Caring For The Environment Improves Human Care

By Steve McGregor, Executive Chairman of the DMA Group (https://dma-group.co.uk)

Improving sustainability while reducing costs are two challenges facing all buildings. In the care sector, which manages a fine balance between bottom-lines and patient/resident experience, drives to reduce carbon footprints through technology adoption and operational improvements can in-fact enhance the end user experience. Kevin Mcguane, Energy Services Director for the DMA Group, discusses the right approach to balancing these often complex aims.

Comfort and wellbeing is particularly important in the care environment, which means HVAC and other building services must be operating efficiently. This should be the priority for care home owners and their facilities management teams, followed by a focus on sustainability and reducing carbon – the two aims are not mutually exclusive, however.

Identify quick wins…
Any effective sustainability drive should begin with an audit, providing a benchmark to work against. Identifying energy wasters, and therefore reducing energy demand as a priority, will help fund more significant changes. To help balance books and contribute to future activities, care homes should start with the path of least resistance, looking for quick wins that will save such as LED lighting and how the main plant is controlled, which can save a significant amount of money.

…And look to the sun!
The big win from a renewables point of view is solar photovoltaics (PV) combined with a battery. The price of the hardware has come down significantly in recent years, making a return on investment fairly swift, as demonstrated by Five Villages Home Association in Icklesham, East Sussex, which provides safe and affordable housing for people aged 60 and over.

Comprising several flats designed for independent living, Five Villages residents live completely self-sufficiently with communal hubs to socialise and connect with their neighbours. To cut energy usage in these communal areas and improve the overall sustainability of the development, we designed an innovative energy solution comprising solar photovoltaic (PV) panels alongside a robust battery storage system. This process first began by analysing existing energy consumption patterns.

The finished scheme consists of 87, state-of-the-art PV panels alongside two Tesla Powerwall batteries, which store up to 81kWhs of surplus energy between them. Installed in phases across two buildings, since 13th March 2024, the panels have generated 52.7 MWh of solar energy, and exported 18.8 MWh, resulting in a 57% grid dependence (80% of which is at night) and a C02 reduction of 38.2 tones, the equivalent of planting 631 trees.

The batteries were fitted on 3rd October 2024 and since their installation, have provided an additional 6.5 MWh of energy, which would have been exported back to the grid. Battery storage also mean that Five Villages has days where it imports very little energy, as low as 8% this spring.

What’s particularly good for residents is that the reductions in utility bills will be passed on to them in reduced fees. The cost of care is a concern for residents, their families and the government, so this ‘win win’ scenario could be a model that more establishments employ.

Saving ‘people’ energy
A wholistic approach to carbon reduction should focus on staff too, preventing unnecessary site visits and the consequent travel involved, ensuring right first time works by using workflow management software that can track the experience and qualifications of maintenance teams sent to a job, will all contribute positively. For large organisations with multiple sites, the impact can be significant.

I advise any care home going down the automation route to start with a pilot project focussing on one area at a time, testing the key features and gather feedback from everyone involved. A word of caution here, not all workflow management solutions are created equal, make sure you choose one that is future proof with the potential to integrate with AI – even if you’re not using this tool yet, it’s likely you will in the future.

Invest wisely, save in the long-term
What’s crucial, is that businesses invest wisely and scale-up the right way. Whether an energy saving drive or any other strategy, the first step must be to define the problem. This is where audits are so essential in highlighting what’s not working, what data is required while defining what the upgrades and any new technologies needs to do.