Hospital to go fully solar-powered in NHS trust green drive

A hospital in East Yorkshire is due to be powered entirely by solar energy as part of plans for a trust to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals Trust’s plans include an 11,000-panel solar farm capable of supplying all electricity for Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham.

The trust , which also runs Hull Royal Infirmary, is replacing 20,000 lights across both sites with LED bulbs and is to insulate buildings and install pumps to cut heating costs.

It also aims to cut emissions from anaesthetic gases by half by 2025.

Chris Long, of the trust said the move followed its declaration of a climate emergency in 2020.

The eight-hectare solar farm in Cottingham is due to be finished by next summer, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Long said he wanted to push ahead on its emissions goals partly because climate change would also pose health threats from more storms, floods, heat waves and disease outbreaks.

• More stories from Yorkshire

Insulation of the trust's buildings aims to cut energy use by 15% and by 2025 it hopes to send no waste to landfill.

The trust aims to be one of the first hospital trusts to reach net zero by 2030, ahead of the NHS's current target of 2040.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].