A ‘whole building’ path to climate control

John Durbin, engineering department manager at air conditioning equipment specialist Daikin UK, argues that, to minimise an organisation’s legal liabilities and trade successfully in carbon allowances, a holistic view should be taken of climate control systems across health estates – “and that means incorporating the latest heat recovery techniques”.

With the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme now in force, health organisations and hospitals will need to improve their energy performance, or pay the penalty by purchasing more carbon allowances next April. It is clear that the health sector must dramatically cut its energy consumption in order to escape the penalties of poor performance in the CRC league tables, the enforced purchase of carbon allowances, and the obvious cost of higher energy bills. As the largest public sector contributor to climate change, the NHS is under particularly strong pressure to deliver a programme of action to reduce its CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions and meet Government targets, while joining other public sector organisations in leading the vanguard against climate change. Due to the increasing size of the NHS, its carbon footprint continues to rise, and is now around 21 million tonnes per year, up by three million tonnes since the previous footprint was calculated. However, since the May 2009 amendment to the Climate Change Act, the NHS’s carbon reduction target for 2020 is an even more stringent 34% reduction on the 1990 baseline, compared with the previous 26% target. So the challenge is greater than ever. It is estimated that the NHS can save at least £180 million per year by reducing its carbon emissions. With the Coalition Government demanding that the NHS finds £20 billion in efficiency savings by 2014, energy efficiency is an obvious focus for attention, as it provides a “winwin” result by cutting both energy costs, and carbon emissions. An update to the NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy, “Saving Carbon, Improving Health”,1 produced by the NHS Sustainable Development Unit in January 2010, shows that some of the greatest savings in this area can be by improving its heating and cooling systems.

Decentralising hot water boilers