LIONS GATE Hospitel’s director of plant services Neil Kool (centre) discusses the latest energy usage plans for the hospital with Earl Gyselman (left) and Fritz Benz. Kool recently won a national award recognizing his work in reducing LGH’s «ergy costs. Conservation program saves LGH $7 million AN IMAGINATIVE aad effective energy-saving pro- gram at Lions Gate Hespital is paying off in reduced energy costs and increased cognition. LGH director of plant services Neil Kou} recently won the Energy Riavagement Award in Canadian \‘iealth Facilities for his work in holping to cut approx- imately $1.2 million from the hospital's cnergy bil) over the past eight yivrs. The awa’. which is sponsored by the Tas\; Force on Energy Masagemen’ in Health Care Fa- cilities in Conada, was presented Jan. 29 to Kwol and is the firs¢ energy mencgement award won by LGH. In addition to Kool’s award, the hospital hes also reccived $100,000 from the provincial goveramest to iuitinie another series of energy-savirg measures at the hospital. “It really bz significant,” LGH president Robert Sinith said Tuesday. ‘‘It shows «hat some- one with a bit of initiative can do if they put their minds to it."’ Although the hospital has ex- panded in size and services of- fered since its energy conserva- tion program began in 1921, the hospital uses less energy now then it did then. Simce 1981, LGH has added a 125-bed exteasios to its extend:-d care unit, new treatment areas, 2 wide range of sophisticsted med- kcal equipmest and a new com- puter system. The overali square national and provincial re- By TIMOTHY RENSHAW News Reporter footage of the hospital's buildings has increased from 550,000 in 1983-81 to the current 609,270. The oumber of patients pro- cessed at the hospital has also in- crensed: total patient admissions in 1981-82 were 14,986; total pa- tient admissions projected for 1988-89 are 17,300. But the total kilowatt hours of electricity consumed by LGH has @ropped from 8,803,200 in 1980-81 to 8,124,000 in 1937-38. Natural gas usage hes also decreased: from 120,176 giga- joules to 87,486 over the same period. Kool said the biggest savings were realized in natural gas by increasing hospital boiler effi- clency and fine-tuning hospital heating systems. “It bas been a lot of fun,’’ he said. “It’s a wonderfal project because there is so much you can do.” Exergy-conservation programs that are now saving the hospits! money include installation of an EBM central processing unit and seven micro computers to monitor and regulate ‘weather’ conditions in the hospital. 100 NEW JOBS PREDICTED MILA likes plant scheme some time next month. Reynolds confirmed that a letter From page 1 the Furry Creek site ‘‘would be an ideal place for the plant.’’ He estimated 100 jobs would be created by the project, and em- phasized that the plant would have to meet strict environmental stan- dards before anything could go ahead. The most recent local proposal for the Furry Creek property was a $31-million residen- tial-recreational development that would have included a 450-slip marina and backcountry recre- ation. But the proposal has been put on hold pending the outcome of the petrochemical! plant deal. The proposed plant, combining natural gas liquification and fertil- izer components, would tap into the proposed $250 million Van- couver Island natural gas pipeline, which wili run from Ioco to Squamish on its way to Vancouver Island. But Copper Beach Estates direc- tor UIf Von Dehn said, ‘‘Everything is up in the air...cverything is in a fog.’’ Asked when he thought a deci- sion on developing the site would be made, he said, ‘Il wish we knew.”’ According to a proposal from CBEL, Texaco Refining and Mar- keting Inc. in the United States would form a 20-year partnership with the property owners to develop Furry Creek, while an af- filiated subsidiary, known as CanAcortes Petroleum Inc., would develop the petrochemical pliant. A Texaco spokesman in Anacortes, Washington said Wed- nesday it was premature to say anything about the possibility of the company using the site. Firmer decisions, he said, would be made following the completion of the $5 billion sale of Texaco Canada Inc. to Imperial Oi! Ltd., which he estimated would be The computer system also allows maintenance staff to con- trol and monitor all LGH air- handling systems 24 hours per day. Elsewhere, LGH has instailed a laundry waste-water recovery system that uses the heat from used wash water to preheat clean wash water before the waste water is flushed into hospital sewers. Use of hospital furnace energy has been made more efficient with the installation of new con- trols and a reduction of boiler flue gas temperatures. Energy-saving shower heads have also been installed at the hospital and lighting has been switched from incandescent to more efficient fluorescent. Kool said a project must have a financial pay-back within three years, ‘otherwise we don't do it."’ New energy-saving strategies under .vasideration by Koel and his department include recovering heat from the hospital’s driers and increasing the efficient use of air conditioning by looping chill- ed water circuits. Beyond such physicai im- provements to the hospital, Kool said the next step would be em- barking on an in-house program to educate LGH staff in energy eoaservation. He estimated the new series of energy conservation measures will trim a further five per cent from the hospital’s energy bill, which was $561,367 in 1988. of interest concerning the petrochemical proposa! has been received, but he declined to release any details because no deal had been made and nothing confirmed as yet. 3 - Friday, February 24, 1989 - North Shore News OWNER SAYS SCHOOL LIABLE Car was meant to be serviced: vandalized instead A VANCOUVER man who planned to save money on labor costs by having his car tuned up by West Vancouver high school students had his car trashed by vandals instead. Scott Melville, 30, had intended to spend two weeks touring the West Coast, but California dream- ing turned into a_ nightmarish squabble with West Vancouver Secondary School over liability for the damages to his 1978 Toyota Corona. Melville brought the car in to the school’s auto mechanics shop Feb. 7. He said he planned to set off on his trip Saturday, Feb. 11, but by Friday work on the car remained incomplete. Melville decided to park the car outside the shop to allow a private mechanic access to the car to complete the job the fol- lowing day. But before Melville could secure a private mechanic to do the work, vandals rolled his car, which wasn’t insured for vandalism damage, and a students’ car down outdoor bleachers adjacent to the mechanics shop some time Satur- day night. Said Melville: ‘‘The car is a write-off. !« ended up on the school track field. 1 phoned around to schools looking for a good place to take it. | thought it would be no problem taking it to a By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter West Vancouver high school.’’ Melville argues that because he did not sign a waiver when he brought the car to the shop, the school should be responsible for damage occurring on school prop- erty. But industrial education teacher Dennis Joel says the school shouldn't be held responsible, with or without a waiver. “If we would have left it out- side, then we would be liable,"’ Joel said. ‘‘But he pushed it out- side. The car was left inside the shop. He came up and talked the janitor into letting him into the shop on Friday night.”’ Joel said Melville attempted to fix the car himself. "After he got half-way into it, he called me, all upset and said he’d push it outside. I said he shouldn’t do that, that it wouldn’t be safe,’’ Joel said. ‘‘But he did it anyway.”’ Melville said he’d try to recoup his losses with the help of a legal- aid lawyer. , NEWS photo Mike Waketiots GRADE 2 students at Holy Trinity School decided to brighten up February recently by releasing 100 balloons to symbolize the 100 days of school that have passed this year. Residents who find a balloon are asked (o fili out the form inside and return it to the school at 128 West 27 Street, North Vancouver. Editorial Page Home & Garden Second Class Registration Number 3885 Friday and Saturday, mestiy cloudy with showers. Highs from 7 to $°C.