Exploring Pathways for Decarbonising and Improving Resilience of NHS Healthcare Facilities in England

This project will research energy performance of existing healthcare facilities and explore challenges and opportunities for decarbonising healthcare facilities of the NHS. Firstly, understanding operational energy performance and key determinants of energy use based on high-resolution data can lead to identifying opportunities for reducing demand for energy. Secondly, improved understanding of the relationships between key parameters and energy use can facilitate exploration of the impact of future energy and climate scenarios.

In 2020, the NHS committed to achieve net-zero carbon by reducing CO2 emissions from across England. Estates and facilities, which accounted for approximately 15% direct emissions (from energy, waste and staff travel) and a significant amount of indirect emissions (from construction, goods and services and outsourced F provision), were highlighted as having significant opportunities for reductions in emissions by improving energy efficiency of the existing estate. Whilst improving energy efficiency plays an important role in reducing operational energy use and associated CO2 emissions, achieving net-zero carbon requires on and off-site low and zero carbon technologies to further reduce CO2 emissions before any off-setting mechanisms are considered.

In addition to energy efficiency, an aspect of the transition that should be taken into consideration is the resilience of the energy system, the balance between on and off-site generation e.g. from solar and wind, that the NHS estates and facilities will need to achieve in order to make a smooth transition. In addition to the foreseen impacts climate change, the soaring fuel prices [due to the events unravelling in Eastern Europe] have also highlighted the importance of moving towards a flexible system that can cope with future scenarios that could mitigate future risks whilst achieving the desired net zero carbon outcome.