Sponsored by the Asper Foundation

Israeli energy storage and cooling company Nostromo, announced on Sunday that it will install its water-based, dual purpose storage system in the Soroka University Medical Center with the support of the Ministry of Energy to reduce the hospital’s carbon emissions and electricity costs. 

Nostromo is set to receive a total of NIS 1.5 million ($434,600) for its proprietary system. Soroka University Medical Center will pay NIS 800,000 ($231,800) and the Ministry of Energy will pay about NIS 700,000 ($208,500) in the form of a grant. 

The collaboration was created as part of the Zero Carbon Hospital Challenge competition launched by the HealthIL community and PLANETech community to promote solutions for energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions at Soroka Medical Center. 

Nostromo will install one 1,200 kilowatt-hour unit of storage, the cooling byproduct of which is expected to heavily reduce the hospital’s air conditioning-tied electricity costs.

The system, known as the IceBrick, will be installed throughout the hospital’s operating rooms, marking the first time Nostromo’s signature energy storage system has been installed in a hospital facility in Israel. The hospital sector is one of the important markets for Nostromo due to their high and unavoidable consumption levels of energy and cooling. 

Founded in 2017, Nostromo develops, sells, and installs advanced energy storage systems that simultaneously work as alternative, sustainable indoor air conditioning systems. The company’s IceBrick is a modular thermal cell based on the high energy storage potential in water as it undergoes a phase change from liquid to ice. Nostromo’s thermal ice energy storage process works by freezing water using either a surplus of unused solar energy or inexpensive electricity at off-peak hours and thawing the ice during the day to provide a steady supply of cool flowing air throughout buildings. 

The technology allows for efficient energy storage without the risk of fire hazards, enables the capacity to use off-peak and renewable solar-deperived electricity, and creates backups for cooling systems.  

“Soroka’s investment in Nostromo’s technology and its implementation in the operating room air conditioning system, along with the support of the Ministry of Energy, reflect the medical and state center’s trust in the company’s technology and the need for a solution,” said Yoram Asheri, CEO of Nostromo Energy.

“Soroka Medical Center invests a great deal of effort in preserving the environment, reducing emissions, saving and energy efficiency,” said Jordan Nevo, deputy director of Soroka. “We have put innovation at the forefront of the campaign and intend to lead the medical centers in the country and be a center and model for imitation and study for them. We intend to continue the process and implement many more technologies to protect the environment for future generations.”