Cutting carbon, saving energy and money

The NHS in England increased its carbon footprint by 40 per cent between 1990 and 2008, according to a study carried out by the Sustainable Development Commission. Indeed, the NHS Sustainable Development Unit reported that emissions rose by a full 20 per cent between 1998 to 2004 – a 3 per cent annual increase.

NHS buildings in England consume over £400 million of energy a year and produce 3.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. In the wider context, the health service is likely to be disproportionately affected by climate change with increased death rates from higher summer temperatures and new diseases becoming endemic as the climate warms.

Being aware
The Health Service across the UK is aware of the need to cut both emissions and consumption, though. Published in 2009, the NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy for England says: “Every organisation should review its energy and carbon management at Board level; develop more use of renewable energy where appropriate; measure and monitor on a whole life cycle cost basis; and ensure appropriate behaviours are encouraged in individuals as well as across the organisation.” In 2008, the NHS in England was responsible for 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, a quarter of the total for the public sector.

The Scottish Sustainable Procurement Action Plan 2009 sets out a series of steps public bodies can follow to make sustainability, including energy efficiency, part of their everyday procurement activity. As an example, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is working with the Carbon Trust to pilot an asset mapping approach for boiler replacement. This will be extended to other large public sector buildings and further aspects of their energy performance, including lighting, heating and cooling systems, and the building itself.

Welsh Health Estates recently published figures that show a 21 per cent improvement in NHS energy efficiency since 1999.

So the requirement is there, and some good work has been done. But like all organisations, whether in the private or public sectors, the health service is being expected to do better, but on less money. Energy is an overhead and many see the bill as inevitable and uncontrollable. Yet there are many instances, within the health service and outside, where the estates or facilities departments have been able to make major inroads into consumption and, consequently, bills.

Identifying use
The key to making these changes lies in identifying where energy is being wasted. This has been recognised by the government, which is committed to implementing a programme of installing smart or advanced metering in all domestic and non-domestic locations over the coming decade. Further announcements about how the programme will run were made at the end of March. The government’s belief is that these meters will give consumers the information they need to make “informed decisions” about energy usage.

Energy management in non-domestic sites has always depended upon Monitoring & Targeting techniques that measure consumption via meters and then prioritise and target improvement. Organisations with half-hourly metering installed will be given advanced metering by 2014, while smaller sites will be able to opt for smart or advanced metering. In reality, at least for the non-domestic sector, there is not much difference in functionality.

If a health service organisation has a mix of half-hourly and non-half-hourly metered sites, it would clearly be sensible to choose the same system for all its properties. In order to do this, though, you have to tell your supplier that this is what you want to do before the 2014 cut-off date.

Of course, there is no necessity to wait until 2014 for the new meters. There are good reasons to consider installing them now. As part of an automatic Monitoring & Targeting (aM&T) system, advanced meters can help achieve savings today. With automated data collection and analysis, these speed up the monitoring process and can analyse the information in a number of different ways. Importantly, especially for organisations within the health service, they can help with regulatory compliance too.

A number of aM&T systems are approved for production of Display Energy Certificates (DECs). These have to be produced on an annual basis for many of the larger, public-access buildings in the health service. However, they will soon have to be produced for virtually all public-access locations – down to 250m2. They will also prove useful in regard to the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.

CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme
The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme came into effect last April and will soon require all large energy users to purchase allowances for all their carbon emissions. Each organisation will have to account for its energy consumption each year and surrender the corresponding number of allowances. Accurate metered data is therefore essential.

There are talks going on between government departments as to whether DECs could be used as a means of meeting CRC EES accounting requirements. This would address some of the issues facing the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) which is faced with a large number of public sector bodies that are not producing DECs on an annual basis. It would also provide the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) with a simple way of verifying returns under CRC EES without imposing any extra costs on participants.

No final decision has been reached on this yet, though if was to come about, approved aM&T systems would make the accounting process much simpler.

Addressing issues promptly
Regular and consistent monitoring of energy consumption means that sudden changes can be identified and investigated quickly, before they result in significant costs to the organisation.

If a control fails or a sensor malfunctions, a piece of equipment may remain permanently on. This should show up as unexpected extra energy demand, compared with the normal usage at that time. So weekend or night time consumption might become consistently higher with no obvious explanation in terms of planned need. Equally, equipment that is just left running – say a heater over an external doorway, or lighting in a storage area – should show up.

The weeks around the time when the clocks go forward or back (i.e. late March and October) often cause headaches for energy managers. If timeclocks and other controls do not automatically switch over to the new timings, then consumption is likely to rise unnecessarily. Heating, lighting, etc, will switch off later than it should but in the early mornings, staff may override the settings when they arrive and the building is still dark and cold.

A further aspect of performance that an M&T system should pick up is performance drift. Over time, equipment settings slowly drift away from their original values. Eventually, this can lead to significant wastage. This may not always be obvious to the user but an effective M&T system should highlight this.

Funds are severely constrained for everyone today, for the health service just as much as others. But energy efficiency projects typically have paybacks of less than two years – sometimes just months. Some actions – like checking timeclocks and correcting for performance drift – actually bring financial benefit for no outlay! And energy savings are permanent, the measures go on saving over time.

The Energy Services and Technology Association (ESTA) represents over 100 major providers of energy management equipment and services across the UK.

London Energy Summit
The Energy Services and Technology Association (ESTA) is organising a one-day conference for senior managers in both public and private sectors at the Institute of Directors in London on 19 May.

The event will explore the contribution of demand management in achieving energy and carbon targets set by government. It will discuss current services and technologies and debate future solutions in establishing the UK at the forefront of the low-carbon energy economy.

The strategic response of individual organisations to legal, regulatory and market developments will be crucial to success in both the private and public sectors. The ESTA Energy Summit will help organisations understand and resolve these sometimes complementary and sometimes conflicting issues. Aligning strategic direction in sustainability, energy efficiency and energy management to underlying business and service objectives is vital for success both in delivering public sector services more effectively and in achieving energy and carbon-footprint reductions.

For more details and to book, please visit: www.esta.org.uk/summit

For more information:
Web: www.esta.org.uk