Member Article

Vital Celebrate #NHSSustainabilityDay with Million Tonne Carbon Guarantee

What better way to celebrate NHS Sustainability Day than to announce that our carbon reduction guarantees to the NHS have passed the 1 million tonnes mark and will also see the Trusts and Health Boards we work with save over £300 million in energy costs!

For the last three years Vital Energi have been working with a number of NHS Trusts and Health Boards to install energy conservation measures and the latest energy generating technology, such as combined heat and power and biomass.

All of the projects, which have been procured through the Carbon and Energy Fund, are underpinned by an energy performance contract, which sees Vital Energi guarantee minimum financial savings and carbon reductions for the duration of the contracts, which range from 15-25 years.

Project Development Director, Ashley Malin explains, “The NHS is under a lot of pressure to cut costs, but most hospitals need to update their infrastructure and address serious maintenance backlogs. The technologies we use generate such strong financial savings that not only do they cover the cost of the new energy systems and upgrades, but there is money left over to be invested in front-line clinical services.

“The fact that just 14 hospitals can generate over £300million in savings and 1million tonnes of carbon reduction is a great indicator of how much potential there is in the NHS, with regards to revolutionising the way it generates and uses its energy. We’d like to use NHS Sustainability Day to congratulate the many, many people who work extremely hard to give us a cleaner, greener and more efficient NHS!”

Vital Energi are contracted to deliver energy solutions for 14 hospitals across seven Trusts and Health Boards in the UK and York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are two perfect examples of the benefits which energy conservation measures and low-carbon energy generation can bring.

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Vital Energi have undertaken three projects for York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. In one of the first projects to be procured through the Carbon and Energy Fund, Vital Energi delivered a comprehensive energy centre refresh, installing a 1.2MW combined heat and power engine lighting upgrades and addressing a significant maintenance backlog at their York Teaching Hospital Site.

This was followed up with similar projects at the Trust’s smaller Bridlington and Scarborough hospitals. The Trust will now see guaranteed financial savings and 87,000 tonnes of CO2 reduction over the course of the 15 year contract.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Vital Energi have installed a 1.3MW combined heat & power engine and refreshed the energy Centre at Cheltenham General Hospital along with upgrades to the lighting and Building Management System. The project will reduce carbon emissions by almost 40,000 tonnes, which represents a 40% reduction for the Trust, over the course of the 18 year contract.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Gordon Coates .