Hong Kong Gas Company Deploys Gas Dehumidification System at Baptist Hospital, Cutting Annual Power Use by 357,000 kWh
AM730 · 1 SOURCES1 day ago7 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong Gas Company (香港中華煤氣) has rolled out a novel gas-powered dehumidification system at Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, targeting the city's persistent high-humidity environment where relative humidity exceeds 70% on approximately 300 days each year . The system fundamentally restructures indoor climate management by decoupling cooling from dehumidification, allowing precise humidity control while substantially reducing electricity demand . The technology has already proven its environmental and financial benefits, saving an estimated 357,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually and preventing 195 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions—equivalent to the carbon absorption of roughly 7,800 trees—while cutting operating costs by approximately HK$450,000 per year .
Key Points
- Hong Kong experiences relative humidity above 70% for roughly 300 days annually, creating significant environmental control challenges for high-specification facilities such as hospitals, pharmaceutical plants, and archives .
- The Hong Kong Gas Company dehumidification system employs a rotating desiccant wheel that absorbs moisture from indoor air and delivers dry air without requiring conventional refrigeration .
- When the wheel becomes saturated, it rotates to a regeneration zone where hot air from a gas water heater dries and restores the desiccant material for continuous reuse .
- In a Tsim Sha Tsui commercial project, solar thermal collectors were integrated to power the regeneration process using on-site renewable energy .
- Hong Kong Baptist Hospital installed the system across nine operating rooms at its Kowloon Tong campus, the Central Sterile Supply Department at its Fanling logistics centre, and medical records storage warehouses .
- Tang Chi-hang (鄧志恒), Department Manager of House and Facilities Management at Baptist Hospital, noted that the system enhances humidity control while reducing air conditioning dehumidification load, freeing up electricity to support critical medical equipment .
Why It Matters
The gas dehumidification technology demonstrates how energy infrastructure can be leveraged to address Hong Kong's unique climatic challenges in healthcare settings, where precise environmental control directly impacts patient safety and clinical outcomes . As hospitals seek to meet increasingly stringent sustainability targets while maintaining uninterrupted power supply for life-saving equipment, this system offers a replicable model for reducing healthcare facilities' carbon footprints without compromising operational requirements .
The gas dehumidification technology demonstrates how energy infrastructure can be leveraged to address Hong Kong's unique climatic challenges in healthcare settings, where precise environmental control directly impacts patient safety and clinical outcomes . As hospitals seek to meet increasingly stringent sustainability targets while maintaining uninterrupted power supply for life-saving equipment, this system offers a replicable model for reducing healthcare facilities' carbon footprints without compromising operational requirements .