Generational divide should not hold care homes back from pursuing green credentials

The care home sector is well positioned to benefit from green energy initiatives, but according to a BT Global services survey older people, who make up sixty five per cent of residents in UK care homes, care less about being green than other generations.

Vice president, Rob McGinn commented on the utilities research, saying: “We found the younger generation are in fact focused on sustainability but the older generation are not focused on sustainability at all. What that says is that one size does not fit all in the relationships energy companies need to have with their consumers and they need to be able to manage and understand their consumers much better.”

Not all care homes agree, however, even though the effectiveness of green initiatives depends as much upon how clients and the workforce behave as to the energy-friendly facilities the care home has in place. In fact, there are an increasing number of care providers who, despite considering the health and well-being of service users central to all goals, are looking to green energy credentials to further their marketing integrity.

Anchor

Anchor’s West Hall care home, in Surrey, for example, was purpose-designed to incorporate a Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) and yet owners agree it is crucial to match green design with green intention.

Striving for a day-to-day approach that brings long-term benefits, communications manager Derya Filiz lists several examples of how the facility furthers its capabilities through the management of food supply, lighting and heating.

For example, she says: “We use an effective and efficient heating control system designed to make sure that only the energy needed to heat the building to the correct temperatures is used, and that no energy is wasted. The heating controls take the inside and outside air temperatures and then work out how high the radiators have to be to keep the home at a safe ambient temperature. In order to support this system we ran a behaviour change programme called EnergyMATTERS raising awareness amongst colleagues about where energy can be wasted and how to avoid it.”

On food supply she says: “We donate used cooking oil to one of our suppliers who convert it into biodiesel for their trucks which make our deliveries, closing the loop. All our food suppliers are Red Tractor stamped, guaranteeing good animal welfare standards and responsible farming methods.

She continues: “All our food is sourced from suppliers within a 30 mile radius from our care homes, many of our suppliers are family owned and run. Working with our suppliers and catering staff we have halved the average delivery frequency with smarter ordering. This has meant less packaging and less associated emissions from the delivery vehicles. We have increased recycling rates by better segregation of waste and a mixed recycling service with a national contractor at many of our homes.”

Safe Harbor

Safe Harbor is another provider that focuses strongly on green energy and is currently preparing an innovative ‘green strategy’ for 2015, having successfully trialled an innovative biomass system.

Director Philip Morris comments: “We have just installed a biomass boiler system at in Whitchurch, Shropshire, which will reduce our carbon footprint vastly as the pellets we use are from sustainable wood grown in the UK. We are now hoping to roll out biomass systems to the rest of our homes to make us as green as possible and remove the need for using natural gas. The following step for Safe Harbor is to look to utilize solar and wind power where possible and we hope that in 2015 we will be able to implement our green strategy.”

On additional initiatives we says: “At Safe Harbor we try to use local suppliers and source local produce where possible. Safe Harbor is moving towards changing all our lighting to LED to reduce our usage and emissions. All of our care planning systems are paper based but we use wood free paper in the main which again is much more sustainable.”

Managing director of programmes at the Carbon Trust, Richard Rugg, advises that the focus should be on employees, saying: “Employees are the greatest asset of UK business but when most of us enter the office, we take far less care to save energy and use resources efficiently than we do at home. The good news is that employees are willing to help and by understanding how employees act in the workplace, businesses can unlock significant bottom line savings.”