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Net Zero carbon and ‘post-pandemic world’ in focus in Burton-upon-Trent conference
The first dedicated IHEEM Midlands Conference, held in partnership with Schneider Electric, took place at the National Brewery Centre in Burton-upon- Trent on 8 June, with the focus firmly on Net Zero carbon, sustainability, and the ‘post-pandemic world’. Titled ‘Future-proofing healthcare’,
the conference began with a brief introduction from James Chadwick, who chairs IHEEM’s East Midlands Branch, and who is Head of Estates at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust. His welcome address was followed by a presentation from Ian Stenton, National Sustainability Programme Manager within the National NHS Estates and Facilities Team, who discussed the Estates Net Zero Carbon Delivery Plan launched last October, which focuses on some of the key areas where NHS Estates & Facilities teams in primary and second care can take action to reduce the carbon footprint of their buildings, plant, and equipment. Among the major areas of focus are reducing building energy use, climate change adaptation, active travel infrastructure, and the ‘circular economy’.
‘Digital twins’ Next, Oliver Riley, MD of London- headquartered built environment consultancy, Silver EMS, and Chris Davis, UK Sales Manager at Hysopt – a specialist in design software that helps building owners heat and cool buildings more efficiently, discussed a partnership via which the two companies are ‘bringing engineering and digital twins together to deliver estate improvement to achieve CO2
reduction, cost reduction, and
improved building comfort, resilience, and operability’. Oliver Riley said: “This work entails gaining a deep understanding of, say, an NHS Trust’s estate, and – from this – developing a Net Zero roadmap to enable it to take the most effective
action to reduce its carbon footprint, and optimise the sustainability of its equipment, buildings, and personnel. Events such as this enable us to reach exactly the right people within the healthcare estate management and healthcare engineering community, whose contribution to the NHS drive towards Net Zero will be fundamental to its success.”
Where steam fits into the healthcare estate Following a morning coffee / tea break, Steve Bishop, Business Development Manager (Hospitals) at Spirax Sarco UK & ROI, a leading UK manufacturer of steam management systems, discussed ‘Natural technology and decarbonised steam generation’. He gave what he said he hoped was ‘a balanced view of where steam may fit into a healthcare estate, both now and in the future’. Having explained why steam is so widely used, he explored some ‘key steps we can take to improve what we have today’, before considering ‘the emerging technologies that will help generate steam sustainably, and meet Net Zero challenges’. His first message was that to decarbonise, in any system (regardless of the delivery media), ‘it is the fuel source for our thermal energy that we need to review and replace, rather than steam itself’. He said: “Steam has some very strong ‘green’ credentials, and is of course found in nature – it is thus, in every sense, a ‘natural technology’.” He then ‘recapped’ the ‘many benefits and unique capabilities’ of steam as a thermal energy transfer medium – including its high energy density, the lack of distribution pumping required, and the ease with which it can be controlled through two-port valves due to the direct pressure/temperature relationship. There was also ‘food for thought’ on the practical implications of removing steam in favour of liquid-based systems.
The developmental journey to Net Zero ‘Starting on the developmental journey towards our Net Zero goals’, the Spirax Sarco speaker then shared what he dubbed the ‘typical magnitude (over 10% energy savings) of the opportunities often available to us within an existing steam system’. He explained that, harnessing the knowledge and experience of a partner such as Spirax Sarco, and some readily available ‘tools’ – steam system audits and surveys, connected services, and solutions facilitating rich data and predictive maintenance opportunities, alongside optimisation projects with identified savings and payback – it is possible to make ‘a significant and almost immediate impact’ on carbon emissions and energy costs.
He said: “These optimisation and demand-side reduction activities, allied with connected services to gather granular data on thermal energy consumption estate-wide, are a key step on the journey towards Net Zero, placing us in a very strong position to take the next set of key decisions – on our future energy system, and which technologies to invest in.
Emerging technologies Finally, Steve Bishop touched on ‘the rapidly developing and emerging technologies of the future’ – such as green hydrogen and biofuels – before giving an overview of two key technologies in which Spirax Sarco is in the final stages of development/ optimisation prior to formal launch. The steam system specialist says that with the Chromalox Direct Connect Electric Element, it is now possible to provide instantaneous steam generation ‘as a direct substitute for the burning of fossil fuels, at comparable steam production rates’. The company added: “Where resilience, load-smoothing, or the storage
Left to right: James Chadwick, Ian Stenton, Oliver Riley, Steve Bishop, and Phil Wade. 10 Health Estate Journal August 2022
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