installing new energy efficient air conditioning.

The Hospitals Board last month signed a a $1.5 million contract with Energy Care Limited -- which replaced the old air conditioning plant with more current equipment controlled by a computer.

And the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and St. Brendan's Hospital, the Island's largest consumers of electricity, immediately cut their electricity costs by 19 percenrt, Hospitals Board executive director Mr. Hume Martin said.

Both hospitals have saved thousands of dollars since they had their 28-year-old air conditioning plant replaced.

Director of plant operations for the Board Mr. Raoul Tyrrell yesterday said: "We began seeing savings in June and from June to August we saved $70,000.

Every year we anticipate saving about $300,000.'' Mr. Martin also noted that before the conversion, the hospitals' electricity charges averaged $1.7 million a year.

With the new system, the projected costs for 1993/94 are $1.4 million.

"It has been an important experiment with ramifications for many of the Island's larger office buildings, hotels and institutions,'' Mr. Martin said.

"In the month of August, the anticipated reduction of 15 percent came in at 19 percent.''