Modern technology can cut carbon emissions

The UK Government’s 2015 financial settlement challenged the NHS to save almost £22 billion by 2020. This equates to a saving of two to three per cent every year, and while the Chancellor, Sajid Javid, committed an additional £6.2 billion to the NHS in his recent Spending Review, the sector still needs to make financial savings. In addition to budgetary pressures, the NHS – as part of the public sector – has also been challenged to reduce its carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2020/21 as part of the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy. One solution to both challenges is to introduce modern energy technology – also known as distributed energy solutions – into hospitals. This technology can deliver financial savings, contribute towards carbon reduction targets, and even unlock new sources of revenue for NHS Trusts.

Pounds and pence

Hospitals are energy-intensive, and reliant on power around-the clock to deliver patient care, and, as such, generate large bills. Figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy suggest that the sector is responsible for a third of all energy use across the public sector estate, and has an annual energy bill of £1.2 billion. Our estimates suggest that just a 50 per cent uptake of a suite of distributed energy solutions could save the NHS £187 m per year – money that could be redirected back into patient care. Our research also found that introducing distributed energy solutions would reduce the NHS’s yearly carbon footprint by 450,000 tonnes of CO2e – a nine per cent cut.