Mr Lansdown added: “The task ahead is challenging, to say the least.
“It is an inescapable fact NHS trusts must reduce their carbon footprint.”
Last year, the Government passed the Climate Change Act, which aims to achieve an 80% cut in CO² emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. In response, in January, the NHS unveiled its Carbon Reduction Strategy, outlining what it will do.
Another initiative being rolled out under the Climate Change Act is the Carbon Reduction Commitment, which, from April, 2010, will have practical applications.
This will require further energy efficiency improvements by putting a price on carbon emissions, which will hit Trusts’ budgets.
Hill Dickinson said CHP plants allow the “generation of electricity, heat and cooling for the NHS in a carbon and cost-efficient way”.
Trusts can also earn revenue by selling surplus electricity to the grid and heat to district heating schemes.
