This state of the art public hospital with 240 beds (upgradeable to 300) has officially been opened in South Africa’s largest township Khayelitsha this Wednesday, 17 April 2012.
The new Khayelitsha Hospital has used numerous design techniques and energy technologies that lead to it receiving a level 3-accreditation in terms of its carbon footprint.
Design innovations used includes;
- passive design elements and interventions that reduce the building’s reliance on artificial lights and mechanical ventilation
- the majority of the hospital’s electricity needs come from the 25kWp solar panel system and a 2kW wind turbine
- artificial lighting using LED, CFL’s etc.
- usage of heat pumps and positioning near main kitchen areas for energy optimisation
- re-using clean water from autoclaves in toilets and other water features
Not only makes this the new Hospital energy efficient, but it will allow Government to save on running costs.
See our previous post for more details on the hospitals use of solar panels and wind turbines.
Khayelitsha is not the biggest township in South Africa, maybe Cape Town
It all depends on how you define it, according to old Statistics South Africa data, Soweto is the largest township in South Africa. But currently Khayelitsha is considered the largest (from rough estimates and due to the large immigrations into Cape Town) and fastest growing township in SA. We’ll have to wait and see the census 2011 information…