Boston, Massachusetts, United States: According to an official communiqué from Paris-headquartered Veolia, Boston Medical Center (BMC) has entered into a 20-year agreement with the company to use its “Green Steam” to meet its thermal energy needs, while purportedly avoiding an estimated 8,500 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, the equivalent of removing 1,700 cars from the road.

With Veolia’s acquisition of Kendall Cogeneration Station and the installation of an additional steam pipeline connecting Cambridge and Boston, the communiqué explained that the steam supplied to BMC consists of recycled “Green Steam” or thermal energy, which is a by-product of electricity generation that is produced using advanced combined heat and power (CHP) technology at the Station – the primary generating facility of Veolia’s Boston-Cambridge District Energy system.

By recapturing thermal energy that would otherwise be wasted, Veolia claimed that its CHP operations are significantly reducing the region’s overall carbon footprint.

As the hospital’s energy partner, Veolia said that it will also support BMC’s thermal energy requirements for the hospital’s multi-year campus redesign, and provide metering installations in support of the development, while ensuring continuity of steam service for the existing hospital space.

“As a medical campus treating a diverse range of healthcare needs, it’s absolutely vital for Boston Medical Center to maintain continuous and consistent heating, sterilisation and comfort levels,” said Bob Biggio, Vice President of Facilities and Support Services at Boston Medical Center. “After careful analysis of all of our potential options, it became clear that with Veolia’s recent investments to create a more sustainable District Energy system, executing a new ‘Green Steam’ contract with Veolia would best support our sustainability goal of a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.”

John Gibson, President and COO of Veolia North America’s Municipal & Commercial Business, said, “By taking advantage of Veolia’s integrated ‘Green Steam’ network to meet its current and future thermal energy needs, the medical centre is demonstrating its environmental leadership.”