Are you set to commit to carbon reduction?

However, ensuring that they are properly prepared means starting to think about the data they will need and acting now, requiring the well planned step-by-step approach set out below.

  Energy use in NHS healthcare facilities costs £400 million annually, and results in a net emission of around one million tonnes of carbon. However, the potential for saving is substantial. If healthcare Trusts meet their target of cutting primary energy consumption by 15 per cent between 2000 and 2010, the total NHS energy bill will be slashed by £50 million per year. According to the NHS Confederation, which published these figures in its “Taking the Temperature” document, produced in 2007 as part of the NHS response to global warming, this is equivalent to one small community hospital, or 7,000 heart bypass operations, The twin targets – energy reduction to save the human race, and cost reduction to save large amounts of money – are both, undeniably, highly desirable outcomes. But their pursuit is no longer an option for large organisations, including many of those that make up the health sector. The introduction of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme, which will affect 20,000 organisations, is seeing to that. What is the CRC? Intended to address climate change, the CRC (see Fig. 1) is a UK-led scheme seeking improvements in energy efficiency. It has been designed to increase awareness of energy conservation among larger organisations, as well as aiming to change their behaviour and encourage them to improve infrastructure. Due to commence in April this year across the UK, it is a mandatory emissions trading scheme which creates a financial incentive to save energy by placing a price on carbon emissions. Major energy users will buy allowances equivalent to their CO2 emissions each year, and will assume responsibility for deciding the most cost-effective means to reduce emissions. The Government’s overall emissions reduction target will be achieved by capping the total number of allowances available to participants. The Government hopes that, as well as reducing carbon emissions, the scheme will also help organisations save money by reducing their energy bills. Crucially, its aim is that these savings should be well in excess of the costs of participating in the scheme, so CRC should not be viewed as just another tax. With the financial pressures on the health sector, and the volume of energy consumption required for them to function, one can only hope that this proves true.

Divided into two phases