Retirement homes: Caring for the environment at a low cost

Our objective is to design new villages to sustainable environmental and energy-efficient standards consistent with affordability and the quality of life of our residents. We will increasingly incorporate solar energy, combined heat and power units and rainwater harvesting where appropriate.

We are working to reduce our carbon footprint and ensure Retirement Villages Group contributes to the achievement of a low carbon economy by the use of renewable and low-carbon technologies and low energy lighting.

We encourage our Village Managers to review the energy usage of existing villages and explore improvements to energy efficiency. Examples are the substitution of a biomass boiler for the LPG boiler plant at Roseland incurring significant financial and carbon savings and the increasing substitution of LED lighting for low energy lighting leading to further energy and replacement savings

Just as important are the contributions residents can make in their daily lives. We have a waste recycling policy and our independent living units operate a self-managed recycling centre to encourage residents to minimise landfill waste. We are also encouraging the introduction of water butts and composting of garden waste has been standard practice in our villages for many years.

HeatingSave Building Management System — the best solution to help retirement homes reduce energy consumption and save money

The HeatingSave Building Management System can help drive down energy emissions for retirement homes throughout the UK. This is done by both optimizing the way in which heating systems work, but also by making it a lot less likely for employees to tamper with the controls and ultimately save on your energy bills.

HeatingSave has a number of features to prevent employees from adjusting the heating controls and leaving them in settings that can waste fuel. The keypad and display on the front of the controller have two levels of password protection. These passwords can be changed by authorized personnel locally or centrally using the PC software. The password programming meets the requirements laid down by the Carbon Trust, and the PC software is the user ID and password protected too.

If employees do feel too cold, they can hit a button to increase the room temperature. The heating will be turned up for a while but will then automatically turn back keeping the employee at the right comfort temperature — and saving the employer on their fuel bill.

One of the biggest costs for many retirement homes is heating. This is why it is vital that the cost of running these expenditures is kept to a minimum. HeatingSave is a great alternative to your existing heating system and will enable you to trim heating while simultaneously remaining at a comfortable temperature.

If you would like further information on our Building Management System, please get in contact with a member of our sales team today.