator, and for daily operation and back-up, in the process reducing their carbon emissions. ‘State-of-the-art and efficient hospital
vertical transportation’ was the subject of the symposium’s penultimate presentation – from Edmundo Klophaus, Vice-President of TK Elevator, a specialist in the supply, installation, and maintenance of lifts and elevators. Born in Chile, Edmundo Klophaus is a graduate of Fontys University of Eindhoven, and lives in Hong Kong. His career has seen him employed in business- to-business, business-to-consumer, and business-to-government roles at both a regional and national level. In 2013 he joined Thyssenkrupp Elevators – now TK Elevator – as Head of Marketing & Communications in Asia Pacific, and he is currently Vice- President NI Sales & Marketing, Asia Pacific Region. His focus was TK Elevator’s TWIN elevator system – reportedly the industry’s first lift system with two independent cars, ‘one on top of the other,’ in one shaft – giving users ‘the same conveyance capacity in 25% less space’. TK Elevator explains: “With TWIN,
both cabins use the same guide rails and landing doors. Each car has its own traction drive, controller, ropes, counterweight, and governor. An intelligent Destination Selection Control system gets people to their destination faster by grouping together individuals travelling to the same floor.” TWIN also boasts a TÜV-tested safety design ‘to satisfy even the most stringent requirements’. TWIN is targeted at ‘high-rise’ hospitals, offices, and hotels, and is also equipped with AGILE Destination Control, which ‘minimises average travel time to the destination, and increases handling capacity’. The system has already been installed
at healthcare facilities including the Royal London Hospital in London – which has the first bed TWINs worldwide, South Korea’s Ajou University Medical Center, and the Nanchang University Hospital in China.
Air distribution for infection control The day’s final presentation was by Marco Sauder, a certified HVAC engineer in Germany, on air distribution systems for infection control and exhaust air treatment, particularly in the wake of COVID-19. He based his presentation about suitable air distribution systems for hospital
January 2024 Health Estate Journal 49
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