Energy efficiency has proven to save costs across many businesses and this is no different when applied to the NHS. A recent report has estimated that implementing certain measures could decrease the NHS bill by a huge £400m, which could have a remarkable impact to the statistics recently taken from the NHS Confederation.
This year the NHS budget stands at £117.2 billion, with figures expected to reach £120 billion by 2020. Increasing numbers like this should highlight the urgency of energy efficiency and should be a top priority for saving tax payers money.
Report
The ‘Security Health Returns’ report produced by the Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) for NHS England and Public Health England had analysed 35 sustainable measures which would reduce carbon emissions by 1 million tonnes in the next 10 years, as well as saving £400m in energy costs.
Almost half of these measures are linked to educating staff on energy saving efforts which could reduce annual costs by £21.5m and the use of high efficiency lighting by £7.2m. Another measure that was said was lowering set points on heating systems by 1°C, saving £6.2m and a further saving of £26.4m by switching to Combined Heat and Power (CHP).
Other factors that could decrease the bill is adopting a smarter maintenance regime. The 10-80-10 rule relates to total costs of a building. 10% is construction, 10% decommissioning at end of life and 80% for operational use. This highlights the importance of an energy efficient system combined with a smart maintenance schedule to avoid waste costs. Even more so for buildings with long operating hours and high occupancy.
Heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting are all factors which contribute to occupant comfort and although these measures are cost effective, occupant comfort is the most important, especially in the medical sector. If the heating and ventilation is poorly managed this has an effect on the occupants and could end in more costs due to people opening windows or bringing in additional heaters.
A degree further
361 Degrees have previously installed smarter heating and ventilation systems for a number of establishments in the medical sector and we understand the importance of energy efficiency and occupant comfort. We think these measures are relative to cutting costs for the NHS which we hope we can continue to contribute too.
Source: Heating & Ventilation Review Magazine – BESA ‘Behind the headlines’ article page 14, October 2016 issue
