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| Taking advantage of the Bike to Work scheme are, from the left, James Philips Julie Yorke and Matthew Walton |
Anthony Jones is looking for greener ways of working.
As estates officer with Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust he is taking on the challenge of bringing environmentally-friendly practices to the organisation, which includes sites with starkly contrasting uses.
More than 2,500 staff work at the trust's community hospitals, health centres and offices across the district.
One of the main areas of scrutiny is energy consumption. Here the PCT is looking to invest in state-of-the-art, environmentally-friendly technology. A new electricity meter, installed by Bradford firm Northern Design Electronics, is due to be trialled, giving detailed information as to how much energy is in use at different times of the day and night.
"It will give a profile of electricity consumption, enabling us to monitor use and look at how it changes over 24-hour periods, throughout the seasons, and annually," says Anthony. "It can be linked to a personal computer, giving easy access to the information."
The system is being tested at two locations - the PCT headquarters in Douglas Mill, Bowling Back Lane, and Eccleshill Community Hospital. The buildings were selected for their contrasting uses.
"They are at both ends of the scale," he adds. "Douglas Mill is an office site, the other, Eccleshill Community Hospital, is a service site which will have different needs.
"I will carry out the auditing and look at the profiles. Unless we measure energy usage we cannot make any decisions. This way, we will be able to ask why certain amounts of energy are consumed at different times. For instance, if too much energy is being used at night, we will find out whether lights or computers are being left on."
It will also enable Anthony, a former pollution prevention officer with a water company, to pinpoint areas of usage such as that consumed on different floors or in different sections of a building.
If the system - which is primarily to be used to measure electricity but can also be used for gas - proves a success, it could be installed at other sites. The PCT has five community hospitals - Eccleshill, Shipley, Leeds Road, Westbourne Green in Manningham and Westwood Park, off Cooper Lane - as well as Keighley Health Centre and the base for the public health teams at Millennium Business Park in Steeton.
Of the energy which is used, more than a quarter is green. "Twenty-six per cent is from sustainable resources, and we are investigating whether this could be increased," says Anthony. This has been achieved following consultation with the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency, a body set up in 2000 to advise the NHS on purchasing and supply matters, and to look for best practice.
The measures are in keeping with the targets for carbon emissions from offices, launched by the Government in 2006. These require that carbon emissions be reduced by 12.5 per cent by 2010-11, relative to 1999/2000 levels. This increases to 30 per cent by 2020.
There is a strong advantage business-wise, too, with savings to be made on the cost of energy across the PCT. With rising energy prices, managers are looking for alternatives and conservation measures offer huge potential savings.
In common with many organisations, recycling is a buzzword. Anthony is working with Bradford and District Care Trust. "They are going to install a range of recycling bins. Every line of desks will have at the end of it a box for waste paper and cardboard, which will be cleared daily." This will take place at more than 30 sites and involve the bulk of the organisation's 2,500 staff.
Recycling boxes are also available for redundant printer ink cartridges.
Transport has also come under the microscope. Green travel plans are nothing new to Bradford and Airedale PCT. Darren De Souza, the trust's senior health promotions specialist, said: "They have been in place for a number of years and met with a certain amount of success. People have been encouraged to walk or cycle to work, and leave the car at home."
This has been achieved through measures including, at some buildings, on-site showers and secure cycle racks and cages.
"I have received e-mails from employees who have begun cycling to work because of these measures. Last year a group of people got together to cycle in together."
The PCT is also looking towards setting up a Bike for Work scheme whereby employees can buy cycles at a reduced price. Darren added: "There will be a saving of up to 40 per cent providing the primary use of the cycle is for work purposes."
There is also a proposal to introduce a pay-monthly scheme for season tickets, to encourage people to use public transport. "This proposal will start to gain momentum this year," he adds. A scheme to promote car sharing is also on the agenda.
Talks are in progress with Metro about possible ways to encourage employees to use trains and buses.
Darren represents the PCT on Bradford district's environment partnership, which includes representatives from a number of organisations from different sectors across Bradford including health, housing, the economy, and children and young people.
The measures being introduced at the PCT fit with Bradford's Eco-City pledge which evolved out of the environment partnership. The pledge involved asking 50 organisations to make pledges around sustainability, including waste management, energy efficiency, sustainable construction, transport and biodiversity.
"We are looking at ways in which we can lessen the impact of climate change," says Darren.
He stresses the enthusiasm of staff towards helping make inroads, albeit small, in the fight against climate change. "People are very keen to help. Small-scale examples include people offering to take home milk cartons to put in their recycle bin." Some members of staff at the PCT's Millennium Business Park site have devised their own recycling scheme, collecting newspapers, tins and plastic bottles and taking them to the nearest recycling facility.
Anthony adds: "People want to be given guidance as to how they can help out in terms of improving our carbon footprint. We are gradually putting a series of measures in place. We want this to be the way we work across the entire organisation."
8:41am Wednesday 12th March 2008
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