Southern Cross Healthcare plc

The company is committed to the continual development and improvement of it's business in a sustainable manner, taking into account responsibilities to it's many stakeholders including the service users, the wider community, the environment, it's employees, suppliers and those who own the business. Acting on reports prepared by the Carbon Trust, Len Clinton, Estates and Facilities Director, spearheads a project to reduce the company’s carbon footprint and it's expenditure on energy. Len explains: “Space heating and hot water provision are major costs to our business, ever more so with the huge and ongoing increases in energy prices. Finding proven methods of permanently reducing our energy consumption is one thing - but our obligations to ensure stable and comfortable temperatures and continuous hot water for our residents cannot be compromised.” With this in mind, Len commissioned a series of trials of Total Energy Controls’ (TEC) Intelligent Energy Management Controls, which closely monitored their impact on a variety of homes’ overall gas consumption, measuring real time half-hourly metered gas data. Using advanced software programs monitoring flow and return temperatures and external temperature variations, TEC controls are designed to improve the efficiency of central heating boilers, eliminating unnecessary boiler firing thereby reducing energy consumption whilst maintaining stable temperatures and hot water availability. The controls can also provide, where necessary, periodic boosting of hot water temperature to prevent build up of legionella. On the strength of the trials, Southern Cross Healthcare decided to roll out installation of TEC systems across their whole estate. “TEC’s Engineers install the systems quickly, causing no interruptions to the care homes’ activities” said Len. “The reliability of their systems, their engineer’s attention to detail and after sales service has been very good”. The intelligent features of TEC’s range of boiler management systems came into their own at Southern Cross. Len added: “We were extremely impressed with the performance of the TEC systems during the trials. The TEC controls automatically self adjust, ensuring that heating and hot water is provided as required as the demand on the homes’ central heating varies throughout each day, whilst catering for changes in the outside temperature. At the same time we have made fuel savings ensuring the systems pay for themselves very rapidly and service user’s comfort levels and hot water provision have been maintained”. On the strength of the trials, Southern Cross Healthcare decided to roll out installation of TEC systems across their whole estate. “TEC’s Engineers install the systems quickly, causing no interruptions to the care homes’ activities” said Len. “The reliability of their systems, their engineer’s attention to detail and after sales service has been very good”. “The technology has demonstrated significant and sustained savings in fuel costs, and will have cut our carbon dioxide emissions by 8600 tonnes, reducing our annual environmental impact by over 7%".

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