Why carbon management is still good for your health

If you asked the UK’s healthcare sector for a list of key priorities, the chances are that carbon management would not feature prominently. However, considering that the annual energy bill for the UK healthcare sector is about £600 million, and given the spending constraints across all areas, carbon management is a simple and effective way for the healthcare sector to reduce costs. In fact, if cost cutting targets set out by the government are to be met, it is vital that healthcare boards place cutting carbon and energy costs at the top of their agendas.

The good news is that the vast majority of healthcare organisations could save significant amounts of money by introducing simple carbon saving measures. It’s not just large organisations that can benefit – the average doctor’s surgery could save up to 20 per cent on its energy costs through taking action.

Feeling hot, hot, hot
Many of these measures are not complicated or costly to implement. One easy win is to avoid waste on heating bills. This can be done by ensuring that heating is only timed to come on when needed, and by checking all thermostats regularly and ensuring they are set to an appropriate temperature. Even one degree of overheating can increase fuel costs by around 8 per cent.

Hot water is another area that benefits from scrutiny. In warmer weather, turning off boilers altogether might be an option if there is low or no demand for hot water. Or, if an organisation has several floor-standing boilers, only one might provide hot water while the others provide heating. If this is the case, the unnecessary boilers could be switched off altogether.

Lighting is often overlooked but offers lots of easy ways to save money. Given that in a typical hospital, lighting can account for more than 20 per cent of total energy use, it’s an area that merits attention. Simply by encouraging employees to maximise natural light where possible and only switching on lights when they are really needed, healthcare organisations can save up to 15 per cent on electricity bills. Or, if an organisation is prepared to invest in an upgrade, more effective lighting systems can both reduce costs and improve the quality of lighting for staff and patients.

Carbon reduction initiatives
But the situation is not simple. Last year’s Equity and Excellence white paper means that the NHS currently faces a fundamental change to parts of its structure. Primary Care Trusts, often the primary driver in carbon reduction, are being abolished, with their functions transferred to other NHS Trusts, GP surgeries, local authorities and the private sector. These changes have resulted in many organisations waiting to see where and how the dust will settle before picking up the baton and driving forward carbon reduction initiatives.

For organisations that choose to press ahead, the rewards are there for the taking. The Carbon Trust’s public sector customers have identified potential total savings of £1.1 billion from energy efficiency projects – delivering financial benefits as well as reducing carbon emissions from those organisations by around 46 million tonnes over their lifetime. This is no small amount of carbon – it’s roughly equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of London.

At the Carbon Trust, we are working with more than 2,700 public sector bodies to help them cut carbon emissions. Of these, 272 are healthcare organisations. This is a significant number but there are hundreds of other healthcare bodies across the UK that could benefit from better carbon management. Our NHS carbon management programme provides technical and change management guidance to help organisations to identify practical carbon and cost savings. For those organisations we are already working with, existing projects are expected to save over £153 million.

Savings in Medway
“Hospitals have to run fast just to stand still. A typical ‘rule of thumb’ increase in electrical consumption in acute hospitals over a 12-month period is an increase of three to five per cent per year, partly driven by the increased use of specialist medical equipment that generally relies on electricity,” comments
Paul Evans, environmental manager at the Medway NHS Foundation Trust

The Medway NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for Medway Maritime Hospital, the largest hospital in Kent, treating around 400,000 patients a year. Through the Carbon Trust’s carbon management service, the Trust is adding energy efficiency to its targets, resulting in expected savings of approximately £300,000 a year.

A former naval hospital, Medway is an acute hospital providing intensive care, maternity and outpatient facilities, as well as operating theatre space. Its main site covers a heated footprint of 83,000 square metres and presents some interesting challenges as some buildings are more than 100 years old. When the hospital appointed an assistant to the position of environmental manager in 2006, it increased the number of hours it had available to dedicate to energy efficiency projects and turned to the Carbon Trust’s carbon management service for help.

Combined heat and power
The most significant project implemented to date is the installation of combined heat and power (CHP) to provide a large proportion of the heating and hot water demand for the hospital as well as generating sufficient power to cover 75 per cent of the site’s total electrical load. The new CHP installation replaces 56 standard hot water gas-fired boilers that were split between eight different boiler rooms. Many of the boilers were “a maintenance nightmare and not very efficient” so replacing them made a lot of sense. The new system has required an investment of £2.9 million to install, but the expected annual cost savings mean that it will pay for itself within eight years, whilst reducing energy consumption by 11.7 per cent. The business case for this type of investment speaks for itself.

Another initiative includes reviewing lighting across the hospital to make it as efficient as possible without compromising patient care. In store rooms, where lights tended to be left on accidentally, automatic switches now turn the lights off after a fixed amount of time. The dining area has been fitted with sensors that recognise daylight and movement so that if an area is unoccupied and natural light is bright enough, the lights will remain off. This not only reduces energy use, but the trust has found that people are more likely to congregate in the lit space, which makes it easier for catering staff to clear.

Employee engagement
Internal champions are integral to the success of the project. Since 2006, the Medway NHS Foundation Trust has relied on volunteer environmental champions drawn from across the hospital to raise employee awareness of the costs of energy use. There are now 40 champions in place, who meet regularly to share ideas and come up with new suggestions.

Other schemes encourage staff to reduce emissions from transport on their way to work. A partnership with a local bus company gives employees a discount on buses, and staff are also entitled to a loan to buy a bicycle to cycle to work. New staff who live within a mile and a half of the hospital are not granted a parking permit at all, while those who live further away can use a hospital park and ride facility via a minibus operated by the hospital. Staff using this facility benefit from reduced parking charges compared to those who park on the hospital site.

“To begin with the changes were fairly low key, but we’ve really increased our activity. We’re definitely making progress,” sats Paul Evans.

The Medway NHS Foundation Trust is just one example of a healthcare organisation that is reaping the financial and environmental benefits of cutting carbon. Support is available to help healthcare organisations of all sizes seize the opportunities presented by carbon management and make potential cost and carbon savings a reality. The rewards are well worth it.

From a baseline rate of 13,000 tonnes per year in 2007, the hospital has reduced emissions by 10 per cent in 2010, and is on target to make a further reduction of 8 per cent during 2011 – the first full year of operation for the new CHP plant. Medway has spent some £3 million on its combined projects, which are predicted to deliver annual savings of £300,000 from 2011.

For more information:
Tel: 0800 0852005
E-mail: customercentre@carbontrust.co.uk
Web: www.carbontrust.co.uk