Annual State of NHSScotland Assets and Facilities Report for 2014

Annex C

Review of Energy Performance

In support of the aspirations of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, and the associated duties incumbent upon public sector bodies, NHSScotland Boards continue to be proactive in reducing energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

In the reporting year 2012/13, the cost of energy across NHSScotland's hospital sites (as reported in the ISD Cost Book) was circa £104.7 million - a 16.7% increase on the previous year (and a 44.8% increase on reporting year 2010/11). However, absolute energy consumption at these sites (not corrected for the influence of weather) increased by only 9.24% in the same period, reflecting the ongoing challenge of rising energy costs. Since reporting year 2010/11, absolute energy consumption (not weather corrected) has increased by 3.62%.

Rising energy costs continue to be a challenge for NHSScotland Boards. As with other public bodies in Scotland, the NHSScotland Boards purchase the majority of their energy via the Scottish Public Sector Utility contracts (managed by Procurement Scotland). These utility contracts cover electricity, gas, water, some liquid fuels and biomass pellets. Wholesale energy costs and the management fees associated with these contracts make up only 50% of total costs. The remainder is comprised of pass through charges, regulatory charges, environmental taxes and levies.

Currently the only areas that NHSScotland Boards can have influence on are the wholesale energy costs and the management fees paid to suppliers for the services they provide. NHSScotland Boards have no ability to control the application of the pass through charges, including regulatory charges and environmental taxes that are levied at a standard rate. Indeed, most of these are set at UK Government level. NHSScotland Boards proactively respond to all public consultations on proposed tax/ levy changes but ultimately, these are beyond their control.

Wholesale energy costs are subject to market forces. NHSScotland works with its other public sector partners in actively managing the purchase of energy on the wholesale market through a national Risk Management Committee run by Procurement Scotland. Through this committee, maximum target costs are set to ensure the least risk of exposure to market changes.

NHSScotland Boards' key response to rising energy costs is to drive costs downwards through proactive energy management and reduced energy consumption.

The table that follows summarises the energy consumption and cost figures for 2012/13 and preceding years. The percentage change in energy consumption between 2012/13 and the two preceding years is also shown.

It should be noted that reporting year 2012/13 was significantly colder than either 2010/11 or 2011/12, and this would account for the rise in consumption in 2012/13. If weather correction is applied to the energy consumption figures (i.e. fluctuations in energy consumption due solely to weather changes are removed), then the reporting year 2012/13 shows a reduction in weather-corrected energy consumption of 2.73% over the previous year. Since reporting year 2010/11, weather-corrected energy consumption has increased by only 0.46%.

It is also important to take into account changes in the size of the estate. Between reporting years 2011/12 and 2012/13, there was a 1% increase in the reported hospital estate areas (and a 0.5% increase since 2010/11). For example, in the above table, NHS Fife shows a marked increase in energy consumption. However, the NHS Fife estate grew by over 23% in the same period. Therefore, it is more accurate to consider a KPI of energy consumption per m² when reviewing relative energy performance.

During 2012/13, the average energy performance (weather corrected) across the NHSScotland hospital estate was 449.0 kWh/m² - a 3.69% reduction over the previous reporting year, and a 0.06% reduction since 2010/11.

The table that follows shows energy KPI performance (weather corrected) for each Board since 2010/11^[2].

Table notes:

*Board data based on single hospital site.

**During 2011/12, a new large-scale CHP system was installed at a site in NHS Grampian. This resulted in more kWH being used, but has significantly reduced GHG emissions.

***During 2011/12, the State Hospital underwent considerable refurbishment, including the installation of a new biomass boiler

HEAT Target Performance

NHS Boards continue to report their hospitals' energy consumption and GHG emissions under the HEAT Target (Phase 2)^[3]. This requires a year-on-year energy efficiency improvement of 1% on all energy sources based on an overall improvement by 2050 of 33% (or one third) on the comparative performance as at the 2009-10 baseline year. This equates to a 10% reduction in energy performance by 2020. For 2012/13, NHS Boards had to achieve a 2.97% reduction in energy consumption compared with 2009/10.

The HEAT Target also requires NHS Boards to achieve a 3% year-on-year reduction in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from fossil fuels only, based on a 2009/10 baseline. For 2012/13, NHS Boards had to achieve a 8.73% reduction in energy consumption compared with 2009/10.

Note that the HEAT Target figures will be different to those presented above. This is because the dataset used does not consider all the same sites, a different weather correction method is used, and the impact of site disposals/ additions are not included.

The HEAT Target performance figures for 2012/13 showed that NHS Boards' hospital sites reduced their energy consumption by 5.84% against the baseline year - 2.93% better than target. In the same period, CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel use were reduced by 7.86% against the baseline year - 0.69% worse than target. The poorer CO₂ performance was in part due to the ongoing operation of a large Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant at NHS Grampian's main hospital site. As the current HEAT target calculation method does not include GHG emissions from electricity, the positive impact of the CHP on overall emissions cannot be demonstrated.

Future Plans

During financial year 2012/13, c £11.2million was invested in energy efficiency projects across the NHSScotland Boards via the EcoHospitals initiative. These projects should result in annual savings of over 34million kWh and £4.3million (at current energy costs). Assuming no change in estate size or weather conditions, this would have the impact of reducing the overall NHSScotland KPI to 439.3kWh/m² (a 2.13% reduction on 2012/13).

A further £16.6million is due to be invested in energy efficiency projects in 2013/14 and 2014/15. Once implemented, these projects should see the NHSScotland KPI reduce to 429.7kWh/m² (a further 2.17% reduction on 2012/13).

NHS National Services Scotland, in collaboration with Scottish Government and the Scottish Futures Trust, has developed a Strategic Energy Efficiency Programme for the NHSScotland Boards. The aim of this Programme is to identify and implement maximum energy savings across the NHSScotland estate via a new procurement and financing approach. The first projects under this Programme are expected to be procured in mid 2015.