Many NHS Trusts have taken advantage of distributed energy technologies to reduce energy costs, improve sustainability, and improve resilience. Few, however, are making the most of newer opportunities to fully optimise their energy.
Tony Orton, head of Healthcare Business Development at Centrica Business Solutions, advises on how to identify and use energy flexibility to achieve cost and carbon savings.
Reflecting the position of large energy users across the UK and globally. Centrica Business Solutions’ latest energy optimisation research1 showed that although seven out of 10 of the 1,500 organisations we surveyed said they recognised the need to be more flexible in how energy is generated and used, only 30 per cent of those generating energy onsite are selling power back to the grid.
It is essential that the NHS finds ever smarter ways of managing energy sustainably and more cost-effectively. The health and care system in England is responsible for an estimated 4-5 per cent of the country’s carbon footprint. In addition, healthcare estates managers are under constant pressure to make financial savings to help their Trusts keep up with growing demand for patient services, and be able to reinvest such savings in optimised patient care. The NHS has already cut its carbon emissions by almost one fifth over the past decade, but health chiefs are scaling up climate action. NHS England has announced that it is aiming to reach net zero carbon emissions before 2050, which will require a radical new approach to energy management.
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