CHP: The caring combination

With £400 million per year spent on energy in the healthcare sector, pressure is mounting to reduce overheads. Enter innovative heating technologies such as combined heat and power (CHP) which can boost energy efficiency and cut costs. Paul Wilson, national sales manager for CHP at Remeha, explains.

According to last year’s Natwest care home performance benchmarking report the average annual cost of heat, lighting and other utilities in UK care homes is £830 per bed1. With the care sector already under financial strain, energy efficiency is one area that can deliver a strong return on investment.

CHP is approximately 30 per cent more efficient than relying on traditional heating plant and electricity supplied solely from the grid. CHP systems burn natural gas to generate heat, while providing electricity to supplement or replace the grid supply.  This means that businesses can produce electricity at gas prices, which is cheaper than buying it directly from the grid. In turn, energy bills can be reduced by around 20 per cent compared to conventional power generation.

CHP is the way forward for buildings with high and continuous, year-round heating loads like care homes; because of the long running hours, these buildings can achieve the most energy efficient operation.

However, to reap the benefits, it’s essential the CHP unit is sized correctly. The system should be sized so that the base load heating requirements can be met largely by the CHP unit alone. This will result in the continuous generation of low cost, low carbon electricity as a by-product of producing base load heating. Energy efficient condensing boilers can be used to meet additional heat and/or hot water demand at peak times.

The most effective way to ensure a CHP unit is working as intended, and delivering maximum savings, is for CHP experts to be involved in the project from the outset to guarantee the right solution is chosen.

The Remeha team can provide information on estimated savings that can be made by installing a CHP system.  We recommend a whole life costing approach including a review of anticipated energy, installation, maintenance and servicing costs, alongside the initial cost of the product. This allows managers to set accurate, realistic budgets for its operation, maintenance and repair.

CHP provides the perfect solution for care establishments to achieve financial savings, allowing funding to be maximised throughout the business.