08.02.16
Carter calls for DH to establish new energy efficiency fund
Lord Carter of Coles has called on the Department of Health (DH) to establish a new ‘invest to save energy efficiency fund’ by April 2017.
In his final report into hospital productivity, the Labour peer suggested that if acute trusts were able to invest in energy-saving schemes, they could collectively save £125m.
“Acute trusts spend around £500m per annum on energy and if all trusts could move to the median benchmark then £36m could be saved,” said Lord Carter.
“This saving could increase to as much as £125m if trusts were able to invest in energy saving schemes such as LED lighting, combined heat and power units, and smart energy management systems.”
He added that there is an “appetite” for such schemes as the 2013-14 £50m energy efficiency fund was “oversubscribed four-fold with pay-back in less than four years”.
The report also highlighted how Royal Marsden NHS FT invested £168,000 to install energy-efficient LED lighting. This has directly saved the trust £55,000 annually, and it predicts to save £258,000 over the first five years of operation.
Lord Carter added that the DH could work in partnership with finance providers like Salix, which offer free capital loans to the public sector to reduce carbon emissions, to help trusts deliver energy savings through the new fund.