Hot water


Sustainability & hot water: caring for clients and the environment


Running a care home means balancing high energy costs against a ceaseless demand for hot water. With the sustainability of care home environments under scrutiny, Bill Sinclair, technical director at hot water specialist Adveco Ltd, details the technologies available to providers looking to balance their books while maintaining fit- for-purpose, sustainable hot water systems, and explains why correctly understanding your hot water needs is key


Every care home needs hot water. With more than 17,000 residential care and nursing homes in the UK, an estimated 400,000 residents, and a further 750,000 staff, daily demands are high. The growing trend for self-contained


bedrooms has driven the inclusion of en suite bathrooms, while catering and cleaning further extend requirements. While the pandemic may have impacted resident numbers, they are now climbing once again, which is set to lead to a shortfall in beds and a desire to optimise space. This has driven the preference for wet rooms, which not only make the most of smaller spaces, but are a practical solution for people with restricted mobility. Recent research by industry analysts Carterwood suggests the shortfall for wet room beds could be as much as 228,000 by December 2024, despite planned new developments adding close to 20,000 additional beds by that date. This all leads to greater demands for hot water, which impacts energy use and running costs, so understanding and addressing hot water generation is an important part of a care home’s daily operation, especially if the sustainability of the care home environment is being challenged. The government’s push to embrace sustainability as a part of its efforts to achieve net zero has rightly highlighted the role the built estate has to play. Estimates vary, but it is generally accepted that buildings are responsible for as much as 50 per cent of the nation’s carbon emissions, with much of the existing building stock still dependent on gas – which, while being increasingly efficient to use, is a ‘dirty’ fossil fuel. If we consider the daily hot water usage in a care home, with a typical four-hour peak usage time in the morning, it can potentially account for as much as 30 per cent of a building’s daily


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Solar thermal collectors with drain back


energy demands – a notable component of an organisation’s emissions. The relatively lower cost of gas compared


to grid electricity, and the necessary high working flow temperatures it delivers, have therefore made it historically the energy of choice. This becomes problematic if sustainable operations are now the goal. As a matter of course, new builds, unless exhibiting large demands for gas, will struggle to receive permission (under Part L of the building regulations) for a new gas connection and, as a result, are going ‘all electric’ for heating and hot water. With


Understanding and addressing hot water generation is an important part of a care home’s daily operation


modern construction fabric and insulation, this approach can pay dividends. For legacy properties requiring refurbishment, the choices become more problematic, especially for space heating where modern low-temperature systems need replacement pipework and heat emitters or will fail to deliver. Though this is not an issue for replacement hot water, the complexity of both new build and refurbishment can still suffer costly pitfalls in the drive to sustainability. With electricity on average currently costing as much as 3.8 times that of gas, serious consideration needs to be given to a selection of technologies available to ensure that any changes to a hot water system balance the carbon reduction with the capital and operational costs.


The options for sustainable water heating There are several options when it comes to implementing a hot water system and, as we have intimated, some are driven by finance, others by the desire to be environmentally


www.thecarehomeenvironment.com April 2023


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