Strategies for sustainable and efficient energy consumption in a rehabilitation clinic in southern Spain

This article presents the work carried out to implement the use of solar thermal energy in a rehabilitation clinic located in southern Spain. The objective is to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and improve energy sustainability and efficiency of clinical current processes and contribute to a better use of the abundant solar resources in this area. We have developed a strategy that allows better utilization of production of solar collectors. In the first phase we have designed a solar thermal system for domestic hot water supply of 30 double rooms (half the current capacity of the center) and pool heating. This pool is outdoors, with a capacity of 160 m3 and is used for medical treatment during the months of May to September. The management of the use of water heated in the collectors during this period has been established to give priority to the pool heating and the use of the excess energy to supply the hot water system. We have simulated the system performance using the F-char method. The results show that the designed system is able to cover 100% of the energy needs of the pool and cover 60% of the hot water needs of the 30 rooms. It can be stated that the use of this type of energy in facilities such as the one described in this paper allows maximizing the thermal energy produced and represent a significant saving of fossil fuels.