Pioneering Green Energy in the NHS
On the 18th of October 2022, we invited a panel of well-seasoned energy experts to discuss the future of the NHS’ commitment to Green Energy. As part of our mission to help improve sustainability within the NHS, this panel brought forward their innovative contributions and opinions on how our National Health Service can improve its efficiency and sustainability.
Our expert panel
The event kicked off with Georgie Halston, Group CEO at Halston Group, introducing our expert panel and outlining the format of the discussion. Each panellist presented a detailed presentation showing off their contribution to the NHS’s Green Energy goals with a Q&A session scheduled to wrap up the event, where attendees could grill the following panellists with questions and quandaries:
- Jordan Appleson, CEO at Hark - Dr. Azad Camyab, CEO and Founder of Pearlstone Energy Ltd. - Rupert Lane, Head of Sales at InfoGrid Jordan Appleson, CEO at Hark
The floor was then passed over to Jordan Appleson who asked the question:
“What is Green energy, no seriously?”
“Procuring green energy can mean different things to different people. So fundamentally, this will have an impact on getting to Net Zero by your target dates, so make sure you look at fuel mixes!”
Jordan opened our eyes to the vagueness of the term “Green” and “Renewable” energy, pointing out that each institution has its own definition. From the National Grid to the EPA, everyone has a different idea about what makes energy green, making it difficult to create standardised goals and measurements that ACTUALLY mean something. According to Jordan, we need to make a clear definition of what Green Energy is before we start to look at the NHS’ usage as what kind of energy source they use makes a BIG difference to their sustainability.
In addition to this, when we begin to look at the NHS’ energy usage we need to understand that renewable energy and green energy are not the same, and they are often not completely carbon neutral. As a result, Jordan argued that greater transparency was needed to show what energy sources/ biomass sources are before we determine where we are on the sustainability spectrum.
Dr. Azad Camyas, CEO & Founder of Pearlstone Energy Ltd.
On the topic of our unclear energy system, Dr. Azad Camyas CEO and founder of Pearlstone Energy Ltd brought to light the current issues the energy sector is currently facing in the wake of a surge in demand on an already inefficient power grid. He argues that as a result of geopolitical tensions in the macro environment our current energy grid cannot withstand the current demand resulting in proposed blackouts. But, this doesn’t have to be a problem for the NHS as we now have a solution: DSR schemes.
“We could be in the negative territory where the energy supply and demand aren’t in balance ”
“DSR (Demand-Side Response) Plays an important role in ensuring National Grid can keep the lights on by balancing supply and demand ”
A DSR scheme (Demand Side Response) is an energy solution that improves efficiency within a workplace by using well-placed sensors that monitor energy consumption within an area, showing where energy is being wasted. The team will then be able to turn off or lower the energy supplied to inefficient devices, reducing an area's energy intake with minimal disruption to staff.
In terms of the NHS, this could give wards the opportunity to increase their energy efficiency with relative ease. Minimising cost and patient discomfort in the long term.
Rupert Lane, Global Enterprise Solutions Consultant at InfoGrid
Rupert Lane, Global Enterprise Solutions Consultant at InfoGrid, was then brought to the digital stage to remind us that at the heart of this conversation there are still many people working in the centre of all of this. The doctors, nurses, and office staff currently working in the NHS battle against multiple barriers to good patient care every day. From underfunding and understaffing to medicine shortages and a lack of widespread data, Lane pointed out that NHS workers are constantly coming up against limitations to their jobs without adding the issue of sustainability into the mix.
“What we do is we can simply establish retrofitting sensors across a larger estate. They’re all very simple to install, beyond that are the algorithms”
In order to make long-standing sustainable changes within the NHS, creating simple and scalable road maps that don’t inhibit medical professionals' everyday working lives is key, and one area we can make these changes is the NHS’ lack of building data. Currently, many NHS departments are housed in old-listed buildings that are incredibly inefficient when it comes to energy. But due to budget issues and practicality, these departments must stay where they are and solutions have to come from within.
“We need to ensure we have a happy workforce delivering the service, therefore solutions need to be simple and scalable ”
InfoGrid aims to create healthy, efficient, and sustainable buildings for the National Health Service, in order to help them reach their sustainability goals. Lane explained that fitting specialised sensors across the older NHS buildings to monitor key data points will allow us to see where the easiest and least intrusive areas for change are- giving the industry the ability to become more energy efficient without sacrificing patient care.
Rounding up
Georgia Halston rounded up the session by giving the audience a chance to ask the expert panelists their own questions about the NHS’ sustainability goals and with so much knowledge on one screen, questions were flying. Overall, this session explored how our National Health Service could improve its sustainability and presented some scalable, realistic solutions to the green energy transition. Thank you to all of the panelists and attendees who got involved!
To learn more about how the future of the NHS could look, join our latest event “The Future is Electric: Transforming Transport for the NHS” on the 23rd of November, where we discuss how we’re getting ready for the electric vehicle takeover.