UHP begins building a more efficient future
Within UHP’s Estates and Facilities directorate, the energy used in buildings is the largest source of carbon emissions. Nationally, NHS Trusts are required to report on three types of emissions: scope 1, 2 and 3 where scope 1 encompasses the emissions we control directly, and scope 2&3 involves the emissions we can influence. In 2023/24, scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions from energy used in buildings across the Trust’s estates totalled an estimated 11.7 ktCO2e, which accounted for approximately of 12% of the Trust’s combined carbon footprint for scope 1,2 and 3 emissions, or ‘carbon footprint plus’ as it is known. Consequently, reducing carbon emission from energy use is a priority for the Trust as we continue to work towards our net zero carbon targets. Often, sustainability goes hand in hand with cost reduction, and the same is true in this case; energy used in buildings costs the Trust approximately £10M per year! Reducing the energy usage will therefore improve the financial sustainability of UHP.
Typically, about 10-20% of energy used in building is wasted due to inefficient processes. As a result, the Trust has committed to systematically investing in energy efficiency and renewability technologies to minimise energy wastage. This will include upgrading heating, lighting and ventilation systems, and installing on-site solar panels. In the past 12 months, the Trust has installed LED lighting in the L7 Combined Laboratories and included “ventilation setback” controls as part of the ventilation plant for the new orthopaedic theatres.
To further reduce energy usage, the Trust has begun investigating a building analytics solution, “InMetriks Analytics”, to help proactively manage energy. InMetriks Analytics will provide an automated, near real-time analysis reporting of energy and building performance data. This enables the implementation of analytical rules to spot legacy issues and data anomalies. For example, actual operating profiles of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment can be compared to expected profiles to identify issues causing high energy consumption or poor performance. This allows energy wastage to be identified and corrective actions to be taken where necessary.
There are several ways that wards, departments, and individual staff members can all contribute to saving energy without impacting on patient care, such as completing the measures on the Sustainability team’s energy efficiency checklist. The Sustainability team are happy to undertake and / or support an audit in any department, therefore if this is of interest please get in touch through the Sustainability inbox (plh-tr.sustainability@nhs.net).
