The Key Principles of Energy Management: Measurement and Planning

Ever-increasing energy costs, brought about by the post-pandemic increase in prices on the wholesale energy markets are likely to bring NHS organisations under considerable pressure in 2021, particularly when facing tight budgets and the target of becoming the world’s first Net-Zero National Health Service. We have partnered up with Senior Account Manager and NHS Specialist at Inenco Group, Bethany Goodwin, to bring you an overview of effective energy management that will benefit your trust in becoming more sustainable and to control costs.

Effective Energy Management – What Gets Measured, Gets Managed

The starting point of all energy management is data, you cannot effectively strategise to be more energy-efficient or plan for an environmentally sustainable future for your business without having the right data to inform those decisions and to measure against.

Your first steps should be to ensure your utility meters are in Day+1 DC/DA contracts and then setting up robust submetering systems for your estate. Where these aren't in place already, temporary clamp-on metering can allow baselining with meters. You can then replace them permanently as part of any capital projects.

Using an energy baseline effectively allows your trust to evaluate energy efficiency before and after making improvements to your site or system - Bethany Goodwin, Inenco

Whilst this perhaps sounds relatively straight forward, a recent survey conducted by Inenco found that 47% of the NHS Trusts surveyed do not have the data required to measure their energy efficiency.

With the necessary metering systems in place, deep-dive analysis of the data generated will highlight the most energy-intensive parts of your Estate. Identifying these areas will allow you to more effectively plan and prioritise which areas require the most immediate attention and investment to make the overall estate more energy efficient.

Inenco has been working alongside an NHS Primary Care/Health Care provider for the past 4 years to improve energy efficiencies and drive cost-savings across a complex estate. Deep dive analysis of the estate informed a strategy that has achieved significant energy and financial savings, as well as a significant reduction of carbon emissions.

The recommended approach to energy efficiency begins with People and Process, before looking to CAPEX projects and considers renewables feasibilities on site, aligned with NHS guidance and the recommended approach to optimisation

Planning for a Sustainable Future

A net-zero future is high on the agenda of NHS England, targets were outlined in the ‘delivering a net-zero national health service’ document published in October. NHS England is aiming to be the world’s first net-zero national health service, reaching net-zero emissions for the NHS Carbon Footprint by 2040, and zero emissions across the entire scope of NHS emissions (the NHS Carbon Footprint Plus) by 2045.

As part of this push towards a net-zero future, Green Plans now form part of the NHS Standard Contract, which also requires a net zero lead from each Trust to be appointed. It’s further evidence that having a green plan and an overarching strategy to reach net zero is no longer an option for Trusts.

Despite this, a recent survey conducted by Inenco found that 38% still don’t have a Green Plan in place. It’s not only Green Plans that Trusts should consider, 59% of buildings across the NHS estate were built pre-1994 and are likely to require investment. Decarbonising heat is one of the biggest (and most expensive) challenges for Trusts

The NHS estate is not going to be easy to decarbonise, it will be important to identify which parts of your estate are the most energy intensive and prioritise funding for those areas. - Bethany Goodwin, Inenco

The success of any Green Plan will be dependent on being able to measure your carbon footprint against a baseline, to do so you’ll need to have all the necessary data to analyse. Inenco’s recent survey found that 47% of Trusts do not know what their carbon footprint is, making it challenging to target appropriate reductions. 

Large-scale works are needed for backlog maintenance and efficiency projects and lack of planning could lead to trusts having to pay twice when areas recently refurbished need to push further towards a net-zero target set late.

Summary

Effective energy management is all about measurement and planning. Whilst we appreciate not all Trusts are the same, many of the fundamentals described above will apply to most. Data is the core of all energy management; without it, you can't effectively develop a strategy to be more energy-efficient or plan for a more environmentally sustainable future for your organisation. Being able to measure your outputs and collecting data on your energy usage is essential.

A net-zero health service is a key priority for the NHS and the development of a Heat Decarbonisation Plan is a great starting point to begin planning how your Trust is going to achieve this. Developing a Green Plan should also be a priority if you don’t have one in place already.

If you would like more information on how best to implement effective measurement and planning that achieves energy and financial savings, and maps a path to a greener future for your NHS Trust -  please contact Inenco on 01253 785294 or visit www.inenco.com/nhs