Gaylord Gets First Solar Water System: Connecticut Firms Team Up

November 4, 2011

Middletown, CT – Gaylord Hospital is the first hospital in Connecticut to receive state funding through a grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund

Middletown, CT – Gaylord Hospital is the first hospital in Connecticut to receive state funding through a grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) for a solar thermal hot water system. Providing the design build services to complete this project will be the team of Consulting Engineering Services (CES), and the Legacy Mechanical Group (LMG), both located in Middletown, and Munger Construction of Branford.
As a team, these firms are accustomed to working on projects whose goals are to push the energy efficiency envelope for both commercial and residential projects. CES and LMG have previously partnered together to provide design build services for Connecticut’s very first Net Zero Energy, LEEDTM Platinum Certified Home located in Killingworth.
Gaylord Hospital is aiming to push the envelope even further. Their dedication to energy efficiency and being the first hospital in Connecticut to install a new solar thermal hot water heating system is setting an example for healthcare facilities throughout the state. With a construction cost of $550,000, the $323,000 grant received from the CCEF will offset the cost tremendously for this non-profit 137 bed hospital.
Starting this fall, CES and LMG will begin preparing the roof locations at the hospital for the installation of 70 Solarus Evacuated Tube solar hot water panels.
An evacuated tube solar hot water panel is one of the most efficient and economical solar hot water panels. The evacuated tubes convert sunlight into usable heat. The heat pipes heat up rapidly towards the header pipe where propylene glycol is pumped through, absorbing the heat on its way to the heat exchanger located in the water storage tank. The rooftop panels at Gaylord Hospital will feed into a 3,750 gallon storage tank from which hot water will be distributed throughout the building.
This system will reduce the annual hot water needs of the facility by an estimated 65%. The remaining 35% of the hospitals hot water needs will be provided by oil fired boilers. The installation of these panels and new, energy efficient boilers will also drastically reduce the facility’s oil consumption by about 7,000 gallons of fuel oil per year, an annual emission equivalent of 135,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.