Jane Howarth, of the University of Bolton’s Institute for Materials Research and Innovation, describes a study involving three NHS Trusts in the north of England which examined the merits of a ‘more sustainable’ approach to air filtration in air-handling units.
Air filtration manufacturers are promoting the benefits of ‘low energy consumption’ air filtration.2 This has been affirmed by the CPD Certification Service’s1 recognition of this area of sustainability management, and the Service’s certification of the ‘Smart specification for sustainability’1 training programme for air filtration stakeholders.
In the NHS, however, qualitative interviews3 have suggested that estates management personnel perceive these benefits to be ‘theoretical’ only, and that their situation is in fact bespoke. They consider that embarking on a scheme of energy saving in ARP filtration may in fact be unproductive due, in particular, to the limitations of manpower and investment opportunities for non-clinical projects.
It is also perceived that energy savings on each unit are of a low monetary value. However it was appreciated, in the qualitative interviews, that most hospital environments are a myriad of department- specific units, and that, as such, the high percentage savings should be focused on. The estates departments could appreciate that the savings value for each unit would be multiplied by the number of units in the hospital; and in fact typically that would increase the calculated savings by a factor of 40+.
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